Paper Beads

Making paper beads is one of the easiest and most relaxing ways to spend a cold winter evening. Set aside all your screens and even turn off the wifi if your feeling brave! All you need is a few basic items you likely have lying around your home or recycle bin. Paper beads are also very versatile for so many different crafts and projects. From jewelry to bead curtains your possibilities are endless!

Step 1: Cutting the Beads

First you will need to find paper in a colour you like, preferebly not to thick or the beads are harder to roll. For these beads I used regular copy paper weight. You can play around with length and width of your paper strips to see what size of bead you like, mine are 6" long by 1/2" wide. Using a utility knife and ruler is much faster than using a scissor but just use what you have!

Step 2: Roll the Beads

Next you will need to roll each triangular strip of paper up as tightly and evenly as you can. I like to use a toothpick to roll mine on but you could use something bigger if you wanted your beads to have bigger holes depending on how think your string that you intend to string them onto is.

Step 3: Glueing the Bead End

To keep the beads from unraveling, you need to glue them together. Once I'm about halfway through rolling the bead, I use a q-tip to apply glue dots right to the very point, just continue rolling to the tip and your bead is done.

Step 4: Finishing the Beads

To finish the beads I use varathane, because I also do wood working this is what I have on hand, and it does a good job. Note that the beads will change colour once you have them finished. Usually to a darker tone. Also don't use polyurethane because it will turn your beads yellowish. I just dip mine right in the can and hang them over a shoe box to dry. Works slick

Step 5: