Materials:

Seed beads size #11 color of your choice

Seed beads any size or color for anchors inside the ornament

Main beads 4 mm color of your choice

Beading thread

Sandpaper

Spray paint gold or color of your choice

Old needle to make holes

Candle

Drop type beads for the bottom of the plastic container

Instructions:

I first saw this idea as a tea ball beaded ornament made by a member of one of my online groups. She used the metal tea ball with all the holes in it. There was so much interest in the tea ball, quite a few of my group ladies wanted to make one, but the problem was, these tea balls are as rare as hen's teeth here in Australia. You can buy the stainless steel mesh tea balls, but the holes are so small and close together, they would not be suitable.

While looking for something we could use to replace the metal tea ball I thought: I buy a Loreal Excellence hair colour, and I remember seeing a plastic container for the rubber gloves in the box, I thought maybe I could use that. It's not really the same shape as the tea balls, but it's the next best thing that I could find.***
I thought I would try and burn holes in the plastic, and see if that would work. To burn the holes, I used a #18 chenille needle which is now ruined, heated it over a lit tea candle, and used that to pierce the holes. A small nail or ice pick can be used in place of the needle just make sure your hole is smaller than the seed beads you are using.

Safety Note: Be sure there is adult supervision for this step.

At first I thought I was doing the holes too close together, so I spaced them out a bit more, but as I started beading the container, I could see they need to be fairly close.

I tried scraping the black burnt marks off the holes, but decided to paint the container instead. I just used gold craft paint, you do need to rough up the plastic with a light sandpaper so the paint will adhere.

Painting the container was a good move, as I noticed the beading threads inside would show through the plastic. You will need to adjust the number of holes to get good coverage. It is not difficult to add more holes as needed.

Put a hanging cord through the centre top. I just threaded a loop of cord through the hole and tied both cord ends together in an knot on the inside. You can add a dot of glue to the knot and press it against the inside of the top to prevent the loop falling back in.

The inside in not as wide as the tea ball, so it was a little bit more awkward to bead. The best thing I found to use is a long big eye beading needle, it's long, flexible and easier to get right up into the awkward parts. Where a normal needle would not bend as easily.

Tip: Make sure you have enough beads, it's hard to judge how many you will need, but it's better to have too many than run out.

Beading Instructions:

Work from the bottom up because this helps keep the beads out of the way as you work the next row. Using a long beading needle, and a long piece of beading thread (approximately meters) start at the hole in the very bottom, knot a seed bead to the thread to secure, and go through the center bottom hole from the inside. Place a drop of glue on this bead to help anchor it firmly in place.

On the outside add a seed bead, then a crystal and another seed bead. Repeat this until you have 4 crystals and 5 seed beads forming the dangle, ending with a seed bead. Go around the bottom seed bead (it will turn on its side) then back up through the bead dangle and through the hole into the tea ball. The final seed bead in each grouping will act as an anchor at the end of each group.

Optional:
On the bottom of the container replace the final seed bead in each string with a drop bead or dangle for more interest.

BTW, the seed beads on the inside can be any kind, as they don't show. For the next, row do the same thing, except use three crystals instead of four. keep working your way up and around until all the holes are filled. Do the same for the top part of the tea ball.

When it's finished , if you like you can glue a piece of trim around the part where the two pieces screw back together.

Julia's Blog http://www.creativeribbons.blogspot.com

***Here in the States there are machines with small gifts for children, put $.50 in the machine, crank the handle and get a small gift out through the slot. These little gifts are packed in a plastic container that has a similar shape to the tea ball. You might also use one of the separating plastic Easter eggs.