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It's not hard at all, but it does take a little practice, so don't get discouraged if your
first attempt is a little lumpy -- just try again. You'll need only a few supplies: some beading
wire (I like 28-gauge), something that'll cut the wire (ordinary scissors do the trick), and some
assorted glass beads. Oh, and some jump rings, little wire circles that you'll add at the end of a spoke
so you can hang your snowflake up. You can find jump rings with jewellery findings. The snowflake
that I'll demonstrate will work fine with beads that are all
the same size, but later you can experiment with some larger round or faceted beads. Don't buy the
tiny tiny seed beads, as they are much too small for the wire to go
through. Click the right-hand photo, notice the millimeter markings on the ruler, and try to find some
beads that are similarly sized to the green and yellow ones next to the ruler. Get good-quality glass beads
if you can. Sometimes they have acceptable stuff
at your basic crafts store (e.g. Micheal's) but you'll have better luck at a real bead store.
But use whatever you can find, they'll be pretty no matter what :)
We'll pretend you are making a red-and-clear snowflake like mine. Cut about 3 feet of wire.
That'll probably be too much, but better too much than too little, since there's no way to add more once
you've gotten started. String 18 red beads on the wire. Snowflakes always have 6 spokes (arms? points?)
so you'll always string a multiple of 6 for your center circle.
Now bend the wire around and form a circle. Stick the end of the wire back through the first bead
you strung, so it has a 2-inch tail of wire going off to the left, and the long tail of wire going off
to the right. Ignore that little short tail until the snowflake is all done. You can kind of bend it up so
it doesn't try to sneak back though the beads. Keep an eye on it. Keep your circle kind of loose -- you
can tighten it up when you're almost done.
Now string the following sequence of beads onto the long tail of wire: 4 clear, 1 red, 4 clear, 1 red, 1
clear. 
You should now have something that looks a lot like this. Now, all you have to do is repeat steps 3 and 4
until you have 6 spokes. But you still have to add that jump ring! So make another spoke, and
then check back...
It doesn't matter which spoke gets the jump ring. I tend to forget -- so I plan on doing it on the 2nd
or 3rd spoke, and often forget 'til the 6th... Try not to forget completely -- it's possible but difficult
to add one when you're all finished. String it on the wire after that last clear bead, and then skip the ring
AND the clear bead when you go back. The pictures should make it clear.
