Making an Asian Style Paper Bead

Recently I gave myself a challenge: find ways to make unusual paper beads. Emphasis on unusual. This is how my mind works. Take a good idea and try to make it better. In this case I was after bead designs that were out of the ordinary.

After playing around with various concepts, I came up with some beads that don't look much like standard paper beads, which are often rolled from magazine photos or calendar images cut into elongated triangles. Not that there's anything wrong with beads made that way. Heck, one of my very favorite necklaces is constructed with beads made from a photo from an art magazine. I wear it proudly and often. It never fails to elicit oohs and aahs.

But I wanted to come up with beads whose construction and visual appearance were altogether different from the much-loved rolled paper style. Here's the first of my many experiments:

About 3/4 " in length, this Asian themed bead features tiny calligraphic symbols and floral Origami paper.

Asian Style Beads

This bead was the first design I came up with. A vintage "found" Japanese engineering manual whose pages were filled with tiny calligraphic symbols inspired the Asian motif. Floral-themed Origami paper in red, green and gold made the perfect compliment.

Here's how I made it:

1. First I made a rolled paper cylinder out of black acid free card stock to serve as the base.

2. Next I cut a strip of paper from the engineering manual. The calligraphy symbols had been printed in vertical, columnar format. I was careful to cut so all of the calligraphy remained intact.

3. After determining the length of the calligraphy strip needed to go around the base, I marked the dimensions in pencil and cut two out.

 4. Using Weldbond glue, I glued on the calligraphy paper over the black base, placing the calligraphy paper flush with the ends. (Using ModPodge as the glue would have been ok, too.)

5. I then measured and cut a length of Origami paper and glued it between the calligraphy papers. I left just a tiny bit of the black base showing in between the paper strips for interest.

6. After the glue was completely dry, I encased my Asian themed bead in gloss finish ModPodge, then applied acrylic gloss varnish.

I really liked the way this design turned out so I made up several more beads to use them in a necklace. At a local arts and crafts store I found a set of red and black round glass beads that look great with the paper beads. Their shape reminds me of Japanese paper lanterns. Together they'll make a beautiful pairing that will look stunning worn with a black, red or ivory color sweater or top.

These paper beads are considerably more time consuming to make but I think the effort is worth it.

I'll be using this design concept in future projects because it lends itself to endless variations. In my next post, though, I'll be featuring a second bead design that's sure to get your creative energy going as it inspires you to pick up your pen or brush. Intrigued? Watch for it here on the blog next week.

Text and image ©2014 Lynn Edwards

Making Beads With Cotton Fabric

Using fabric beads brings a whole new dimension to jewelry making. Depending on the type of fabric used, fabric beads can take on many personas: casual, elegant, textural, smooth, homespun or chic. A bead made of denim with frayed edges will look very different from one made of silk. This is the fun of working with fabric beads: you can create any look you want simply through your choice of fabric.

The fabric beads' autumn colors were the inspiration for this necklace and earring set's design. The fabric used to make the beads was 100% permanent press cotton.

Some fabrics are easier to work with than others. For example, silk is very sophisticated-looking but it's quite slippery. Knits, being stretchy, can pose quite a challenge because they tend to "grow" during the rolling process. Another consideration to keep in mind is whether the fabric is soft and loosely woven, or tightly woven with a bit of body to it. It's certainly possible to make beads from loosely woven fabric, but it's much easier to roll beads using fabrics that are tightly woven without much "give."

I've found some of the easiest fabrics to work with are tightly woven cottons. Not only do they roll neatly with little fuss, they take surface treatments like paint and dyes very nicely. Fraying is usually minimal. A few snips with a scissors eliminates the occasional stray thread, and the tight weave lets you maintain steady, consistent tension as you roll the bead.

However, some fabrics can fool you. Not all cottons are alike! Recently I happened upon a beautiful cotton fabric whose colors just grabbed me. In my enthusiasm, all I could think of was how great it would look made up into beads. It didn't feel quite as crisp as most of the cottons I've worked with but it seemed woven tightly enough plus it was on sale so I bought it.

Once I started cutting it, I realized this fabric was going to be more difficult to work with than I thought. The first thing I noticed was that it produced tiny fiber "dust bunnies." Uh-oh. I also noticed that it tended to stretch a bit with handling, so it was harder to keep it in a straight line as I rolled it. The edges frayed readily too, so I found myself snipping off lots of pesky threads. (Some folks like loose threads on their beads but I'm not one of them.)

These beads, also made of cotton, were harder to make than those used in the necklace and earring set above. Their colors were quite similar but they were a looser weave and frayed easily.

Despite these small annoyances the beads turned out okay. After painting the ends and edges with metallic gold acrylic paint, I applied a couple of coats of ModPodge to smooth and seal the surface, followed by an acrylic varnish. The ModPodge darkened some of the colors, of course, but not so much as to negatively affect the appearance. If anything, it made the colors look a little bit richer. I'm looking forward to designing a necklace with these using gold, dark olivine and ruby red beads to compliment them. What's your preference for making fabric beads? What fabrics do you like to use? And what kinds of fabric would you not recommend using?

Text and images ©2013 Lynn Edwards