These cheerful Christmas tree trinkets are adapted from a Preciosa Ornela project. They’re built from stacked eye-pin rows with a dangling bead ornament at the base, then joined by two vertical “connecting rods.” This Shipwreck edit swaps the original 8/0 beads for 10/0 for a crisp, petite look (or you can add a bead here and there to match the original size—see the callout below).
Materials & Tools
- PRECIOSA Rocailles 10/0
- Pressed bead 6 mm (bauble for the point) — blue shown
- Eye pins: 1/2 Inch or 14mm (1 pc), 3/4 Inch or 18mm (for rows with 4 beads), 1 Inch or 30 mm (most rows), 1.5 Inch or 40 mm (2 pcs for connecting rods)
- Small oval (to hang the bauble), 4–5 mm ring, ear hooks, silicone earring stop — add link
- Tools: round‑nose, flat‑nose & snipping pliers; small ruler
Difficulty: ●○○ Technique: eye‑pin stringing & linking Time: ~45–75 minutes
Step‑by‑Step
- Make the bottom bauble. String the 6 mm pressed bead on a 14 mm eye pin, roll a matching eye, and hang it on a small oval.
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Lay out beads. Separate piles for R1 (tree color) and assorted R2 (ornaments). Place R2 colors anywhere in each row.
Original 8/0 row recipe (counts per row):
- Row 1: 1× R2
- Row 2: 1× R2 + 1× R1
- Row 3: 1× R2 + 2× R1
- Row 4: 1× R2 + 3× R1
- Row 5: 2× R2 + 3× R1
- Row 6: 1× R2 + 5× R1
- Row 7: 2× R2 + 5× R1
- Row 8: 2× R2 + 6× R1
Use the same counts with 10/0 for a smaller tree, or add +1 bead per row for near‑original size.
- Bottom row. On a 30 mm eye pin, string 4× R, the oval with the bauble, then 4× R. Roll the second eye the same size as the first; align both in the same plane and incline them slightly toward each other.
- Build rows 2–8. String the bead counts from the recipe onto eye pins. Use 18 mm eye pins for any 4‑bead row; use 30 mm pins for wider rows. Trim any excess wire before forming the second eye and tilt both eyes downward.
- Connecting rods. On each 40 mm eye pin, string 1× R, then pass through the eyes of each row with 1× R as a spacer between row eyes; add 1× R after the top row. Use an earring stop while you adjust length, then roll the final eye. Repeat for the second rod.
- Assemble. Thread a ring through both connecting‑rod eyes and add an ear hook. Close the ring and give every join a gentle tug test.
Variations
- Ornament swap: use metallic R2s or tiny fire‑polished beads as ornaments.
- Decoration vs. earrings: replace the ear hook with ribbon for a gift‑tag/tree ornament.
- Size control: for a larger look with 10/0s, add +1 to each horizontal row and +1 spacer on each connecting‑rod segment.
Design/photo credit: Preciosa Ornela / Helena Chmelíková. Instructions adapted and paraphrased for clarity for the Shipwreck Beads blog.
