Starfish Ornament DIY Tutorial Using Bead Caps

DIY starfish ornament tutorial using bead caps instead of drilling holes or wrapping twine around one of the "fingers" is pretty easy.  All it takes is time and some patience.

Embellished

Natural and simple

Materials:

A)Finger style starfish like the ones shown here.  Mine are about 5.50" across.

B) Sharp scissors

C)1/8" ribbon or thin wire. Use fishing line if you want your ornament to have more of floating effect

D) Bead caps mine have either an antique or silver finish.with little "slots" near the tops.

 It's very important you look for ones that have a "slots" wide enough if your going to be using ribbon instead of fine wire or fishing line otherwise you won't be able to feed the ribbon through.  See photo.

E) Glue. I used Aleene's tacky glue. It dries pretty clear.  E6000 is also a great glue. It's a bit smelly though.
F) If you are going to paint or glitter your starfish do it before hand just be sure everything is dry first.

 For an embellished version like shown in the first photo that has the pearls on it.

You will also need the following

G) Small pearls mine are about 3mm.
H) Tweezers.
I) Small sheet of  aluminum foil.
J) Large aluminum baking pan or any baking pan that has sides you don't care about.
K) Tiny little dish or cup to hold the pearls in.
L) Clothespin or binder clip.

If you want to use crystals instead of pearls  flat back type crystals work best.

"Bead cap with "slots".

If using 1/8" ribbon cut it on a long narrow angle like shown.

Put a tiny amount of glue on the inside of the bead cap.

But the bead cap onto the starfish. Important: Make sure you can see through the slots otherwise you won't be able to feed your ribbon or wire later. Squeeze the cap gently around the finger of the starfish wipe away any excess glue that might squish out the holes.  Set aside and let the glue dry.

Once the glue has dried feed the ribbon into the slots.

Expect from fraying of ribbon during this step.

Wire or fishing line doesn't fray and is easier to feed into the slots.

If you don't care about being able to change the ribbon in the future
feed the ribbon through the slots of the bead cap first
then put glue on the starfish and put the bead cap on.

That's how this one was done.

To add pearls or crystals to your starfish

- Put your pearls or crystals you want to use in the dish.

- Place the starfish, dish or pearls and small piece of aluminum foil into your pan that has sides.

- Use the clothespin or binder clip to keep the ribbon out of the way by securing it to the sides of the pan

- Put a tiny bit of glue onto your piece of foil. You don't need much.

- Pick up a pearl or crystal with your tweezers and lightly touch into the glue you put onto your piece of foil.

- Place the pearl or crystal where you want it on the starfish.

 

Did your crystal or pearl go flying out of the tweezers?  That's the reason for the pan.  Mine went rolling all over because I didn't use one.  I'm am sure to hear that crunching sound when the vacuum cleaner locates them.  Clipping the ribbon to the sides minimizes the glued up pearl or crystal landing on the ribbon. 

You can really go to town making these very sparkling and glamorous.

Hang your starfish out of direct sunlight in a cool area to let the glue for the embellishments dry.

Viola!

Pat yourself on the back for a job well done.
If you don't have the time or care to make these I am thinking of putting some in my Etsy shop soon.