Paper Beads

I had the pleasure over at Go. Be Creative. to feature a tutorial and project for the month of October. I decided to create some jewelry using my scrapbook kit for the month.  I thought I would share it here on my blog too - hope you like it!!  I would LOVE to see what you create if you use the tutorial!!!

Scrapbook Paper Beads

Supplies:
- Scrapbook papers of choice
- ModPodge
- Paint Brush
- Cylindrical object to wind paper around – I used a plastic q-tip
- Ribbon or other thread to string beads on (any additional jewelry-making hardware you might want)
- Needle (for threading beads)

1. Cut the papers you have chosen into triangular strips (photo 1a) that you can choose to “blunt” the end of as shown (photo 1b) to make beads of different shapes. The triangular strips tend to make rounder beads while the “blunt” end triangular strips make more oblong beads. Play around with the strip shapes to discover what kinds of beads you can make!

1a


1b



2. Begin winding your strips of paper starting at the widest end first on some kind of cylindrical plastic object that will leave your bead with a large enough hole to pass a needle through with whatever ribbon/cord/thread you desire to use. I used a plastic q-tip because a regular white “cardboard” q-tip would stick to the bead and ModPodge you will need to use in a few steps. A paint brush or some other object like that will work too – you just want the cylinder to be of uniform width so that you paper doesn’t wind irregularly or you end up with different sized holes on each end of the bead.




3. Apply a very small amount of glue to the end of your strip to adhere it to the bead and keep it from un-winding.





4. Using a paint brush, apply ModPodge to the bead while still on the tool you used to wind it on. I used Matte ModPodge but I think that the glossy ModPodge would make some beautiful beads that would almost appear as if they were madee out of ceramic or glass. Make sure to get in the grooves of where the paper spiraled on either side.








5. Remove bead from the cylindrical object you wound it on and place it somewhere to dry. I simply placed mine on top of my scratch paper that I was working on on my table. My beads were not very sticky from ModPodge because I kept my ModPodge very thin. Be careful of what you set them on because they could stick. If you used heavy coats of ModPodge then you will want to stick them on a surface that is non-porous and will also perhaps want to move them before they are totally dry to make sure that they’re not sticking to what you placed them on.



6. After allowing the beads to dry, you can then string them to complete your bracelet.