Praying mantis

Not a dragon tutorial. Well, that's new.

I hope you are familiar with different beadwork stitches (peyote and brick stitch, mostly), not
everything here will be explained thoroughly. You can always ask me, though =D

It's easier to make your first one with size 11+ beads. Size 15 has very small holes.
Materials: seed beads (size 11 and maybe 15), 2 bigger beads for eyes, thread, needle, wire.

Made by Rrkra ( http://rrkra.deviantart.com/ ).

Free to use, free to share, free to sell the finished things. Would be nice to link to me, but not
necessary.

1. Start with an even number of beads in a

circle.
If you want a textured back, two of the
beads in the circle should be a bigger size.
Notice how there is an uneven amount of
beads between the big beads.

I started with 20 beads in here.

2. This is a pattern for the tip.

Make one triangle on the top,
one on the bottom. They can
differ in size, it's fine.

Outer beads on the top triangle

are bigger, because I decided it's
prettier that way.
Sew the tops of the triangles
together (simply connect the tip
beads).
Red dots mark the beads from
step 1.

3. Now go through the beads to the other side, and start a

peyote tube. The pattern here is the one I used to give the
back a bit of shape. It looks suitable for an insect. The belly
is made with normal beads, no pattern there.
4. Now make 4 decreases, separated by an
even number of beads. Add ~ 3 rows of
peyote. Make 4 increases above the decreases.
How to increase/decrease – look at the
picture. I tried to draw it.

Now make 3 more peyote rows. If you are

using size 15 beads for the mantis – use some
size 11 (or maybe even bugger) beads on the
back and belly. Look where the blue arrow is
pointing to see how to place them. The ones
on the belly are grouped pretty much the same.
These big beads are the ones wires (for
wings and legs) will pass through. So make
sure the holes are big enough.

Beware of silver-lined and inside-colour

beads. They tend to have very small holes.

5. Now you need to make a turn. End

the peyote tube with a big spike. You
should get something close to the photo.

6. Brick stitch time.

Add a row of brick stitch, like shown.
There are two ways, pick whichever you
like. The first one s suited better for
beads with small holes – less risk of
accidentally breaking a bead.

You can miss some beads if you see that

they don't fit.

(The green line is the actually the end of

the red line.)
 ^ Two ways to decrease
for brick stitch. To me,
the first one looks
neater.

7. Continue with brick stitch, decreasing like shown, until you end up with 6 beads in a row. Insert wire.

8. Now to secure the wire. Numbered green dots are

the beads from the previous row. Wire goes under
the thread where the two blue dots are.

Now you have 4 beads in the row. Add 1-2 brick

stitch rows.

Also, about the previous step – notice how I bent the

wire. It goes all the way to the bottom/chest. It acts
as an additional support for the body.

9. This will be the head. Make

one brick stitch “leaf” -
approximately how it's shown
on the picture.
10. Adding the eyes.
Like on the picture. You might have to adjust
it a bit – depends on the beads you use for
eyes. I used 4mm bicones and size 15 Toho
beads here.

11. Adding antennae.

Just sew them on top, in the
spot of your choice, pretty
simple.

12. Now get to the centre of the head, and

poke through the beads to the underside.
This is a view from the underside – big blue
dot is where the thread goes out.

It doesn't have to be absolutely exactly in

the centre. Close to it will do.

Add a big bead to the thread, then go

through the beads marked by small blue dots
– thread should go out of the bead right
under the wire.

This will both put the thread where you will

need it later and make sure the head stays in
right position.
 13. Should look something like this.
Hmm. It has a very weird expression...

Be careful with bicones. They often cut thread.

You can use glue or nail polish to cover the thread –
useful for the eyes (less risk of thread being cut) and
antennae (they will become stiff).

14. Starting the legs. Or hands.

Or whatever it is that mantis uses
to grab prey.

Put the beads onto the wire. How

many – depends on how long you
need the legs to be. Bend the end
of the wire, so beads won't come
off. Leave a bit of space for the
beads to move - slightly over
1mm should be enough. You can
leave a bigger hook, so you can
cut off a bit of wire in case you
need more space between the
beads.
Starting legs and wings will look pretty much the same, by the way.

15. More brick stitch. Except that the

thread goes around the wire, not around
other thread. It's because you can't go
through the beads – there's wire in them.

You don't have to add a bead between

every two beads. Just make sure it looks
nice. You can add bigger beads or add
smaller beads/miss some spots – to get the
leg to bend how you need it to. Look at the
pattern for a general idea.

The thick red line is the wire.

See how the last beads are sewn to the

wire hook?

Adding a drop of epoxy/nail polish/glue

onto the hook helps secure the threads and
hide the wire if it stands out too much.
 16. Yay, spikes.

Just add a row or two of brick stitch. And put

spikes on top of it.

Go back through the beads, to the start of the

second leg. You can add some brick
stitch+spikes on the way, to make it look more
like a mantis.

Looking at mantis photos will give you lots of

ideas. There are all shapes, colours, patterns and
sizes there.

17. More legs. The ones that are for waking this
time,

Blue dots – where the wire goes through.

 18. Add beads for the legs, bend the
wire...
That's how my mantis looks so far.

And then it's step 15 all over again.

Legs move freely at this point, so the

mantis will have trouble standing.

19. Same way as the front legs, except that they are bent a bit differently. And the tips have little claws
attached, instead of hunting spikes.
 20. First one shows how to sew the
leg to the body, so it would move less.
Helps the mantis to stand.
Brown line is the wire. Green dots on
top are from the chest.

Second one shows what to do if you

want to add spikes on the other side of
the leg. You can do it along with the
brick stitch, or when returning to the
top through the beads. Pull tight.
Black line is the wire.

21. I attached the wings a bit differently too – just through one
bead.

Same as with legs. Step 15 for the base row of brick stitch, first
picture from step 20 to make them move around a bit less.

And then just brick stitch to give the wing the shape you want.
Maybe use some dragonfly/butterfly wing patterns... Or copy a
real mantis.

22. My mantis with one wing finished. I used some

Treasures and short bugle beads to give the wing a
different texture.

Don't make it too heavy. Make sure the wires can

support its weight.
23. That's how I shape the wings. This way gives a more even outer edge.

24. Shiny mantis.

Rawr.