Seeing Spots

I love these white polka-dot beads I made last night. I did these with white polka-dotted scrapbook paper (not the cardstock weight!)cut into one-inch strips. I tapered the strips by 1/4 inch on each side, so the wide end is one inch and the narrow end is 1/2 inch.

I rolled the beads on coffee stirrers. That was a new experiment for me, and I liked the way it came out. I put a bit of polycrylic on the stirrer, then rolled the bead. I coated the last inch with polycrylic before I finished rolling, then gave the whole thing a coat and stuck the stirrer into a styrofoam block for drying.

Here's the fun part--once the first coat of polycrylic was dry, I used a thin glaze of metallic silver paint over the whole bead. I let that dry, then gave the bead a second coat of polycrylic. I let that dry overnight.

This morning I cut off the ends of the coffee stirrers, leaving the part glued inside the bead there for stability. I sanded any rough spots on the edges and used a few dabs more polycrylic on the newly exposed ends.

These beads would look great strung with black spacer beads and worn with a black-and-white outfit. They're fun and funky, and the silver glaze gives them just a bit of bling!