Tutorial: Paper Beads Part Two - Adding Bling & Stringing Your Beads.

We covered the making of the actual beads in Part One. The post was getting quite long so I decided to start a Part Two post - Add some bling and string your beads.

{Continued from Part One}

Adding Bling
** At this point you can also opt to add some bling to your beads. I experimented with adding Perfect Pearls glittery powder, glitter, and Stickles.


Here are some photos of my experiments.

Perfect Pearls: Worked on blue beads fantastically!


Glitter: Sprinkle on after you dip in UTEE. Beautiful addition to red and tan beads.

Stickles: Carefully dab onto dry UTEE and then dip in UTEE again. Didn’t work so great because the glue in the Stickles bubbles up and makes a nasty mess.

Hints: Don’t heat too close or too long to the bead or it will glob up and the UTEE will flow like lava off your bead. (See above right photo.) And please don’t touch the bead like me until it’s cool or it WILL burn you and make a mess. Taking one for the team… ouch!

Stringing Your Beads

1.) Gather up your tools & supplies:
Pliers, Tiger Wire, Crimp Beads, Spacer Beads, and Clasps (I used a Toggle Clasp). If you are adding a charm, gather your jump rings and charm, too.

2.) Cut a piece of tiger wire long enough to go around your wrist PLUS at least about 4” extra. I cut a 12” length for an 8” bracelet. Lay out flat on your workspace.

3.) Start by stringing your crimp bead followed by one part of the clasp you’re using. Then fold about 1” or so of the tiger wire over the ring on the clasp and thread it back through the crimp bead. This will secure your clasp to your bracelet.

4.) String the beads. I string a few coordinating “starter” beads on. These help space out the paper beads and give some better maneuverability to the toggle clasp. String all your beads on until you have the desired length & design. End your string of beads with the same # of spacer beads that you used at the beginning.

5.) String on one more crimp bead and the other half of your clasp. Fold over loop on clasp and thread back through crimp bead and all of the spacer beads. Keep pulling the wire until it is snugged down around the loop on the clasp. You may need to use your pliers to gently tug and pull the wire to the correct length.

6.) Snip off the wire so that it ends about half way through the last paper bead. (See above right photo.) This should secure the wire so that it doesn’t pop out and scratch you.

Voila! You now have a custom handmade piece of jewelry to add to your collection or to give away!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial & as always, I would LOVE to see what you come up with!

BONUS RAK:
I’m going to give this bracelet away in the evening on Wednesday, January 14th to a random commenter using a random integer generator. Here’s how you can put your name in hat:

* Post a link on your blog back to this bracelet tutorial and leave a comment here letting me know you’ve shared. Comments will be closed at 6:00 PM Wednesday night.

I will draw a random name on Wednesday evening.

Inky Smiles & Good luck :)