Hair Bow Caterpillar Instructions
Making hair bows that look like caterpillars requires a simple bead weaving technique that anyone can do. This type of right-angle weave requires no needles, just a simple weaving pattern using two ends of monofilament line and a few beads.
Materials
To make a hair bow that looks like a caterpillar, you'll use soft monofilament line as your beading cord. Soft monofilament is thin and works well with the beading technique for making a caterpillar design. In bead weaving, you pass the cord through the beads more than once, so a thin beading cord is important.
You will also need 8mm and 4mm beads in coordinating colors, along with 10mm seed beads. You can find blank metal barrettes at your local craft store to use to make the hair bows. Jeweler's glue and scissors are the only other items needed to make a caterpillar hair bow.
Caterpillar Beading Technique
The caterpillar beading design is based on repeated sets of large, medium and small beads woven together with a right-angle weave technique. To make a hair bow with a caterpillar design, you will only need one to three segments, depending on the length of the metal barrette you selected.
A 3-foot length of soft monofilament line should be long enough to make any length of hair bow. Thread two 4mm beads onto the line, followed by one 8mm bead and then two more 4mm beads. Thread the beads all the way to the center of the line so that both ends are even.
To begin your weave, add another 8mm bead onto one line and insert the end of the opposite line through it as well. You will have two lines that cross inside the 8mm bead, each facing different directions as they exit the bead. When you pull the lines taut, the 8mm bead will rest against the first 8mm bead and the four 4mm beads will land in sets of two on either side of the center where both 8mm beads meet. Both lengths of monofilament lines should be even.
To continue making the caterpillar's body, add three 10mm seed beads to each line, followed by a 4mm bead onto one line. Weave, or cross, the other line through the 4mm bead. When you pull the ends of the lines taut, the 4mm bead will land next to the last 8mm bead that you added and each set of three seed beads will be on either side of the 8mm bead. Add three more seed beads to each line and weave, or cross, both lines back through the first 8mm bead in your set.
As you pull the lines evenly taut, you will notice that the last 4mm bead and each set of three seed beads will rest on top of the two 8mm beads. The design will look like the body of a caterpillar. You can continue to make as many sets as you need to fill the top of the metal barrette.
Making the Caterpillar Hair Bow
When the caterpillar body is as long as you need, you can tie the loose ends of the soft monofilament line around one end of the metal barrette. A line of viscous jeweler's glue along the length of the barrette will hold the beaded caterpillar in place. Make sure that the glue is dry before you wear the hair bow.
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