Hi!
While researching my last workshop at ArtisOn, which was all about making jewellery from recycled materials, I hit upon this simple but very effective way of making beads from paper. It’s very quick and the best part is you can use almost any paper, old wrapping paper (which is what I’ve used here) is perfect! And from this you can create beautiful and unique pieces of jewellery for next to nothing. Heres what you need…
paper – preferably decorative or coloured, and not too thin. Try some of this wrapping paper, from the square card company..
Glue – PVA, or a glue stick to limit mess.
Two paintbrushes – one for applying glue, and another for making the beads. One of these brushes needs to have a fairly thin handle, so the hole in the beads doesn’t end up too big.
And scissors.
Cut your wrapping paper into strips. Each strip needs to be at least 6 inches long to make the bead secure enough, but the width is up to you. The wider the strip, the longer the bead will be, but very narrow strips will be fiddly to wind into beads. The strips I have cut here are about 2cm wide.
Taking your thin paintbrush, place the edge of the strip of paper about 1cm away from the non-brush end, and start winding the strip around the brush.
It’s really important to keep the winded paper really tight, otherwise the bead won’t be strong and will look pretty messy.
When you get towards the end of your paper strip, apply a small coverage to the last 1cm of exposed paper, on the side that will be wound into the bead, then wind this over too, smoothing it out and wiping away any excess glue that splurges out.
Leave the bead on the brush for a minute to allow the glue to harden slightly, then gently but firmly push the bead off the end of the brush.
The first bead you do may take a few attempts to get right, but soon you will get into a good rhythm and make loads in no time at all! (tip; cut lots of strips of paper first before you start making the beads, otherwise it really will take you ages!)
To make the beads stronger, cover them with another thin layer of glue and allow to dry.
And there you have it! You now have a sustainable source of beads with which to make oodles of unique jewellery!
If you are inspired by this project, ArtisOn are running a handmade bead workshop on the 4th of June this year (tutored by myself and local ceramisist Charlotte Morrison), where we will be experimenting with a wide variety of materials to create unique and beautiful beads. Places are still available…
See you soon,
Rosie
Make-At-Home with Masham Gallery 