Wolf

Our mini series of beading tutorials on 3-D forest animals comes to its end. Today is the final tutorial; we will make a wolf.
We will need:
- size 8 seed beads; I used seed beads of grey, white and black colors, but if desired, you can do without white color and weave a wolf out of gray beads with black nose and eyes;
- wire 0.3 mm thick;
- thin nylon line and a needle for cross-linking of finished figure (if necessary).


To weave a wolf we will use the technique of three-dimensional beading. We met such a beading technique in our tutorials many times, so in this tutorial I will only give a description of each row, but I will not describe each step in detail. If such a presentation is not clear to  you, start learning the basics of three-dimensional beading with this and this tutorials.

For weaving the head and the body of the wolf we need a wire of 150 cm in length.

At this time the 3-D weaving starts from the 1st row.
Start weaving at the middle of the wire. For the first five rows use the following pattern:

1st row:
The upper tier: 2 black beads.
The lower tier: 2 white beads.

2nd row:
The upper tier - string the beads in the following sequence: 1 white, 1 grey, 1 white.
The lower tier: 2 white beads.

3rd row:
The upper tier - string the beads in the following sequence: 1 white, 3 grey, 1 white.
The lower tier: 3 white beads.

4th row:
The upper tier - string the beads in the following sequence: 2 white, 1 black, 2 grey, 1 black, 2 white.
The lower tier: 5 white beads.

5th row:
The upper tier - string the beads in the following sequence: 2 white, 6 grey, 2 white.
The lower tier: 7 white beads.

Side view at this stage:

View of the upper tiers:

View of the lower tiers:

6th row:
The upper tier: 12 grey beads. Take two additional pieces of wire of 20 cm in length each and pass them through the beads of the current tier as described beneath. The first additional piece of wire pass through 8 middle beads of the tier, and the second additional piece of wire pass through 2 middle beads of the tier. We will these use additional wires for weaving the ears of the wolf.

Then make the lower tier of the 6th row: 9 white beads.

Next, make the ears. Both ears are the same, weave them using the technique of flat parallel weaving and the following pattern:

1st row: 3 grey beads.
2nd row: 2 grey beads.
3rd row: 1 grey bead.

Fix and cut off the excess wires which were used for ears. Bend the tips of the wires and hide them between the rows of beads.

Side view at this stage:

Proceed weaving the wolf’s body using the basic wires.

7th row:
The upper tier: 10 grey beads.
The lower tier: 12 white beads. Through 4 middle beads of the current tier pass an additional piece of wire of 30 cm in length. We will use this additional piece of wire later, for weaving the forepaws of the wolf.

8th row:
The upper tier: 8 grey beads.
The lower tier: 14 white beads.

9th row:
The upper tier: 8 grey beads.
The lower tier: 14 white beads. Through 6 middle beads of the current tier pass one more additional piece of wire of 30 cm in length. We will use this additional piece of wire later, for weaving the forepaws.

10th row:
The upper tier: 8 grey beads.
The lower tier: 14 white beads.

11th row:
The upper tier: 8 grey beads.
The lower tier: 12 white beads.

Side view at this stage:

12th row:
The upper tier: 8 grey beads.
The lower tier: 11 white beads. Through 5 middle beads of the current tier pass an additional piece of wire of 35 cm in length. We will use this additional piece of wire later, for weaving the hind paws of the wolf.

13th row:
The upper tier: 8 grey beads.
The lower tier: 10 white beads.

14th row:
The upper tier: 7 grey beads.
The lower tier: 9 white beads.

Side view at this stage:

15th row:
The upper tier: 6 grey beads.
The lower tier: 8 white beads.

16th row is the last row of the wolf’s body:
The upper tier: 4 grey beads. Through 2 middle beads of the current tier pass the last additional piece of wire of 30 cm in length. We will use this additional piece of wire later, for weaving the wolf’s tail.
The lower tier: 5 white beads.

Weaving the body of the wolf is finished. Next, make paws. For the forepaws use additional wires in 7th and 9th rows. For the hind paws use an additional wire in 12th row and the rest of the basic wires.
For weaving all the paws use the technique of three-dimensional beading.

Make each forepaw using the following pattern:

Rows from 1st to 3rd:
The upper tier: 2 grey beads.
The lower tier: 2 white beads.

4th row:
The upper tier: 2 white beads.
The lower tier: 2 white beads.

5th row: only upper tier - 3 white beads.

Make each hind paw using the following pattern:

1st row:
The upper tier: 5 grey beads.
The lower tier: 5 white beads.

2nd row:
The upper tier: 4 grey beads.
The lower tier: 4 white beads.

3rd row:
The upper tier: 3 grey beads.
The lower tier: 3 white beads.

4th row:
The upper tier: 2 grey beads.
The lower tier: 2 white beads.

5th row:
The upper tier: 2 white beads.
The lower tier: 2 white beads.

6th row: only upper tier - 3 white beads.

Next, using an additional wire in the last row of the body make the wolf’s tail.
Weave it using the technique of three-dimensional beading and the following pattern:

Rows from 1st to 4th:
The upper tier: 2 grey beads.
The lower tier: 2 grey beads.

5th row:
The upper tier: 2 grey beads.
The lower tier: 1 grey bead.

Fix and cut off all the excess wires which were used for paws and tail. Bend the tips of the wires and hide them between the rows of beads.

Weaving the wolf is finished. If there are visible gaps between the rows of beads, you can sew the figure with a thin nylon line. To do so, use the technique of cross-linking which is described in detail here. You should sew only the body and the head of the wolf. It is not necessary to sew the ears, paws and tail.

The beaded wolf is ready!

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