How to Make Paper Beads

Paper beads are a great green craft and fun for all ages. Make a variety of beads and then start making some jewelry! Paper beads are also excellent embellishments for your other paper crafts.

Materials:

• Scraps of paper
• Knitting needle, metal or bamboo skewers or toothpicks
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Glue
• Optional: Clear sealer, glaze, varnish, or decoupage glue and brush

Instructions:

1. Cut paper into strips about 1/2 inch wide and 12 inches long. You can cut the strips into rectangles for tube shaped beads or into long triangles for a tapered beads. Try both styles.
    
2. Take a strip of paper, and begin rolling it tightly around the knitting needle (or a skewer/ toothpick). Note if you are making tapered beads, begin with the wide end of the triangle. You are rolling with the “right” side of the paper showing as you roll and the “wrong” side of the paper disappearing as you roll. Hold the knitting needle firmly between your thumbs and index fingers and with a steady pressure, roll the paper around the knitting needle for one full rotation or two, dab a little glue onto the paper and continue to roll. Add another small dab of glue at the end to securely tack raw end. Hold the end down until it sticks and then slide the bead off the knitting needle.
    
3. As you complete beads, set each aside and let it dry.
    
4. Optional: When all your beads are complete you might want to coat the beads (by brushing on the sealer while the bead is on a skewer or toothpick so the bead hole will not get plugged up with sealer.) with a sealer so they are water-resistant. Once dry you can remove the bead(s) from the skewer.
    
5. Have fun experimenting with different sizes and shapes of beads plus vary your assortment of paper scraps. You’ll have plenty for making a pair of earrings, a bracelet or necklace.