Jewelry Making / Beading Station DIY

Materials Needed

1 Piece of foamboard

1 square of felt

Stick pins

Glue

Wire dish rack from dollar tree

Small storage boxes dollar tree

Materials for decorating ( I used washi tape and ribbon from dollar tree)

Cut foam board into the following pieces

     12 X 11  inches

 12 X ½ inches  (2 of these)

 12.5 X 3 inches  (2 of these) Sides

12 X 3 inches  (2 of these) Top & Bottom

Glue the square of felt onto the bottom portion of the 12 X 11 piece of foamboard

Use the 12 X ½  inch piece of foamboard as a guide with the 12 X 3  pieces of foamboard, to place top and bottom sides of the station.

Use stick pins to attach the two pieces of foamboard together.

Once in place separate enough to add glue  and then seal back in place.

To attach the sides  run glue along all the edges then place the 12.5 X 3 pieces of foamboard aligning them so that they are even  with the top and bottom pieces already in place.

There will be some over hang on one end so that you get a good fit 

once  everything is in place trim this off. 

Place the  12 X ½ inch piece at the top edge of the felt glue in place and add stick pins in sides and along top to secure into place. These will stick out of the bottom . You will use wire cutters to snip them off when finished.

Use the other 12 X ½ piece to cut into 2 inch sections to make the dividers. Glue in place and again use stick pins to secure in place on the sides 

Underneath run glue along all the edges to reinforce and seal any cracks

You can also do this in the small sections on the front .

Decorate to your preference I used what I had  Washi tape and ribbon.

Since washi tape likes to lift up I glued it down to the top edges to give it a nice finished look.

 

For the sides I pinned the ribbon into place  at each of the corners and glued them down into place as I went around. Using clamps to hold as it dried. Let dry over night.

I picked up this wire dish rack from the dollar tree as well as these 5 small plastic containers.

Place rack on its side great way to have your tools handy and use containers for 

the projects your working on or to store your favorite beads or findings.

Put it all together and your done and it wouldn’t be complete without my magnifying light.

Enjoy your Jewelry Making /Beading Station!!!

 

Paper Bead Display

 This paper bead display is what I use to keep track of the paper beads I make most often. This way when I want to make some of a certain type of paper bead all I have to do is find the bead on the display and it will tell me what I will need to duplicate the bead. I use to keep a notebook with all of the instructions to make the paper beads . But I found that seeing the actual bead instead of a drawing of it made it a lot easier to decide what size I would really need. So this was my solution for that I hope you find this  as a useful tool in your paper bead making supplies as I do.

What You Will Need To Create This Project

1 Piece of foam board

6 stick pins

Packing Tape

Exacto Knife

Some poster board or other paper to decorate the sides

 Start off by cutting your piece of foam board in half

Using one half of this foam board which should now be 20 inches wide by 14 inches in height. You want to draw 3 lines 5 inches apart so that you will  have 4 equal sections. Using the exacto knife score threw only the top layer of the foam board so that the board can be bent but not cut into pieces

.

Fold your piece of foam board into a box shape so that you can see the creases on the  opposite side . lay board flat again and now use the packing tape. Place a strip of the packing tape along each crease to strengthen these areas so that they will not tear apart in the future.

Now place the foam board back into your square shape and use another piece of packing tape to attach the last 2 end sides together.

Cut a small piece of foam board 1.5 inches wide by 5 inches in length. Tape this piece into place as shown above. Creating a brace in the inside bottom of your paper bead display.

Place 3 stick pins  into each side of the brace creating a good strong base for your paper bead display.

Now all you have to do is decorate to your liking.Use your imagination to create a paper bead display that will fit into you special crafting space.

 

 I used 4 pieces of poster board cut into  5 inches wide by 15 inches in height.

 I just glued one piece of poster board onto each side having enough to 

fold over on the top to give it a nice finished off look.

My finished paper bead display I slapped my logo on the front of it and attached my paper bead blanks along with the information I need to be able to create each of the paper beads. This can fill up quickly so you just might want to make two of them. Feel free to share with me how your paper bead display turned out I would love to see them.

IBDCraftyLady Paper Bead Project

Glazing Rack DIY

This glazing rack is 9 inches tall

After all of my testing of different types of  glazing and or drying racks over the years, I sat down and decided what  was needed most and what would help me to be more efficient while making my paper beads. This is the rack I finally came up with and best fill all of my paper bead making needs.

What you will need to Make a 14 inch tall glazing rack

1 pieces of foam-board  or 2 pieces of foam board 1 black and 1 white if you want it two toned like the ones I have made here. I just used scraps of what I had and sized it to my needs.

A pack of stick pins

A bottle of glue

5 chop sticks /  5 thin dowels, or 5 long skewers

I used the packs of chop sticks that come when we order Chinese food as no one but me knows how to use them, so I had a lot of extra ones in my home. You could also use  thin dowels cut into  8-9 inch lengths or even the bamboo skewers used for cooking. 

Out of the Black foam board you will need two rectangle pieces

1 piece cut to 10 inches in width by 12 inches in height (Piece A)

1 piece cut to 10 inches in width  by 14 inches in height.(Piece B) This piece determines the height of you glazing rack. If you want to make the shorter rack  the dimensions for this piece would be  10 inches in width by 9 inches in height. I would not go any shorter than 9 inches but you can go as high as you would like as long as it is still stable while it is standing alone.

The dimensions for the side and top supports are as follows, and they are also pictured above.

2 rectangle pieces of foam board cut into  1.5 inches in width and  10 inches in length(Piece C)

2 Triangle pieces  that have a 10 inch bottom  and a 2 inch flat top instead of a point. (Piece D)

Now how to put it all together

 Bottom of the board                         Top of the board

You start off with Piece A Draw a line threw the center of this piece so that you have 6 inches on each side of the line . You will then place stick pins threw the foam board  all along the line

Place Piece B so that the stick pins are going into the foam part on the bottom of Piece B.

Add glue before pushing it all the way to the bottom . You will also want to check the bottom of Piece A to make sure all of the stick pins are in all of the way. When done it should look like the pictures above  from the front and side views.

On Piece D  find the center and draw a line.

Use this line to center the upright part of your rack.(or piece B)

Add glue to the areas of your bottom part of your rack (Piece A) and the upright part of your rack. (Piece B) that will be touching Piece D. Put Piece D in position and  attach with stick pins, as pictured above. Repeat these steps on the other side of the glazing rack with your second Piece D. You should now have a rack that looks something like the picture below.

(Sorry about the mess in these pictures as I had just moved and had nowhere to craft. but I had this idea and had to make it right then and there . Proof this is quick and easy to make  in no space lol)

For the top Brace Place the 2  Piece C foam boards together and poke holes threw them using the chop stick. placing the first hole 1 inch from the end the 3 inches apart until you have 5 holes.

Glue 1 of Piece C to the top of your rack once dry start at one end placing your chopsticks threw each hole. Now place your other Piece C onto the chop sticks on the other side , adding  glue to attach  your foam board and to hold all of your chopsticks in place.

Again sorry there were not more detailed picture of each step in the making of this glazing rack, but at the time it was just a whim project that I ended up whipping together because I could not find what was needed, and I never expected to be doing a DIY on paper bead glazing racks at the time.

IBDCraftyLady Paper Bead Project

Hanging Tags

 Since I am not always able to remember how many times I have dipped or painted a certain string of my beads, I like having a way to keep track of this. What better way of doing this than to create a group of tags with numbers on to do the remembering for me. These hanging tags have helped me out way more than I like to admit. Before I started using these hanging tags in my bead making process. There were many times over a week's time that I have dipped or painted my beads , hung them up to dry. leaving them for days before getting back to them. Finally when I have the time to get back to them I would not remember how many layers were on each bead . Now that is never a problem everything is clearly marked and keeps me right on track.

What you will need to make your own Hanging Tags

Crafting wire

Packing Tape

Marker/Pen

Tissue Paper (or any kind of paper you want to use) I used tissue paper  because it is what I had in a lot of different colors and I also liked the sort of transparent look it added to my tags. So get creative and make them with your own special flare.

You will start off by using the crafting wire to form the shape you want your tags to be, ten form a loop on the top of it. For my set of hanging tags I wrapped the crafting wire around a  tube of glass beads to get a circle shape and then  formed a loop at the top of the shape. Since I do not usually go over 5 layers of any type of glaze or paint on my beads. I created 50 of these crafting wire frames.

This way I will have 10 hanging tags for each number .

Cut out pieces of tissue paper that will be able to fill in the shape of your crafting wire frames

Lay out a piece of packing tape sticky side up and place all of your crafting wire frames onto the packing tape. Now place your tissue paper cut outs into these crafting wire frames.

With a marker / pen  write the number you want onto each hanging tag.

Fold the other half of the packing tape onto the top of your hanging tags.  

Sealing them in between the tape

 Cut all of your hanging tags apart and trim them the best you can. There you have it easy as can be and you will never again forget where you were in the process of making your beads.

 I hope that these hanging tags are as helpful to you as they are to me, and that they help you be a more well-organized and productive bead maker in your future projects. Please feel free to share with me how your Hanging tags have turned out. 

I cannot wait to see how others have created these hanging tags to fit their own personalities and crafting styles.

The IBDCraftyLadyPaper Bead Project

Glue Bottle Holder

This little holder will keep your glue always ready for use. No more waiting for it to get to the tip of the bottle, and it is always right where you left it.

What you will need to create this Glue Bottle Holder

1 Empty Cereal  Or cracker box

1 Empty Paper Towel roll if you do not want to form the small tube out of your box.

some packing tape

Some paper or Contac paper to cover it when you are done

This is pretty much Free to make. I used all scraps of the materials to make this glue bottle holder. The way I see it crafting tools like these should be as cheaply made as they can be. They serve their purpose and if they get to a point where you cannot use them anymore then you can just toss it and make a new one.

Cut a piece of your cardboard box to the dimensions of 2.5 inches wide by 8 inches long.

Then make a crease every 2 inches so that it looks like the photo above.

Use packing tape to connect the 2 ends in order to form a bottomless box.

I also used the part of the box where it was glued together in order to make it a bit more bottom heavy.

Cut another Piece of the cardboard box to the dimensions of  1inch wide by 4 inches long.

use packing tape to form a ring.

Cut a 1 3/4 inches long piece of the paper towel tube  off.

Use the packing tape to connect your 2 cardboard tubes like the above picture.

Level and center the larger ring with the top of the box and use the packing tape to secure your tubes to the top and bottom of your box.

Turn your box over

Get an 8 inch long piece of packing tape and fold it in half 

so that both sticky sides are stuck together.

Lay this piece across the bottom of your box and attach it with more packing tape.

It should look like the above photo when you are done.

You can now place your glue bottle into the holder 

either on an angle or straight up and down.

No more worries of drips messing up your working area, it helps to  keeps you from having to clean up spills, and when you set it down you will not end up talking to yourself .

I know personally I have said "now where did that go I just used it" a million times while crafting. That alone makes it worth having in my crafting tools.

 You can leave it just plain or you can decorate it to your liking.

I like to coordinate all of my crafting supply containers and tools so I found some Contac paper that I really liked at the dollar store and use it to keep all of my crafting areas looking like they all belong together.

You can also use this holder to

 Hold your markers as you decorate your papers before they are rolled.

To hold small scissors and a bead sizing tool for when you are working on your jewelry designs or the jewelry pieces themself.

For something so simple it is a big help in so many ways, it will only take you about  5 - 10 minutes of your time  to make one so go ahead you might as well make a  few extras. 

Other Links you may find useful

IBDCraftyLady Paper Bead Project