How-To's Day: Make Paper Beads (and Enjoy too!)

I got these beautiful necklaces from Amanda Pearl created with BeadforLife paper beads at a sample sale downtown 2 weeks ago.  I had no idea that the Cooper Building Downtown held my new favorite jems and a reason to look forward to making the trek downtown at least once a month now!!!   

The Cooper Design Space (Unfortunately no relation to me...) Has a ton of great showrooms and it is where the UNIQUE Office is located now.  I got lucky and went in on the last Friday of the month when the whole building practically has a sample sale!  These necklaces where the only thing that came home with me mostly out of appreciation of the BeadforLife's amazing beads!  
*Check out this blog post for more details on Amanda Pearl's trip and these necklaces here*

If you haven't checked it out already please watch this YouTube video with some behind the scenes and a quick, fun and easy tutorial that is kid friendly.  I am breaking down the main steps here:

MATERIALS AND TOOLS NEEDED *Scissors and Beading Needle Requires Supervision*

Here is a Deckle Edge Ruler-

The strip needs to be more triangular than straight.

Place the Deckle Edge Ruler down and hold firm with left hand.

PULL the paper Towards you.

 

The triangular strip of paper-

Start with the fatter end on your paintbrush or bamboo skewer.

Roll it away from yourself to hold nice tight tension.

  (Leave around ~ 2" tail for gluing.)

Rub the glue on the strip on scrap paper so you don't mess up your work surface ;)  

Roll the glued section up.

PINCH the bead. Especially where the glue is for ~30 sec.

A BEAD :)

There is a bit more on simple stringing at the end of the video if you want to make a necklace or bracelet with your finished beads.  I haven't included sealing or water-proofing since this was a fast demo and for kids.  That can be accomplished with many different things like clear nail polish or polyurethane.  I personally would rather treat my items delicately and just with a couple of coats of Mod Podge you can achieve a really nice and pretty protective surface for treating the paper beads.

 

***ENJOY***