Monday, July 16, 2012

Tubular Paper Bead Tutorial

Jane Eyre Bracelet
Nature Book Bracelet
Chinese Menu Bracelet



Hi to all,

Above are some examples of tubular paper beads I have made into bracelets.  One reason I like the tube bead is that it really shows off the materials it was made from.  You can actually see Chinese menu items or the text from Jane Eyre.  Today I would like to go through a step by step process in making a tubular paper bead.  It is really quite easy, once you practice two or three times.


1. To start off you need a skewer, tacky glue, a soft brush and strips of medium weight paper, cut 3/4" X 6".  Here I am using a page from my vintage atlas. To make a bracelet like the ones shown above, you should roll about 32 beads, so start with 35 strips, just in case.


2. To start rolling, place the strip under the skewer as shown.  Tuck ends around and start to roll.  Keep strip snug and both ends even.  If it unrolls, just start again, this has happened many times to me.






3.  Roll to about an inch from the end.

4. Using the soft brush, spread tacky glue on the inch long tail.









5. Finish rolling the bead, holding tail down until glue dries.  Then gently slide bead off skewer, keeping edges even.  See photo below.

                                






6. I place the finished bead on two toothpicks and stick it into an egg carton to dry.  That should take only a few minutes.



 
7.  The last step, coat the bead twice with an ultra-thick gloss.  Let it dry thoroughly between coats..  And now you have a bunch of tubular beads ready for crafting. Hope you enjoyed the tutorial and special thanks to my beautiful hand model, Tori!


Looking forward to meeting everyone this Saturday, July 21st at the
Peekskill Jazz and Craft Fair
For Festival details, visit www.downtownpeekskill.com
 



Happy crafting.  Please check out my etsy shop.


anne

1 comment:

  1. Very nice beads! I love, love, love making paper beads too :) I dry my beads using a really simple rack I made with a box and dental floss - It lets me dry a bunch at a time. http://www.ilovepaperbeads.com/blog/make-a-paper-bead-drying-rack-video-tutorial/

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