Rolled Paper Beads

[peoalda.livejournal.com]

G'day, I'm Liv. I've only just joined so I thought I'd pop in a hello and also an idea some of you might like to try. I'm really into making jewellery; necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, etc. I use mainly beads, and I always wanted to make my own somehow, but I'm really crap with wood, so that ruled that out.

But I managed to find a book that had an idea for Rolled Paper Beads. It's really simple, and some of the affects I've gotten are just stunning.



Materials:

Colourful A4 paper (I used Japanese stationary for my first attempts, but I've started painting 3cm stripes on a white piece of A4. Just experiment)
A ruler
Scissors
Toothpick (I used a thin knitting needle)
A pencil
PVA Glue
Paitbrush

Getting Ready:

1. Place your A4 piece of paper in the landscape position, and using your ruler and pencil, mark every inch with a dot along the bottom and on the top.



2. Draw diagonal lines connecting diagonal dots (hard to explain, see picture)



3. Cut out each individual triangle. Not that I've counted, but there should be approxiamately 23 or 24 triangles. :D

Making The Beads:

1. Pick up your toothpick/thin object of choice, and starting with one triangle piece, take the widest end, and start winding it (rolling) around the toothpick/thin object of choice.



2. Just before the end (about an inch), run a paintbrush with PVA glue on it over the wrong side, and finish rolling. Press down with your fingers, then slide the bead off the toothpick/thin object of choice. Leave to dry for 24hrs.

Optional:

After all the beads are dry, you make like to add varnish for a glossy coat. Up to you.



*bows*

Er, did that make any sense? Well, I hope it did, because I know that I've got a lot out of these beads. You can make necklaces, bracelets...lots with these.
In case my instructions were crap, I've hunted down a few web links that explain it also.

http://www.fitsmybudget.net/crafts/kids/rolled_paper_beads.htm
http://ndnd.essortment.com/paperbeads_rjgl.htm

Oh, and also a picture of what they roughly look like...

http://www.art-e-zine.co.uk/bnebooks.jpg



Stay safe! <3 Liv