Paper Beads

I know it has been a while. I have had lots of projects going on. I thought I would share one of them.

Paper beads.

These are some finished beads. Colored with permanent markers for a great neon pallet! I started out with some paper cut into either rectangle strips for tube beads, or triangle strips for the beads pictured above.

I colored the edges of the paper. The center will be hidden so no need to waste ink. (This is not a full tutorial but rather an overview. If you would like full instructions you can find lots on YouTube, which is where I found out how to make mine)

 

I had a variety of materials laid out. Glue for the ends of the paper. Tooth picks to roll paper on to. I have purchased a paper bead roller since then and it was worth it! It was only like $6.00 on eBay and made the process 10x faster! I also had a foam block to place tooth picks on while they dry and also diamond glaze to seal the beads.
 

I rolled the paper onto the toothpick and placed a dab of glue on the end to seal it. This is what a triangle piece of paper looks like rolled up.

This is some of the beads sitting in the foam block after getting a coat of diamond glaze. I poured some in an old shot glass and used a tiny paint brush to glaze them. Once they dried for about 5 minutes I put another coat on them. After they dried again, I simply twisted them to loosen them and pulled them off the toothpicks.                       

                                                  These are some finished stripped ones.

These are some finished tube ones using just plain scrapbooking paper in its natural state. The floral print was small and pretty enough to show up on the bead. I then turned them into earrings. I hope to use the beads in more crafts and jewelry down the road and make many more color combos and styles. I hope you enjoyed this post. Thank you for stopping by. If you are interested in purchasing the earring shown, they can be found in my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SpiritualPathways