How to Finish Your European Style Paper Beads

Making paper beads is a huge passion of mine and I have been experimenting for years with making various shapes and sizes. A couple of years ago I tried to design the perfect European style bead shape and once I was happy with what I was making, I made a template so that it would be easy to standardise all my European style beads. I made a video in two parts to show how I make the raw beads using my template and then how I finish them. This is Part 2 showing how I finish the beads. There is a link to Part 1 at the end of the video but I will also be putting Part 1 here soon too.

Step 1: Gather Your Supplies

You will need:

1) 10 raw European style paper beads you made in Part 1 of my YouTube Tutorial.

2) A paintbrush, a glue brush, a small tapered paintbrush handle (I use an old paint brush that I pulled the brush end off but you can just use any small paintbrush. It is to hold the bead while you are painting it so it needs to be tapered with the fattest part wider than the hole in your bead so it holds the bead firmly in place). Also shown in picture above is a glue spreader. I use the blunt end (see inset picture) to gently widen the bead holes up just before I insert the bead cores.

3) Some bright metallic paints.

4) Some sealer - I use Mod Podge.

5) 20 5mm silver coloured bead cores.

6) Some tacky glue.

7) Something to hold your beads while drying - I use oasis (used in flower arranging) and tooth picks.

8) Two Bracelet blanks like any of those shown in picture.