Unfinished Strawberries

I don't normally post pictures of unfinished projects, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to finish the strawberry plant I've been working on. The strawberries are based on Virginia Nathanson's strawberries from New Patterns for Bead Flowers and Decorations. All strawberries have a two bead basic are made using the cup technique. They are all made free form because I didn't like the size and shape of the pattern in the book. Also, there is no support shape within them.
Recently, I've developed an interest in beaded fruit. I've found several books that detail methods for making them. I suggest using the instructions in the first two books for completely French beaded fruit.

1. Bead Design by Ruth Wasley and Edith Harris.
• Fruit patterns: apple, banana, crab apple, grape cluster, kumquat, lemon, orange, pear, pineapple, plum, strawberry plant.
  
• Technique: making 3 or 4 petals which are twisted together to give the shape of the fruit (please see the grapes post). The fruits are between two to four inches, and there is a small plastic fruit placed inside to help keep the shape.
  
• Other: The tortoiseshell mirror and Victorian picture frame are made of several components, one of which is several berries. These are made in the cup method. They do not have a solid support shape inside them.
• Overall: This is probably the easiest way of making French beaded fruit. If you want to make a fruit that is a different size from the one specified in the pattern, it may require quite a bit of experimenting.
  
2. Flower Beading French Technique Book IV by Bobbe Anderson
• Fruit patterns: no actual patterns, just very broad and general instructions on how one could bead a fruit. There is a small black and white photo and the fruit shown are pears, apples and strawberries.
  
• Technique: The fruits have a two bead basic and a long basic wire and basic loop. You are to bead a few rows and then glue this to the bottom of a small Styrofoam fruit (about 3 inch circumference). Then, using straight pins and a little bit of glue to hold the beading in place, you proceed as if using the cup method around the form.
• Overall: Wrapping around the basic wire and bottom loop can look nice no matter what shape you use. You will have to use a little glue occasionally to make sure your beads stay in place on the rounded fruit.
  
3. Making Bead Jewelry and Decorative Accessories by Virginia Nathanson. This book is also known as The Pearl and Bead Boutique
• Fruit/vegetable patterns: strawberry (same pattern as in New Patterns for Bead Flowers and Decorations), pumpkin, eggplant, carrot, artichoke, radish, green pepper, Lima beans, green peas, mushroom, tomato, corn.
  
• Technique: only the strawberry (cup technique), artichoke, pumpkin, green pepper, Lima beans and green peas are made using the French beaded technique. All other vegetables are made by gluing beads directly onto a Styrofoam/plastic shape of the fruit. For an example of making fruit this way, please see this very lovely Italian site: La Bottega Artistica.
• Overall: Gluing beads onto a form is easier compared to wrapping (like in the Anderson book) and it looks neater too. However, it's not considered French beaded.
  
4. Beading: Basic and Boutique by Barbara L. Farlie
• Fruit/vegetable patterns: grapes (sewed to a purse), pea pods, marzipan strawberries, sugared grapes, Easter lemon tree, fruit compote. Only the grapes and the pods of the peas are made using the French beaded technique.
  
• Technique: the grapes are made with the dome method, but only half of the grape is made since it is sewn onto a purse. Each grape is stuffed with a small cotton ball.
  
• The rest of the fruit: The peas of the pea pods are large pearls. The sugared grapes are plastic grapes that are sprayed with adhesive and then have crushed beads sprinkled on them. The strawberries made of beads glued onto a strawberry form. The Easter lemon tree and fruit compote (which includes a variety of fruit) are made by pinning plastic faceted beads into a plastic fruit shape. For an example of this please see this site.
• Overall: I included this book because I found the pin beaded fruit quite interesting. It is very time consuming and probably the most difficult way to make beaded fruit, but it's also rather nice.
  

Making French beaded fruit can be quite a challenge (there are also other ways to make beaded fruit, and that's why I've included the last two books). When a French beaded flower gets knocked over or bent out of shape, it is easy to reshape the relatively flat petals. If you make something three dimensional like an apple or pear, then you almost certainly must include some sort of support shape such as a Styrofoam version of the fruit within the beading. I prefer beading fruit using the method described in the Anderson book: the cup shape around a form. Also, Donatella Ciotti's book Beadwork has beaded grapes which are made by beading around a cross frame.