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Make a Beaded Suncatcher Mobile (and Protect Wild Birds)

Whether you want to catch the golden rays of the sun or just want to add a little dazzle to your window, a beaded suncatcher is a fun and easy project you can complete in an afternoon.

DIY Beaded Suncatcher Mobile

I have a window in the back of my living room that was a persistent danger to my feathered friends. Birds would fly into that window on a daily basis. Why do birds fly into windows? It’s because they see the reflection of sky or trees in the pane of glass instead of a window.

Pretty and Protection for Wild Birds

The best way to help the birds from doing this is to disrupt the reflection. There are several ways to do this: you can use stickers, cover the window or draw streaks across the surface with soap. I wanted a prettier solution: a suncatcher!

Place the beaded suncatcher in front of a window to protect birds

 

How to Make a Beaded Suncatcher Mobile

Materials

Beaded Suncatcher Mobile Supplies

Get your piece of wood and measure 1 inch increments along its length. I used a piece of bamboo flooring leftover from another DIY project. You can use a dowel rod or even driftwood for this project. I drilled 12 holes along the length of the bamboo.

Measure wood frame for suncatcher

Use a small drill bit to drill a hole in each of your marked increments. The two holes at each end of the wood will be where the nylon string will be inserted to created a hanger, so these might have to be a little bit larger in order to fit the thicker nylon rope. I drilled 12 holes in all. This means I need 10 strings of beads for my mobile.

Drill Holes for suncatcher

Cut a length of rope at least 24 inches long. String the nylon rope through one of the drilled holes on the end. Pull it through and string in through the drilled hole on the opposite end of the piece of wood.

Pull Rope Through for suncatcher

Secure the nylon rope with a double knot on each end.

Tie Knot for making suncatcher

Cut a length of beading string and thread the beading needle and secure the tail with a knot. My beading string was about 36 inches long. Once it was threaded and knotted it was about 13 inches long. String up a bead on the threaded needle.

Thread Bead for Suncatcher

Pull the thread through and then bring the beading needle back under the bottom of the base (where the knot is) and back through the bead. This will serve as a stopper for larger beads.

Bring Needle Back Through Bead for Suncatcher

String up a larger bead and place it next to the smaller stopper bead. When you are done adding beads, always end with a smaller bead (the stopper bead) by passing the threaded beading needle back through the base of the smaller bead as explained earlier.

Add Another Bead for Suncatcher

Continue to string beads. I spaced my few inches apart for an open look. You can also stack the beads one after another. Each one of my beaded strings were about 13 inches long. You can make them longer or shorter if you like.

String Of Beads for Suncatcher

Pass the bead needle (that’s still attached to your completed string of beads) through one of the holes in the piece of wood. Take a small bead and pass the beading needle trough. Bring the beading needle back around and pass it through the bead again. Secure it with a knot and cut the string.

Secure to Top for Suncatcher

Continue making strings of beads and securing them to the piece of wood one string at a time.Gorgeous handmade beaded suncatcher close up

Now, hang your beaded suncatcher mobile in a window that gets plenty of sunlight and watch it sparkle! My mobile hangs in the window that the birds were flying into and I am glad to report that the suncatcher is doing its job of breaking up the reflection. It’s pretty and keeping my backyard birds safe.Hang a DIY beaded suncatcher outdoors

More Hanging Craft Projects for Gardens and Plants

Comments

  1. That whole first step, beading that small bead and tying it off…then you said to do it again ‘as it was explained before…’

    Oh my…I’m so confused. I came here to your site because it said “Garden Therapy” And because the blurb about it said tutorial and tying (the thing I have the hardest time with) — I am feeling untherapied right now…can you clarify the first part, please? Thank you.

    Reply
  2. Thank you. I would love to put this on our blog: blog.GoodyBeads.com It’s perfect for Spring Cleaning your stash of beads.

    Reply
  3. Thank you for the great tutorial! I hope to share in my June newsletter to give ideas on crafting to correlate with summer solstice.

    Reply
  4. I’m with EVERYBODY who doesn’t understand the first step (crucial to understand). Can ANYONE post something which more easily explains how you string the ‘stopper’ bead, thread back through it and add a bigger bead then continue in??? The artist does not explain this well and I see many posts here which indicate other people gave up on this project, too. IF ANYONE CAN MORE EASILY EXPLAIN THE BEADING PROCESS, PLEASE DO SO!!!!! Thanks!

    Reply
    • I think the trick is to go through the lil stopper guy twice so he stays put. Does that make any sense?

      Reply

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