Paper bead swap

If you're like me, you know that making paper beads is very addictive. You can't just make a few, you have to make at least twenty in one sitting, if not more. And then you'll make your first necklace or bracelet, and another one and another one... and you'll end up with odd beads that are left over from those projects.

Janice from Paper Beads is setting up a paper bead swap. She is looking for at least 16 participants. Details will follow on her blog.

Come and join the fun, and end up with lots of new beads for a brand new project!

One set of Paper Beads

Four different pieces.





The second necklace with the blue beads has already been sold, but for other necklaces and the set of bracelets, please visit Timeless on Artfire.

Does size matter?

Of course not! I love all these beads, from the tiny ones (almost 1/4 inch) to gigantic (1 1/8 inch).
The smallest beads are made of Christmas wrapping paper, the black/white ones of copypaper with some black paint, the khaki-green ones are made of a Coronation Street calender, the black ones are made of copypaper I painted black, the purple ones used to be a Madonna calender , and the green and red beads started their lives as a Pokemon book (don't ask) that I painted.

Now all I need to do is think of a fun project to use them in.

La-la-la-lariat

A necklace you can't do up, how is that a good thing? Well let me tell you...


A lariat-style necklace is a long necklace without a clasp, that you can think of as a scarf. Let it hang loose, wrap it around your neck once or twice, put a simple knot it in like you would tie your shoe and decide whether you want that knot high or low, fold it in half and feed the ends through the loop, you could even wear it around your waist or as a hair accessory. A six-or-maybe-even-more-in-one necklace that gives you all the freedom to create a new look every time you wear it.




This lariat was created by combining glass beads and khaki, off-white and dark purple paper beads. The paper beads were made from a Coronation Street calender, were hand rolled and have been sealed twice. They are water resistant, but not waterproof, so please do not wear in the shower!

Want it? Buy it!

Blue

(and a bit of green and a bit of red and even a bit of white).

This necklace is 21" long and is made out of.. you guessed it... paper beads! They were made out of a film poster, which is why they are not all the same colour.

Please look here for more information and purchase.

Black and white

What is better than a paper bead necklace? TWO paper bead necklaces!




These two knotted paper bead necklaces compliment each other: one is made of white waxed cotton and black beads, the other made of black waxed cotton and white beads.
You can wear them together, or separate and they would look great on a white top or a black one, or a black and white one.

The necklace made of white waxed cotton is 34 inches (or 43 cm.) long, the one made of black waxed cotton is 31 inches (or 79 cm.) long.

The paper beads were all hand painted, then cut and rolled and each bead got two layers of varnish to seal them.

And the best thing? They could be yours! Head on over to my ArtFire shop Timeless.

Red and blue

This 39 inch necklace, made with hand painted paper, a security envelope and a film poster in combination with glass seed beads and dark blue waxed cotton, is for sale at my ArtFire shop.

To knot or not to knot

That's not even a question! Of course to knot!!

Thinking of setting up shop

And then they were bracelets

I searched for a project to do with my cute little beads that I've been showing off in my previous post. I did some white-and-gold ones too, which I thought would look great with the red ones I did. But I didn't want to just string them and be done with it.

Thankfully, there is always Paper Beads for inspiration. Two weeks ago Janice posted this tutorial and here are my results:





I'm not too sure about this one. I reallllyy liked the multi-coloured beads when they were just on the string of elastic cord I had them on. I kept looking at them, wondering what to do with them, because I loved them so much. I'm not sure if the blue is the right blue. But then again, maybe it will just take a bit of getting used to. At least they are great with jeans now!



This one I think came out best of all. I normally don't care for gold that much, but I think it works here.



I really like the pattern and will be making more of these. At least a green one, maybe a green and white one, and who knows what other colours. As they say: watch this space!

More paper beads

60 Inch necklace!

That 60 inch necklace I said I wanted to make? I finally did it.





The paper beads are made of black wrapping paper with silver stars on it that my sister used for our Christmas presents. I combined them with glass beads and see-through seed beads.

Now all I need is a party to go to so I can show this necklace off!

My video on Paper Beads!

As I like sharing my obsessions, I decided to do a video on how to make Paper Beads. Enjoy!



Please show me your paper bead projects. A video response would be awesome, but I'd also like to see blogs, Flickr pages or other pictures. Would love to see this paper bead obsession spread!

(Oh, and the link I referred to is one you've probably already checked out: Paper Beads.)

Round beads!!

Look! Look! I did it!
The lovely Janice from Paperbeads explained to me that I needed to cut long strips, about two magazine pages long (or longer) and only 1/4 of an inch wide. If you go to this post, you will see pictures of how she does it!
Or better yet, watch this video:


I tried to see what they would look like combined with some other beads I had made.

I like. Think this will make a nice bracelet.