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..!