Thursday, November 20, 2014

Paper Beads

Remember making paper beads?
The other day I found a bracelet that I made with  paper beads.
The colors are so pretty and they look like ceramic beads!

 I went into the kitchen and grabbed a couple of wood skewers then I went through my patterned paper picked out a few designs, cut them into strips and started rolling.  All shapes and sizes. It is relaxing. I have my pile of paper, glue and while watching ( well more like listening) to TV I roll and roll and roll.
 I  cut some at 1/2 inch and a few at 2 inches but I like the 1 inch size best. Cut at diagonal and you have a cone style shape

Depending on the thickness of the paper most of my pieces were 12 inch lengths. The thicker sheets did well at 6 inch lengths.

You can use magazine pages too. In fact years ago when I first learned how to make them we used magazine pages.  Book pages, music sheets, origami paper.  Its a great way to recycle left over scraps of paper and magazine pages. Easy project for kids to try.

To seal them after rolling you can use a glaze, Mod Podge or UTEE .  I found the quickest and easiest  way was to use UTEE (Ultra thick embossing enamel)  Just roll bead using skewer onto the Versa Mark pad then using a plastic spoon sprinkle UTEE all over the bead  then heat with a heat gun. I repeat with a second coat of UTEE and heat again.  Wait a few seconds to cool and remove the bead from the skewer.  Voila!

You can use a twilling tool too but remember you need enough of an opening to string bead

On some of the beads I inked the edges with a darker color before applying the UTEE.







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