Beads...Beads......Everywhere............!!!

Last time, I mentioned about paper beads and cloth beads. Today I am going to show you how to make it!

Making paper bead is a good idea to recycle newspapers and magazines. It is very simple and inexpensive too. All we require is old newspapers or magazines. We can make it from colour printed papers or by drawing our own designs on sheets of paper. Before going to it, I want to tell you one more thing; if you want the beads to be uniform, make sure to use papers having similar designs and cut them all in the same size.

Beads of different sizes can be made by changing the measurements of paper while cutting.

Materials required:

- Paper

- Marker (if you are not using pre-designed papers, you need markers to draw your designs on the plain paper).

- Scissors

- Toothpick

- Glue

- Glazes (like Diamond glaze,  Transparent nail polish etc)

Beads can be of many shapes – cylindrical, oval, spherical etc. With papers of different sizes, shapes and designs, theses patterns of beads can be realized. Cylindrical beads can be made by cutting the paper in rectangle shape.  If you want an oval bead, cut the paper in triangle shape (like tower, shown in the picture). Base of the triangle shows the width of the bead and sides of the triangle will be the center thickness of the bead. Follow the below steps:

v Cut the paper in the desired shape – straight, triangular etc. (fig: 1, 2)

v Draw designs or patterns (if needed) (Fig: 3)

v Turn the side with pattern (which needs to be the pattern on the bead) down and start rolling the paper using a toothpick. (Fig:1,2)

v Apply glue at the other end. Keep it for drying. Once it is done; remove the toothpick slowly.

v You can extend the life span on the beads by glazing it. (You can use any glazes I have mentioned above. Transparent nail polish is the one available everywhere).

v Repeat these steps to make beads of different size and textures

The same techniques can be used to make cloth beads (use jeans or thick cotton materials).Using these beads you can make neck pieces, bracelets, earrings etc. The only problem with these beads is; it will get spoiled if gets wet.

If you are not using any pre-designed paper; then take an A4 sheet, cut maximum number of triangles out of it and draw any of the designs I have shown above.  

Note: Make sure that you are using markers while drawing the picture and turn the side with patterns drawn, down, facing the ground.  

Here I am sharing some of the beads and accessories I created. It will inspire you for sure..!

The box of Joy

                    

Jewellery !!! Oh God !... I am so crazy about it. Whenever I wear a new dress, the first thing I used to do is searching for a matching accessory.  The same is the first preference for me while doing shopping. For all these years, I have accumulated a good collection of jewellery in my wardrobe.

After marriage, it was my mother-in-law, who took me to the world of beads and pearls. I still remember the day I made my first jewellery. It was a Sunday; my Husband was leaving to his workplace for a gap of one month, after our marriage.  Tears rolled down my eyes all of a sudden and I started crying like a small kid. That moment, my mother-in-law consoled me and gifted me “a box” (I would like to call it – the box of Joy), to change my mood. When I opened it, I was surprised! It was full of colourful beads, pearls, strings and all kind of jewellery making tools. She taught me the basic things on creating jewellery from the available set of things. A sudden mood swing, I forgot about loneliness and my husband, entire concentration was on strings and beads. On the same night, I was looking at my ‘FIRST CREATION...!’

 My first creation. Hope it’s not a damp squib!

One month later, I moved to Bangalore with my husband and was getting bored once he left for office.  Days passed, and all of a sudden, the idea of jewellery designing struck me again. Forgot to say, while coming to Bangalore I have taken my mother-in-law’s all jewellery making tools, even though it was as old as Adam. (Hope she won’t read my blog.  :-p ).    I started concentrating on beads jewellery and spent lot of time searching for places where I can get the beads in Bangalore.  From some online forums, I came to know about “Raja Market”, near to Chikpet. As I was new to Bangalore I started waiting for weekend to come so that I can go to the market with my husband and purchase the required items. When I spoke to him regarding that place, he smiled without saying anything and as usual like any other wife, I took his silence as a blank cheque. The very next Saturday, he took me to the market. That was really a wonderful experience because I never had seen such a market in my life. It was so crowded and people were thronging in shops to get beads of their choice and like. There were lot of coloured beads, pearls, lockets and metal artifacts for accessory making. I bought many things, which I thought, will add to my raw material stock, from there. Even when writing this blog, I am sure that this place won’t disappoint you if you are an enthusiast. 

                       
After reaching back home I was eager to start my first experiment with beads and threads. My husband also helped me for that. He started surfing and showed me variety of designs that I can make. It was through him I came to know about making paper beads and cloth beads. He did all these to see the smile on my face and to keep me out of boredom.

                                           
In due course of time, I made variety of beads jewellery, shared some of my creations with my friends and they were very much encouraged me. These responses thrilled me and increased my confidence.  I started wearing it whenever I get a chance to go out; also gifted some of these to my friends and relatives. Still, my favourite ones were kept as treasure for my little Angel!

Here are some of my initial ideas in beads and strings. Your valuable suggestions and comments are always welcome. :)

After going through the basics of jewellery designing, I have learned two things;

• First, whatever accessory we see in the market, can be made ourselves with a little effort.
• Second, the actual price of any jewellery is twice or thrice lesser than the market value (this is the sole reason why the shop keeper gives you huge discounts on whatever you take)

  So, keep these in mind and start your own experiment. After all it's all child’s play!  

A stepping stone to the world of Blogs

It made me loooong time to think and decide on whether I should go online with my ideas.. As many people do, its a kind of technique to relieve my boredom.. I was thinking of utilizing my time between household chores and playing with my little angel. For sure she adds colours to our life and its nice if i could do something to make it more colourful. At this point I decided to share my ideas online which could make me feel better and be myself.. Hats off to my hubby for encouraging me for taking such a daring step..  :)