Paper Tube Beads Decorating Area

There are many ways to decorate your Paper Tube beads before rolling them . But first I will go thru some points you should know about where and what parts of your paper strips  need to be decorated .

Here is my paper bead display showing samples of all the paper tube beads I like to use. As you can see there are many different sizes and I think about this when designing my paper tube beads. It also helps me when designing a set of paper tube beads that I want to work together. Deciding on how they will be colored to work with each other, and what sizes I will need to complete the set of paper beads.

When you are decorating your paper tube beads you must primarily decorate a certain area on the top of your paper strips with the main design you want on your paper bead. These measurements come in very handy when designing your paper tube beads so that your finished paper tube beads all come out looking the same. The width of your paper tube bead does not have an effect when designing. Just the length of your paper strip does, as it must fit all the way around your finished paper tube bead.

Paper length                       Design area

2 inches                                               6/16  of an inch

3inches                                                7/16 of an inch

5 inches                                               9/16 of an inch

7 inches                                               11/16 of a inch

10 inches                                             11/16 of an inch

13 inches                                             13/16 of an inch

15 inches                                             13/16 of an inch

17 inches                                             14/16 of an inch

20 inches                                             1 inch

25 inches                                             1 1/16 of an inch

30 inches                                             1 3/16 of an inch

40 inches                                             1 6/16 of an inch

Paper Beads Prep(Tube Beads)

IBDCraftyLady Paper Bead Project

Paper Beads (Tube Beads)

Paper tube beads one of my favorite paper beads to create as there are so many ways to decorate them.  You can never go wrong with  paper tube beads especially when you want to make a collection of beads that will all work together in a jewelry piece. Creating  and using the same colors and patterns on a lot of different sized paper tube beads.

What you will need

Paper bead roller - If you do not have one here is a DIY to make your own.

Bead hole maker - If you do not have one here is a DIY to make your own.

White glue

Paper

Scissors or paper cutter

Decorating Supplies - These will vary depending on how you choose to decorate your paper beads. 

To start making your paper tube beads you will need to cut long rectangular pieces of paper.

See the chart below for the different paper measurements that you will need to cut in order to get the size of paper tube bead that you want to make. This chart represents the sizes the beads will be  if they have been made with the paper from spiral notebooks. If a thinner type of paper is used your paper beads will be smaller in width, and if you use a thicker or heavier paper your paper beads will have a larger width.

Once you have all of the paper strips cut, you will now have to decide how you are going to decorate these paper beads as some types of decorating needs to be done before you roll your paper beads.

To prepare the inside bottoms of your papers before you roll them. You will want to paint or color the bottom 1/2 inch of the paper so that when the bead is rolled it does not show the white paper in the hole of your bead.This will give it a nice added finish to your paper beads.

This picture shows you the difference in the appearance of your paper beads if you do not color that bottom 1/2 inch of each paper strip before rolling your paper beads.

For the purpose of showing you all of the steps to actually form the Paper Tube Beads I will be making  silver paper bead blanks.  So let's get started!

 Cut your strips of paper to the size you want to make these are 1/2 inch by 3 inches.

Prepare the bottoms of all your paper strips. If your paper is white and you are making white paper bead blanks you can skip this step.

Place your paper strip into your bead roller with the colored end facing you.

Once you have rolled the colored part of your paper add a light coating of glue all over the remaining part of the paper. I prefer to glue all of the paper instead of just the ends this makes the bead stronger and you do not end up having it unravel on you .

Keep the paper strip aligned as you roll it to make a nice even bead.

Then you have finished making the paper bead,  hold the bead in place on the roller and give it a little twist in the opposite direction that you had rolled it this will loosen up the piece of the paper that was place in the bead roller making it release off the roller easier.

Use your bead hole maker, place the bead you just made onto the bead hole maker and roll it across your finger. this will make a clean hole with no extra paper blocking it.

To make sure both ends are flat stand your paper bead upright an press it down on a flat surface.

String up your paper beads on to a piece of fishing line.  

On the end of each piece of fishing line place a few beads these beads will give the glaze a place to settel and it will not ruin your last paper bead that would otherwise be there.

Place some glaze into a small container and add some paint to make the glaze the color that you want it. I am using a metallic silver, mix well. I got these great little square containers at the dollar store in a pack of 12. they are the perfect size for me.

Dip your string of paper beads into the glaze let soak 20+ seconds giving the glaze time to soak in. 

Let some of the extra glaze drip off this will leave you with less of a mess on your glazing rack.

Hang your string of paper tube beads to dry.

After 4 dips into the silver glaze they are done.

Use your bead hole maker one more time to clear out any excess glaze from the holes.They are now ready to use just like this or you can decorate them further.

During the next few weeks I will be showing you different ways of how to decorate your paper tube beads.

IBDCraftyLady Paper Bead Project

Paper Bead Blanks

Paper bead blanks  what are they ?

Paper bead blanks is the solution I have come up with so that I could make all the paper beads I wanted to without having to decorate them while creating them.

 Why would I want to make paper bead blanks?

Having paper bead blanks in your beading supplies allows you to have any size bead available to you while you are creating your jewelry pieces. Giving you the opportunity to color or decorate them as needed and to customize them to fit in perfectly with your project.

How do I make Paper Bead Blanks?

Just choose the beads you want to make I like to make 50 of these paper bead blanks at a time. Once you have  all of your paper beads rolled you will get them ready for painting or dipping.  You will now want to mix some paint in with your varnish then dip or paint all your beads and let them dry  this could take up to 3 coats so that you end up with hardened and solid colored paper beads. There you have it Paper bead blanks.

Why am I adding Paint  to the varnish?

The reason you are adding paint to the varnish is so that the varnish will harden the paper bead  creating a good strong bead blank. The paint will color the varnish leaving you with a paper bead  that will have a consistent color covering it. which will make it easier to change it to what you will need later.

What are the best paint colors to use?

The best paint colors to use on your paper bead blanks are the following.

White: white paint will make it so that whatever color you choose to cover the paper bead blank with will give you the true color.

Black: black base paint on your paper bead blanks will give you a darker  shade of the color used.

Gold/Silver/Copper/Bronze: The metallic  paints are great to use  just on the ends of the black and white paper bead blanks to give the that metallic feel to your beads taking away the attention of them having been made with paper.

What color do you use most?

I make all of my paper bead blanks white for me it works best as I do not have a lot of storage space. I also like to make all my own custom colors and with the paper bead blanks being white they  always end up the color I have created. But If I had more storage room I would make all of the paper bead blanks in all of the colors just to save time while making  jewelry.

Do These paper bead blanks have to be stored in any special way?

The paper bead blanks do not need any special type of storage as long as you have let them totally dry before storing. If they are not totally dry you could end up with a bunch of paper beads stuck together. Also there are times when I will make tons of beads but do not glaze them right away , waiting till I have time then do them all at once. If you do this you will want to keep your paper beads in a dry area as moisture could ruin your paper beads before you get a chance to waterproof them. 

IBDCraftyLady Paper Bead Project

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