Hand-Beaded Floral Wedding Combs

This project originally started as a custom hand-beaded veil to match Su Jit‘s Swarovski beaded Maggie Sottero wedding dress. To combat the heinous price of a veil at retail($50-$300), I agreed to make one myself as part of her wedding gift from me. One off-hand remark from her fiance later (he said she looked like a monster in a veil), the project turned into coordinating combs for the bride and bridesmaids.

To be honest, I’d never really attempted anything like this. I had already scoped out provisions for veil-making and had worked out my little mental schematic, but was pretty much up the river on working with silver wire and 3-D floral patterns. For this new assignment, I had to rely completely on my awesome-ness as a crafter and a couple of store samples as guides.

I ended up employing some basic trusty tools and the same ingredients I planned on using for the veil, minus the veil.

What we’ve got:

Pliers, at least two sets
Wire Cutters
Craft Wire
Combs
Ribbon
Glass Pearls
Crystal Beads

 How I Used Them:

I bent the wire! There wasn’t really an art to getting the beads onto the wire, just creating a mental image of how I needed them to lay and then twisting them off in sections of one to four, starting at the middle. Why one to four? Because five or more create too much bulk and makes the filigree to look like lupin.

Not every strand worked out at first. Some turned out too short, or too long, and ended up being bent it into a different shape or cut apart to salvage the beads. Using craft wire, and not pure sterling or gold made sure it didn’t hurt when I had to waste a little metal.

Once I had three layers of filigree, I lined up the loose ends all together and twisted just like before. The neater I kept this part, the easier it was ultimately to attach to the comb.

Speaking of combs, that was the next step! I broke out the ribbon and cut a two foot length to wrap with. I tied the newly twisted shiny beadwork to the comb with one end of the ribbon, and wrapped it  in one place several times to secure the wire. I continued wrapping the ribbon around comb and wire, working between the comb’s teeth, until I reached the other end, turned the comb over and worked back the other way with the ribbon. Finished with a knot and we were set! 

Awwwwwww……

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