On a Roll

Making paper beads, that is...these things are addictive! I had a photo of my beads two blogs ago and had a nice pile going....Here is the pile now....The beads on the left are from scrapbook paper, the beads on the right are from magazine pages...the scrapbook paper ones are much prettier because they are plumper and have more consistent color, but the magazine pages are much more interesting! I love the little pieces of text that sometimes show up when rolling the magazine pages. I wish I had more control over how to place the text but that's really hard to do. What am I going to do with all these beads? Not sure yet!

Maybe earrings...These paper beads are rolled tubes instead of bicones....You use rectangular pieces of paper instead of triangles.

I like these, too....

I've come across a magazine stash that has lots more glossy pages and choices of cool graphics....old National Geographic magazines, a magazine called Veranda, cooking magazines, and I thought, rather than giving up on the regular magazines, I'll look again through these to get some different looking beads. Scrapbooking paper is great, but you gotta pay for that! If you can find magazines laying around, that's a freebie and a no-brainer! Besides, having a little print or text in the magazine page adds interest to the beads. I've discovered you want to look for "texture" and "interest" at the bottom or top of the page to get an interesting rolled bead instead of a solid color which ends up "banding" your bead...not a bad thing, but I just like a different look. The best pages for beads in my humble opinion are full color ads out of expensive, glossy fancy magazines like Veranda...This is a page from that magazine that makes really pretty beads when rolled..I hated to cut it up it was such a beautiful page...

I also used People magazine, ESPN magazine, Woman's World ( weekly found at grocery store checkout lanes) a computer magazine, and quilting magazines--you can even use newspapers or any kind of paper, really!

Then I found a pretty photo of a paper beaded bracelet but with no directions, so I'll have to figure out how to do that....I'm new to beading and jewelry making, so not sure how to finish off a bracelet without knots or connections being seen. I'll do a little research and come up with something, I'm sure...I love this  bracelet!

Until next time......Jeannie and Lyle.......