Stringing a paper crane curtain
Published 12:00 pm Saturday, January 5, 2019
I know my wedding is getting close. However, it was made apparent to me on New Year’s how close it has now become.
11 weeks to be exact!!
So now I’m in full wedding mode. Time to tie up loose ends and get everything in order along with making sure all the crafts I want for decorations are done.
This week, I’m working on stringing the 1,000 paper cranes given to me by my friend’s mother-in-law.
If you are not getting married and want 1,000 paper cranes strung for a decoration, you can use the technique and information I share with you in this article to learn more about stringing beads or allow it to inspire your creativity in creating your own design.
For stringing my birds, I got 30 pound monofilament fishing line. This may be a little heavy, but I want to make sure it will last past just being a wedding decoration.
I base choosing the size of fishing line, string, or wire for my projects on bead hole size, how it will be used, and bead weight. I wanted the line used for my birds to be thin enough to slide through the paper with little or no damage to the bird but strong enough to hold quite a few semi-heavy beads.
After sorting and bagging the birds into different piles of colors, thanks to my friend Abby and my niece, I figured out how many birds I would put on the strand.
I based this off of how high I wanted to hang the decoration and that I was going to place a crystal bead between each bird. I estimated eight birds per strand being placed about 8 inches apart with a bead every 4 inches.
Therefore, I measured four yardstick lengths of fishing line. This would give me enough line for hanging on the selected tree branch or allows for adding more birds if need be.
On the end of the line, I made a single overhand knot and pulled it super tight. I will probably go back and apply a dab of glue to the knot just to make sure it does not come undone for any reason.
I will alternate starting the strand with either a bird or a bead. Start with a bird, end with a bead; Start with a bead, end with a bird.
I bought various styles and sizes of crystal beads. The main crystal that I am placing in between birds is a diamond shaped clear crystal. I also bought smaller, gray/silver colored diamond shaped crystals and rounded oblong clear crystals.
Initially I had the birds just sitting on an overhand knot. I found this problematic due to if the bird was bumped it would go through the knot. This is where I remembered Yayi, from Yayi Beads & Gems, telling me that I should have them sit on a bead.
When you don’t know, ask an expert. After doing a couple strands with just the knots, I switched to having the birds sit on beads. I first used the larger oblong beads, but found the smaller gray/silver colored diamond crystals worked great too and this is what I’ve been using since.
One tool I never even heard of, nor knew there were so many different types is the beading needle. I was thinking of using just a regular embroidery needle to go through the bird, but my mother-in-law suggested using her beading needle.
When I saw it, a light went off and I said, “Yes!! This is perfect!”
This needle is long enough to go through the bird completely but flexible and thin enough to be gentle to the paper. When I started looking up beading needles for this article so I knew what this needle was called, I was surprised at how many different types of needles there are for beading.
The two websites I found good information regarding beading needles are https://www.goldenagebeads.com/blog/a-guide-to-beading-needles.html and https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/find-the-right-beading-needle-340322.
Both sites talk about the differences’ in beading applications with each type of needle. TheSpruceCrafts.com had this to say about the needle I’m using for this project, “Available at most bead stores, big eye needles are best for stringing projects, working with elastic cord and other slightly thicker stringing materials. BeadSmith and Beadalon big eye needles are widely available. They are not well suited for stitches that require multiple passes through a bead.”
Starting out with stringing a bird, I first strung one of the smaller diamond shaped crystals all the way until it hit the knot.
Then I brought the top of the line back through the crystal from the bottom to create a loop around the bead so that it does not move.
Next, I placed the fishing wire in a wide eye or “bigeye” beading needle and ran the needle through the bottom of the bird to the top of it’s (triangular) back and moved it down the line until it was sitting on the bead.
I then removed the beading needle and threaded one of the larger, clear crystal beads. I brought it down the line until it was about four inches above the bird and then looped the top of the fishing line through the bottom of the bead so it would stay in place.
I continued this until I got to eight birds and then finished with one of the larger, diamond shaped crystal beads.
I have every color of the rainbow of birds to string for a total of 125 strands. My nights will be filled with stringing birds. As always, Happy Crafting!
Creative Crafting with Kim prints on Saturdays. If you would like to advertise your crafting business or sell leftover crafting supplies call the American Press Classified department at 337-494-4000 or email djean@americanpress.com. Deadline to place a display ad is Wednesday at 4pm and line ad deadline is Friday at 4pm. Feedback about this article can be sent to kwright@americanpress.com.
