Make Your Own Paper Beads
Projects & Activities
Strung to make jewelry, sewn onto fabric, or used to embellish everyday items, beads have been made and used by people all over the world for thousands of years. Beads come in all shapes and sizes and can be made from just about anything – shell, stone, seeds, metal, clay, glass, plastic, and even paper. Learn how to make your own paper beads and create jewelry of your own.
Materials Needed:
Colorful wrapping paper or magazine pages cut into long thin triangles
Glue Stick
Scissors
Pencil or straw
Yarn
Directions:
Step 1:
Place a thin triangular-shaped piece of paper wrong side up pointing away from you on the table.
Step 2:
Lay the pencil along the wide end of the triangle.
Step 3:
Tightly roll the paper around the pencil until you have a couple inches of paper left.
Step 4:
Use the glue stick to put glue on the remainder of your paper and continue to roll it up evenly.
Step 5:
Hold the narrow end down until the glue sets (about 30 seconds)
Step 6:
Slip the bead off the pencil and repeat the previous steps until you have as many beads as you want.
Step 7:
String your beads(s) on a piece of yarn to make a necklace.
Variation
Use different size triangular paper pieces for different size beads. You can also replace the pencil with a toothpick for much smaller beads.
