North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Jim Fruth" <jfruth@tds.net>]

James Elie asked, "Rather than try to re-invent the wheel, how did you 
secure the beads to the wire in a natural looking manner?"

   First I wrapped the wire around the berry but the birds weren't fooled. 
It didn't work.  Thereafter, I began with a tiny loop, the end of which was 
bent perpendicular to it (the loop) and slipped the bead on.   At the top of 
the bead, I bent the wire into another perpendicular.  Holding the wire and 
bead with a channel-lock pliers, I bent the wire with another perpendicular 
parallel to that portion of the wire that is inside the bead.  This works 
with dead-soft aluminum wire but anything stiffer poses serious problems.
   I tried inserting glue into the bead hole but couldn't figure out how to 
get the glue down the hole without messing up the berry.  I tried putting a 
gob of glue at the top of the bead to hold the wire but that failed too.  I 
tried just making the tiny bottom loop with no loop at the top but, when the 
birds made off with the decoy, the wire sometimes fell out.
   If you think of an improvement, I'd like to learn of it.
   BTW, just putting one here and there in a tree doesn't work as well as 
using lots (a dozen or more) in a small tree.

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN  56472
For jams, jellies, syrups and more:
www.jellygal.com
1-877-265-6856 (Toll Free)
1-218-831-7018 (My Cell)