Peyote Star Topper for a Christmas Tree

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In this blog, I’m going to explain how to make a Peyote star to top a Christmas tree. Now, I’m not teaching you the full star technique here because I already run a free online class for that. So, if you want to learn how to make a basic star, follow this link to take the class. Today, I just want to show you how to include the fixing to attach a star to the top of a tree.

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Now, normally, we might add a bail to the top of the star and hang it on the Christmas tree. But any good Christmas tree deserves a star on top (I think)! So, did you know that you can make a Peyote star specifically designed to sit securely on the top of your tree?

Obviously, you will need to size your star in proportion to your tree. My tree is about 5′ tall. So, I made a star with 28 rows. I picked three different shades of gold Delicas and alternated colours with each row. (i.e. use colour 1 for row 1, colour 2 for row 2, colour 3 for row 3, colour 1 for row 4, etc.)

Now, you could do as I did and keep things simple. Or you can add a fancy design to your star.

Peyote star topper for a Christmas tree, Katie Dean, My World of Beads

Fixing a Peyote star to the top of the tree

The fixing technique is incredibly simple. You just need to leave a hole in the centre of the bottom of your star. Then, you can simply slot the hole over the top branch of your tree.

Or, in my case, I have an artificial tree which has a spike at the top, designed to hold my choice of tree topper. So, I simply slipped the hole in my star onto the spike at the top of the tree.

Peyote star topper technique, Katie Dean, My World of Beads

But, how do you make this hole? And how do you know what size it needs to be?

Well, I’ve put together a video to answer both those questions. So, take a look at that. I will then go over a few technique reminders below.

Technique Video

Here is the video demonstration for you…

Technique Reminders

So, let’s just do a quick recap of the technique.

To add the hole, you are simply going to leave out the first few rows on the warped square that sits at the bottom of your star. To do this, you will decide how many rows to omit. In the video, I left out rows 1 and 2.

Then, you will pick up enough beads for the next two rows – in my example, that’s rows 3 and 4. Form this string of beads into a circle. (If you don’t understand why you’re doing this, then use this link to learn more about Peyote stitch).

Continue by stitching the next row (in my example, this was row 5), working around the circle. Remember, when you are adding your corner pairs, you will pass through the NEXT bead in the circle. When you are adding beads along the sides, you will skip the next bead in the circle and pass through the bead after that.

How to determine which rows to begin with

If you need your hole to be a different size, it’s very easy to calculate this.

Start by working out how many beads you need to fit around the top branch of your Christmas tree. You can do this by simply stringing beads, linking them into a circle, and testing whether this will fit your tree. Just alter the number of beads in your circle until you have a good fit.

Then, you need to work out which rows this would equate to.

Calculating the starting row, Katie Dean, My World of Beads

So, for example, if your starting circle needed 60 beads, you would divide that number by 2. That gives you 30. Now, consult the row-by-row bead counts. None of the rows has exactly 30 beads. But row 8 contains 32 beads, which is close. So, that gives you a starting point.

If you combined row 8 with row 9, you would get 32+36=68. This is too many beads for your needs. So, try combining row 8 with row 7. That gives you 32+28=60. That’s exactly the number of beads you need.

So, you have your 60-bead circle. This is basically rows 7 and 8 of the warped square. So, from there, you just continue to add row 9 and continue with the square.

What if your starting circle doesn’t fit any row combination?

If your starting string/circle needed 64 beads, you wouldn’t be able to get that exact number by combining two rows. So, you would need to decide whether to use a smaller circle (60 beads – combine rows 7 and 8). Or, use a larger circle (combining rows 8 and 9 would give you 68 beads).

I would recommend going for the larger circle to be sure that your star will fit. So, that would mean your starting circle has a total of 68 beads, combining rows 8 and 9. Then, the first row you add would be row 10.

Peyote Beaded Star Patterns, Katie Dean, Beadflowers

Which stars will you make?

So, that sets you up with the free class to learn the basic technique for Peyote stars. Add on everything you’ve just learned here if you want to create a star for the top of your Christmas tree.

But which design will you use? You can find a selection of beautiful Peyote star designs at this link. These will make smaller stars which are great for learning. Once you feel confident with the technique, just scale up the size by adding more rows!

Now, you’re all set to wow friends and family with a beautiful beaded star on top of your Christmas tree this year.

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1 Response

  1. Harmony says:

    This is fabulous omg

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