To make this garland you need a small piece of white packing styrofoam, seed beads that resemble candies, a small amount of iridescent cellophane.
- Use a crimp bead to create a end on a piece of fine thread or wire and thread clear glass seed beads onto it to create the look of hard candies.
- The garland above was made from a mixed vial of seed beads. Every five beads along the strand, string a junk bead, to be make into a wrapped candy.
- When you have enough beads for a garland that measures ¾ the length you want, cut your beading thread/wire to a longer length than you need and form a temporary block on the end with tape.
- Start with the crimped end of the wire. Take a 3/8 of an inch square section of cellophane and wrap one around the first junk bead you placed on the strand.
- Use fine tweezers to twist the ends of the cellophane so that it wraps tight to the bead like a candy paper.
- Slide the wrapped candy up to the correct position against the other candies. You don't want the garland too tight with beads or it won't hang properly.
- To make popcorn, break off tiny bits of styrofoam from a packing peanut with tweezers. Make them various sizes. Roll them between your palms or your fingers to create small irregular balls. Wherever you want popcorn on your candy garland, apply a bit of glue to the string, then add a piece of foam to either side of the thread or fine wire. Glue extra tiny rounded pieces on top of the main ones to make them look like popcorn. When the glue is dry you can apply a small amount of pale yellow paint to the point where the foam meets the thread.
- Continue to add popcorn and candy wrappings along the length of your garland.
- When you reach the last bead, apply a crimp bead to hold the beads loosely on the thread/wire, and trim the wire or thread to length.
