Kit review - Boneyard Bauble

If you have children in the house, All Hallow's Eve is never allowed to pass you by. I now have quite a collection of spooky decorations that come out every year as well as a range of scary costumes, so when I saw this new bauble kit from Spellbound Bead Co, I knew I had to give it a try. 

This kit is rated 8/10 for difficulty so I probably wouldn't attempt is as a first bauble project. However, the instructions are very clear and because you build up the design in stages, you shouldn't be put off by this relatively high 'trickiness'.

In the pack, you will find a black bauble, all the beads you need plus black thread, a needle and of course a comprehensive set of instructions. The bead packs are all labelled which makes identification really easy. It is recommended that you use white thread for some parts of the project (using white beads) and this is not included in the pack.




Despite the temptation to jump ahead to the skeleton figure, I started from the beginning, making the skull and crossbones motifs using the white thread. The first one was a little tricky but I got better and better at making them!

Next was the netting component and there was no need to adjust the bead count for the bauble included in the kit in this instance There are two types of dangles attached to the foundation frame for this design - six with the skull and crossbones motifs and six with a bone element.

Following this, you will need to bead a tombstone shape that attaches to the loop on the bauble itself. This is quite a quick section to complete and then it's time to make the skeleton to adorn the top of your bauble.

I am always a little amazed how threading on different sized and shaped beads and stitching rows together results in something that is instantly recognisable. Sometimes, it's hard to see how the sequence you are working to will end up with a finished shape. This is where the designers at Spellbound really excel. They have done all the hard work of working out the order of the beads and the tricky construction so all you have to do is follow the instructions (written and graphical) to succeed.







The most difficult part of the skeleton is the skull which takes a while to build up. My skull ended up looking a little pointy around the nose but hopefully the next one I make (I have plans to make a few more skeletons this Halloween!) will come out more rounded.

Once you've beaded the skeleton, it's time to attach it to the bauble. This is quite a tricky process as there are lots of thread ends to deal with. Take your time and don't worry if your skeleton isn't posed in exactly the same position as the picture!


The Boneyard Bauble kit is £14.95 and is available to order from the Spellbound website.