Round Paper Beads

I'm thrilled with this necklace I just finished. First, beacause I finally figured out how to make round paper beads! Also because I love the combination of white, black and silver. It looks so elegant.

I made the round paper beads by rolling strips of scrapbook paper that were 3/8 of an inch wide and 18 inches long. I strung them with silver bead caps and black seed beads on elastic. I like to use elastic because this way the necklace can either be worn as a long single strand, or looped twice for a double strand choker. I can also wear it as a chunky, four strand bracelet.

Paper Beads On The Wall

Here's the picture of my first finished paper bead wall hanging. This is a 5x7 plaque, ready to hang. I love the way it came out! I'm excited to try other papers now. I think this would be really fun with maps. Or all those scrapbook papers I've hated to cut up for beads because it completely hides the pattern.

I think eventually I'll try this on mat board rather than wood so it could go in a frame (minus the glass). Then it could be matted and really look spectacular. I love finding new things to do with paper beads!

Paper Bead Wall Art

I've been thinking lately about ways to use paper beads other than jewelry. They're great for jewelry, of course--so lightweight and easy to wear--but I'm not much of a jewelry designer. My necklaces all look pretty much the same except different beads. Now, with paper beads, the differences between beads may be enough to make that work, but still, I'm looking for a project that's more uniquely me.

So I've been experimenting with wall art. I'm starting small, for now, making 5x7 plaques. I'll post some pictures once I have one completely finished, but I'm excited about the way they're coming out so far. I'm using half a sheet of paper to make beads, and the other half as a mat. I sew the beads onto card stock in interesting designs and mount it on the coordinating paper. Very cool.

Family Fun

My son Nathan, who's 11, has had an on-again, off-again relationship with my paper bead creation. Sometimes he acts like he's too cool to even notice what I'm doing. At other times, he's been handing my website address to his art teacher and talking me up like I'm the next big thing. So most of the time, I let him decide whether or not I'll share what I've been up to.

The last two days, though, it's been on-again. He's decided he wants to try to make beads too. And he quickly discovered (imagine that!) that making paper beads is a lot harder than it looks. Before he got frustrated and walked away, though, he made some really funky beads. And it got me thinking.

Maybe I'm being a little TOO careful about making sure my cut lines are straight. Maybe I'm taking too much time lining everything up to end up with a smoothly tapered bead. It is, of course, important to be able to do that. And for many bead sets, I want a uniform product at the end. But I could picture a really cool necklace made from Nathan's funky, misshapen beads.

I'm thinking about experimenting with more randomness. Maybe I'll just tear some paper strips and see what kind of beads those make. Or maybe I'll roll with abandon and not worry if my paper ends up in an X at the end. After all, what is the point of art if it's not uniqueness and experimentation?

Photography

So I've been playing with photography. Have taken some cool shots of very large things, like this tower at Lake Murray State Park in Oklahoma. I'm not ever going to be great at it, because I'm not interested enough to really work at it, but it's fun sometimes.

But now I'm trying to take pictures of very small things. As in my paper beads. As in, better pictures than I've been taking so the pictures are an accurate representation of paper beads. If one hopes to sell beads online, one must be able to do this. And it's not going well. Oh, I'm getting some ok pictures. But nothing that does the actual beads justice. And that's frustrating, because I really want to show people how beautiful these paper beads are. And it's just not working.

Grr. This for instance.
I can't begin to describe how much more attractive these beads are in person. Oh well. I guess it's time for more practice.

The Need to Create

As I was rolling some paper beads this morning, I found myself watching myself, as if from a distance. And I thought--what drives a mature, adult woman to spend an hour rolling little strips of paper around toothpicks? The answer, the only answer, is that I have an innate need to create.

It was this same need that drove me to try stringing beads into jewelry in the first place, but that soon wasn't enough. It seemed more like rearranging than creating. So I started to experiment with making my own beads. There's something wonderful about starting with a blank sheet of paper and ending with a beautiful bead. That is truly creative.

So where does this need come from? The answer that feels most right to me is that my creativity is the way in which I was "formed in the image of God." Maybe some people were formed more in the image of His constancy or compassion or lovingkindness. For me, I feel connected to Him when I--metaphorically--scoop up some dust and breathe life into it.

So I won't question whether or not my paper beads fulfill a purpose in the grand scheme of things. They add beauty to the world. Their creation adds beauty to my life. And that is enough for me.

Waves on the Ocean

I love these blue and white beads I made--they make me think of ocean waves ebbing and waning. The idea actually came to me while watching a sunset, but with the colors I chose they ended up being more ocean-y than sunset-y. Maybe I'll make sunset beads another day.

I made these by starting with a blank white sheet of paper. I used blue acrylic paint and and artist's sponge for painting. I started at the top edge of the paper and sponge painted heavily, making a dark blue. As I moved down the paper, I used a lighter hand with the sponge so it the color gradually lightened. It was nearly white by the bottom edge.

I cut the paper into traditional, one-inch tapered triangles. Since that cutting method alternates which side of the paper is the base, half my triangles were dark blue on the wide side and light blue at the tip, while the other half were the other way around.

As I rolled the beads, half of them came out dark blue at the edges, lightening toward the middle. The other half were light blue at the edges and darkened toward the middle. I think it's a really neat effect. I'm looking forward to trying it with other color combinations.