How to Make a Snake with Beads

Cut your waxed beading thread at 2 or 3 feet long. Tie a stopper bead at one end of the thread, and leave 4 to 6 inches of thread behind it. Thread a needle at the other end of the string. String an even number of beads onto the thread, and slide them down to the end. The number of beads you start with depends on how large you want your snake to be and how large your beads are. If you are using size 11 seed beads, which are small, you can make a wider snake by using about 12 or 14 starting beads.

Form a circle with these starting beads by running the needle back through the first and second beads. Add the next bead, which will sit on top of the third bead in succession. Feed the needle through the fourth bead and add the next bead so that it sits on top of the fifth one. When you have gotten back around to where you started, you have finished the first three rows.

Add the next bead after you've made the first three rows. Go through the second and fifteenth bead in succession with your needle, and slip the next bead on. This bead will fill in the gap over the fourth bead in succession. Feed the needle through the sixteenth bead and then add the twenty-third bead. Repeat this step to continue adding length to your beaded snake. Stop when you have reached the desired length are are ready to form the head of the snake.

Start the snake's head. Add three beads when starting a new row instead of just one, as before. Since the snake's head becomes wider in the middle and then tapers toward the mouth and snout, add another bead each time you start a new row, and then subtract a bead to come to the end. Add the eyes at the middle with a black bead, or a bead that contrasts the rest of the beads. Finish by looping the thread around the last bead three times and tying it off.

Thread the needle onto the other end where you left 4 inches of thread. You will now make the tail and finish the snake. Start a new row, but subtract a bead each time, the same way you did with the head, only now you are only tapering down to a skinny point. Loop the thread through the last bead three times, and tie it off.