Flower power bookmarks

Whenever I'm at Chapters (Barnes and Nobles for Americans) it really burns my britches to watch someone pay $6-20 for a bookmark that's mass manufactured.

This thought is what brought me to the next project. Almost everyone could use a bookmark and its a great gift. However, they may not appreciate the time and effort that goes into making a truly exceptional bookmark. Today's use of the 6 ring flower is perfect since its not going to take you hours to make but the result is lovely. I've had people overlook better pieces for this one. (I was a little insulted at the time)

Materials

Metal bookmark hook (picture right)

6 or 5 ring flower (see previous post for pattern)

3 mm or larger bead in color of choice

12-24 inches green thread wound on shuttle

seed beads are optional

Step 1. Using the green thread make the following ring with either large picots or beaded picots:
R 1-1-1-1-1 vsp 1-1-1-1-1 close ring

Step 2. So now you have a green ring and a flower (you can hide the ends on the flower I was just lazy when this picture was taken). Attach the green ring to the flower with the green thread by joining between rings on the flower and snugging up

Step 3. Unwind shuttle, add large bead onto thread and join to vsp on green ring. Pull green thread to the back which should put you between rings 3 and 4 on the flower. If it feels unsteady then you can also do a join to the thread between flower rings 3 & 4.

Step 4: Attach the flower to the crook. The way I do it is by going through the hole in the center of the crook then bringing the thread around the side of the crook and tying between the flower and crook. I do this a bunch of times on each side of the crook. I find that keeps the flower from being floppy. Glue doesn't hurt either

I used green and yellow thread in this case but when I want to be wintry I use white or blue thread with a crystal in the middle. I often put beads on the large picots of the center ring as in the red and white flower at the top. Feel free to fray the picots instead of adding beads. Finally, if you don't have or can't find a metal hook then sew the flower onto a ribbon or cord.