As recipient of said reticule, I have to say that I love it! 

It's surprisingly easy, and doesn't take that long either - I made the tree in the tutorial in an evening. All that wire twisting can be hard on your hands though, so be warned! 

These photos have been sitting around for ages, so it's about time I posted this!

How to make a wire bonsai tree

First, gather your supplies.


You will need:
needle nose pliers
wire (I used old electrical cable copper wire, about 2mm in diameter. I probably used about 10m of wire, measured as a single strand)
beads for the leaves (I used uv reactive pony beads)
oasis or foam for the base (I used an old foam wrist rest previously used at my computer)
a dish to put the tree in
gravel to cover the base
glue to hold the gravel in place
bonsai decorations (I didn't use the bridge this time)



Cut the foam base to fit your container and strip the plastic covering off the wire if you need to.



In groups of 2 or 3 strands of wire held together, push them through the foam base from the bottom leaving the wire folded in half on the other side of the base. If you separate the bunches of wire from each other by a little bit, that can give a nice tree roots effect.



Time to make the trunk of the tree.



Twist all the wires together to form the trunk. In this case I wanted to have the tree growing over the rock (a bit of flint from the garden), so I positioned the rock and twisted the trunk over it.



Bend the trunk into a nice shape and then separate out the wire strands into 3 or four bunches. Twist them together for the main branches. Then make smaller bunches for sub branches and twist them together.


(sorry, a bit out of focus)

To put the leaves on, put a bead on a single wire and run it along until you've got it in a position relative to the trunk that works.



Twist the wire to make a small branch with the bead at the end. It's ok of there's a long tail of free wire at the end, you can use this to make more small branches in the same way.



Keep adding beads and twisting until you've run out of wire. (You can always cut off the extra bits of wire you don't need)



Do the same for you other branches. If it starts looking like a tree, you're set!
Put the base into the container, and sprinkle the gravel on top to hide the oasis.



To keep the gravel in place, cover it in a thick layer of PVA glue (it dries clear, so you won't see it once it's dried)

Admire your new bonsai tree, safe in the knowledge that it won't need watering!

Interested, but it would really depend on the dates. What with Christmas looming and all...

My husband and 2 1/2 year old daughter came home with a bunch of flowers for me recently. Unfortunately, due to the somewhat enthusiastic way my daughter had of carrying the flowers, some of the heads had come off the blooms. Instead of chucking them, I rinsed out the babyfood jar candle holders I'd made for a barbeque in the summer, put some water in the bottom and stuck the flower heads in.

Surprisingly enough it worked grand, and the flower heads stayed pretty for just as long as their compatriots in a proper vase.

Bugger - the proverbial has hit the windmill at work. Two international business trips during the crafting period does not make for good crafting.

Sorry folks. I'll be watching with interest. Maybe next time?

Yes, but I don't think they'll let me take my sewing machine on the airplane. 

I don't think the people sitting next to me would be too happy about it either. Being stuck for 10 hours on a plane is bad enough, without some maniac sitting next to you, muttering curses under her breath and dropping random bits of thread everywhere. Can you imagine the problems glitter could cause to the airplane's air filtration system? Eeep!

I will be crafting when I'm away, but knitting a pair of socks is so much more portable!

I'd like to weigh in with a request for a longer crafting time too - this'll be my first swap, and I want to do it right. (Plus, as I said, I'm out of the country for a week in October, which'll make crafting awkward)

No problem. I know what you mean about energy levels though, I've got a toddler and she's tiring enough. I can't imagine what it's like adding a newborn into the mix!

Back to the swap - what are the thoughts about the new dates? I'm out of the country for the second week in October, so that kinda eats into my crafting time. Also with the current dates, I'd need to send before heading off. That's why I'm dragging my feet on signing up.

I'm still recovering from my last birth but I want to use bellydancing to get back into shape (I'm very much a newbie) and I think this swap would help me get started.

Bellydance is really good for that. I danced up until I was 36 weeks pregnant, and started back again 4 weeks after the birth. It's been a great help getting my abdominals back into shape, even if I still have lingering tummy-pudge.

The secret is to take it slowly, and if some moves hurt (in a bad way) then don't do them for a while, then try again later. Feel free to PM me if you want any more info.