Making a simple beaded fish keychain

This Autumn I've been working my way through my craft stash with some projects that I batch prepped in advance. Last week I shared my Autumn themed beaded bracelets, and this week it's another bead project - a beaded fish keychain.

I made my fish keyring using the tutorial below:

I watched the video through a few times before I began, and I worked out exactly how many beads I would need of each colour. Then I gathered all my supplies together ready to work on.

This is the first time that I've tried a beading craft with wire, and I will say that I did not find it as easy as I expected. It took me several attempts and a long time, to produce my beaded fish, and I had to undo my work many times. I changed the sequin that I used for the eyes to a larger one, and because my beads aren't all uniform sizes he has come out a little wonky.

Once I had got the hang of it I progressed quickly, and I think that I could probably make another one very easily. But this craft didn't really appeal to me, so I don't think I'll be making any more. I'll be looking for some other crafting options next time when it comes to de-stashing my beads!

I used slightly larger beads than the ones used in this tutorial so I cut myself a longer piece of wire which was a good move because I very nearly ran out.

Here are the exact quantities of beads that are needed for one beaded fish using this tutorial:

Tail - 10 (orange)

Mouth - 4 (red)

Colour 1 - 44 (green)

Colour 2 - 28 (gold)

Colour 3 - 19 (silver)

Eyes - 2 (black)

You also need:

2 round sequins for the eyes

1 jump ring (and pliers to open and close it)

1 keychain attachment

A length of wire, I used a 1m, which is thin enough to pass twice through the centre of each bead

This is a fun and meditative craft project, and if you have beads in lots of different colours you could easily and quickly bead up a whole aquarium. But for now I'm just going to enjoy my one beaded fish!