Beautiful beaded flowers can be made with a variety of bead types. The type of beads you choose for your project depends in part on whether you’re making simple flowers or a more exotic bouquet.

Czech beads are perfect if you are making beaded French flowers, but possibly not if you are making Victorian-style flowers. In French flowers, the wire passes through each bead only once. The hole through the center of the Czech beads is small, so a single pass of the wire is no problem for almost all of your beads.

Also, Czech beads are inexpensive and can be purchased strung on skeins of thread. Beads that are already strung can be much easier to transfer to wire to make floral elements. Czech beads can be a bit irregular in shape, but that doesn’t have to be a disadvantage. You can make extremely pretty flowers with these beads; the flowers will have a very natural and “approachable” look.

Toho and Miyuki beads are Japanese beads. These beads have much larger holes in the middle. This is a plus if you are making Victorian style beaded flowers. In Victorian techniques, the wire should be passed through each bead up to three times.

If you are going Victorian, you will need a good understanding of how to use beading wire for your project so that you do not create unnecessary gaps or loops in the wire. The larger hole in the Toho and Miyuki beads will easily accommodate the larger number of wires that need to go through.

The Miyuki and Toho beads are also very regular. Its edges are uniformly smooth and well rounded. Flowers made with these beads look very polished and luxurious.

Then, there are the Swarovski crystal beads. The flowers that you can make with these beads will be especially spectacular. These beads are available from 3 mm in size. They are also made with a number of finishes to make them shine. Working with these crystal beads is like working with diamonds.

If you make whole large flowers such as roses, lilies or cattleya orchids with Swarovski beads, you will very quickly see how to turn a craft item into a true work of art. This is partly because the beads are much larger than the seeds, but also because these beads are particularly clear and shiny.

For a different effect, you can use just a few Swarovski beads as the center of your flowers. An especially good use would be the “beehive” center, which is shaped like a rounded dome. This shape will take advantage of all the reflective surfaces of the Swarovski beads, making the flowers on it really eye-catching.

As a side note: take care that you know how to use beading wire correctly for each flower and each type of bead you are using. For example, don’t use a spool of wire that is too thick, especially if you are doing a Victorian technique and a good deal of the wire will show through. Thick wire will give your flowers a heavy, unprofessional look.

Also, use a cable that “disappears” as much as possible. For example, don’t use black wire when you’re making flowers with clear, pastel-colored beads. This wire would show through and ruin your delicate effect. There are many wires available now that will perfectly match your flowers. Some of the colors available now are white, antique white, beige, gold, and silver. In general, you can’t go too far wrong by using matte-tone 24- or 26-gauge gold or silver wire for French or Victorian beaded flowers.