Bill Garthright said: "I'd like to see a picture of the fake cherries
sometime, though. I'm not
sure exactly how it is done, how closely they must resemble a real cherry."
Bill,
I use red beads that are imported by Darice, Inc. Faceted seems to work
as good as unfaceted. The smooth ones are available up to 1/2" but faceted
up to 3/4".
I use dead soft aluminum wire, .050 or less in diameter, cutting each
piece about 2-1/2" long. With a needle-nosed pliers, I bend a tiny loop and
bend it a 90 degrees so the bead will hang on the wire. At the top, I bend
another 90 to the horizontal, then another 90 to the vertical, then a cane
top like hook where it is to hang on the branch.
Another way to do it is to heat wood-screw hooks with a torch and melt
them into the bead. While this method is faster to fabricate, the hooks
don't give and will grow into the tree branches and need to be moved to
smaller ones.
Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN 56472
For jams, jellies & syrups:
www.bberryfarm.com
(877)265-6856 [Store]
(218)831-7018 [My Cell]
[NAFEX] Making berry decoys,
Jim Fruth, 12/03/2007