How to Make a Beaded Tea Ball Ornament
Tea balls are round, hollow metal implements punched with holes, designed to hold loose-leaf tea for brewing. If you've traded up your tea ball for a more advanced form of tea strainer, don't throw it out; transform that old piece of metal into a new, intricate hanging ornament for use on a holiday tree or for hanging in a window year round. Take advantage of the holes in the metal and string an elaborate beading design with ease. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Cut a 1 inch length of wire for each hole in the tea ball.
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2
Use round-nosed pliers to bend a tiny loop into the end of each wire strip. Use the very tips of the pliers to make each loop just big enough that it won't pass through the holes in your tea ball.
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3
Open the tea ball. Thread one length of wire through each of the holes in the tea ball.
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Use the round-nosed pliers to grip the ends of the wire where they protrude on the outside of the tea ball. Twist them into a taut loop; leave no extra space on the wire unbent, but make each loop as large as you can.
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Re-attach the two halves of the tea ball.
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Select one bead for each of the loops. Thread a short length of wire through it (this will depend on the bead size; it should be three times the length of the bead). Use the round-nosed pliers to twist a loop into the wire protruding from the threaded bead on either side; this technique is called "rosary looping."
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Attach the rosary-looped beads to the loops on the tea ball using the pliers.
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Tips & Warnings
For a more ornate tea ball ornament, attach additional rosary-looped beads in strings to the beads already on the tea ball. This will make a complex chandelier shape.
If you like, paint the tea ball with enamel paint before you begin to thread it with beads; this will give it some color for the portions of the tea ball metal that show through.
