Paper Beads Tutorial

I love experimenting with different mediums, especially paper! As I have said before, I LOVE traditional origami paper.  I love experimenting to see how I can work beautiful paper into my jewelry designs. Making papers beads is very simple.  They may sound like something you would have made as a child, but the results can be very elegant and totally unique. 

The style of bead you make will depend on how you cut your paper.  The first style I made was by cutting a square piece of paper into triangular strips.  For accuracy, I drew the triangles on the back of the paper. I then cut the paper into triangular strips. 

I then wrapped the paper, starting with the largest section of the paper, around a wooden skewer. It is best to wrap the paper tightly around the skewer for this stage.







Once you get to the end, glue the inside of the last section of the paper and wrap it around the wrapped part of the paper.









Hold the glued section closed for about 30 seconds to allow it to set.

You can change the shape of your beads by changing the way that you cut the paper in the first step.  You can make rectangular strips of paper to make the beads I used to make the earrings above.  Experiment with different shapes of paper to find something totally unique!