Friday 7 January 2011

Paper Jewellery!

We recently had a really fun assignment for Bo Bunny, we had to make something to wear!  Of course my first instinct was to go with some of the beautiful blooms and trims Bo Bunny makes and make a hair clip or decorate a hat or purse but then decided maybe that was the more obvious route and I wanted to make something different so I decided to make a necklace out of paper beads!  This is what I came up with...

The pendant is a chipboard circle that I covered in embossing ink and powder and then heat embossed.  I used an Olivia iCandy brad in the middle after taking the prongs off the back and then covered the chipboard circle in glossy accents.  This was sooo much fun to make!  I have done a mini tutorial on how to make the beads in case anyone would like to give them a try.  Sorry about the bad photos but it has been snowing most of the day here so it is really gloomy!

This is what you will need....

Cut a 12 inch thin triangle.  For the beads in my necklace the wider edge was 1 1/2 cm but you can obviously vary that depending on the size bead you want.

Then Stick a small piece of double sided tape to the wider edge on the side that you want showing on the bead.
I then used my Making Memories paper piercer to roll the bead on starting on the thickest side.
Just keep rolling tightly trying to keep it in the centre all the time, you might need to take it off at some point to pull it tighter and then just put back on the paper piercer and continue rolling.  I find it easiest once you are about halfway through to hold it flat against one of your fingers and roll it there as in the picture above, as this stops it from sliding around and is easier to keep the paper in the centre.

Once you get to the last few centimeters just put some glossy accents along what is left and then carefully roll that on making sure to stay in the centre all the time.
 And then you should end up with a bead like this
Once I had finished them all I strung them on a wire and painted them with some mod podge to make them a bit more hard wearing but you could probably put a few layers of varnish on them if you had the time and wanted them glossy.

I hope everyones New year is going wonderfully so far!  My kids only go back to school on Monday and I am so not looking forward to it, I always love the holidays (and not only because they have been sleeping in till nine every morning because it is so dark ;) ) and having them home with me :)

TFL! :)

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow Carin your necklace is gorgeous, the beads look so good you would never believe they were made of paper!

Dee
xx

Lisa said...

Gorgeous!!! and a great tutorial too!

xx

Lisa

Lou said...

wow, on first sight i thought they were real beads. It's beuatiful :)

Crystal said...

WOW this is absolutely GORGEOUS, WOW I so want one..teehee!!! So creative and stunning!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS!!!

Samantha Hauzer said...

What an awesome necklace. I love it!! And I know what you mean about the holidays. I always dread my kids going back to school too.

KraftyKaren said...

Wow that necklace is fab - what a great idea!!

Karen x

Julie Tucker-Wolek said...

WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!! You seriously NEVER CEASE TO AMAZE ME!! I loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee this!! GORGEOUS! :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

Michelle S said...

Really gorgeous :)

Alison said...

That is so creative Carin and so clever - I loved it when I saw it on the Bo Bunny blog! I love the colours you've chosen too!