Paper Beads!

Yep I know, doesn't sound too glamorous, but paper beads can be so cute! It's a great way to recycle old paper and doesn't need too much of an investment. Like these beads I made from a magazine page :) I just love the purple and yellow on it! The other side of the page had a yellow and red theme, and that was what I had been aiming for. But my mind was wandering (as usual!) when I started rolling, so I ended up with this:

Which wasn't so bad after all ;)


I was trying paper beads for the first time, but I ended up rolling so many, that I didn't know what to do with them. Until I remembered the bronze hearts I had found in a bead store. Got a whole pack of 'em [yes, I have a thing for hearts :) ]. Anyway, so I threaded the beads onto a chain, added a heart, and a couple of glass beads and voila!




What you'll need:

• Sheets of paper (newspaper, scraps, notebook sheets, designer paper, anything you like)
• Scissors or exacto knife
• Long ruler
• Craft glue (or any white paper glue)
• Toothpicks
• Varnishing medium & paint brush
• Styrofoam block (or make one yourself)
• Most important- lots of patience!

Tip- The longer you cut your strip, the thicker (bigger) the bead will be when finished.


Here's a link for those who want to try it out for themselves.

Piece of advice: try to use pages from magazines or books. Plain sheets will give you pretty simple beads (unless that's what you want ofcourse!). And don't worry about the text or images showing on the finished beads- they hardly do, and sometimes, it adds to the charm! :) And last- protect your work! I applied 3-4 coats of varnish on each bead. It also helps to harden them.

There are sooo many shapes that you can make! You just need to know how to cut 'em and roll 'em, so here's a picture showing the patterns I follow:

 

You can ofcourse make alterations as you go. Some of the patterns (the ones with the 'branches') produce different beads if rolled differently. For example, for the last pattern, you can roll the whole thing normally, or you could choose to stop after the first 5cms, and then roll the triangles backwards. Many other variations, will try to put up pics of 'em soon!

The measurements are just a guideline, once you're confident enough you can simply cut and roll away!

PS- Here are some really great ideas for paper beads! Happy rolling :)