Monday, April 11, 2016

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.

IBDCraftyLady 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. 


IBDCraftyLady Paper Tube Beads tools

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.

IBDCraftyLady Paper Tube Beads Chart

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.



IBDCraftyLady Paper  Beads Tip 1

IBDCraftyLady Paper Tube BeadsIBDCraftyLady Paper Tube 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.

IBDCraftyLady Paper Tube 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.

IBDCraftyLady Paper Tube 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!

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

IBDCraftyLady Paper Tube Beads
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.

IBDCraftyLady Paper Tube Beads
Place your paper strip into your bead roller with the colored end facing you.

IBDCraftyLady Paper Tube Beads
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 .

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

IBDCraftyLady Paper Tube Beads
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.

IBDCraftyLady Paper Tube Beads
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.

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

IBDCraftyLady Paper Tube Beads
String up your paper beads on to a piece of fishing line.  

IBDCraftyLady Paper Tube Beads
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.

IBDCraftyLady Paper Tube BeadsIBDCraftyLady Paper Tube Beads
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.



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

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


IBDCraftyLady Paper Tube Beads
Hang your string of paper tube beads to dry.



IBDCraftyLady Paper Tube BeadsIBDCraftyLady Paper Tube Beads

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






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