Using Perforated / Screen Findings - Part 1 - getting started

This is an oldie, but a goodie. I made this a while back, but if you'd like more detail about making brooches using the peforated or screen findings - this has detailed pictures and more in-depth instructions.

I'm going to add these as a series of posts, as I'm having trouble with blogger losing text - It may be having a bad day - or just not like a really long post.

The idea was to make a happy, spring themed pin or brooch. A nice, bright, happy brooch is a good antidote to our relentless and never-ending winters.

Remember - you can click on any of these photos to see a larger version to see the details more clearly.





I started with a domed, round, perforated or screen finding, and a handful of beads in the aqua flower and green leaf theme, and a spool of 28 gauge (light) wire.

(Last shipment we got of these labeled them "shower parts.")

I did a little initial arranging - to find a design that was pleasing. I settled on 3 flowers, balanced by 3 large leaves, and would use the other items to fill in between.











Separate the front of the screen from the back if they are not already separate. Just lift them apart - sometimes they get a little stuck, but they should come apart easily.

Start with about about 12 inches of wire. More than this and you will get all tangled up.

In a nutshell, we will be stitching the leaves on with wire and pretty much making it up as we go along, wiring beads in where they fit, filling holes as they appear.





Start with your 12 inch piece of wire. Poke the wire through a hole, from the back, and out the front. Leave a 3 inch tail. Choose a hole that is most near where you want the bead on the front to be, so this would be any outer hole. Thread the wire through the bead, and back through the next hole. Twist the wire back with the tail. Your first bead is now secured.






Move to the next hole, and repeat. Tuck the long end of the wire through a hole, thread through a bead, back through the next hole. Twist your wire back onto the tail to keep it all under tension.









See, here the wires are twisted together to hold each successive leaf.

Simply stitching the beads on will result in the wire being too loose. You need to put tension on it.













Here's the progress so far. Next post - adding the focal flowers.