Bowlful of Beads ~great way to recycle those magazines~

[pinkleo]

I decided in a recent go green swap to make a huge set of magazine beads.  I always have tons of magazines piled around (I'm a sort of magazine junkie).  I always imagine they will come in useful, and now they have.

The Bowl of Beads (I reused a plastic bowl some yummy watermelon came in)


A Few Close-Ups




I love how colorful they turned out.  Now, I just need to make myself a bowlful!

My best friend while making these beads was my paper cutter.
Thank you dear paper cutter!  

[living_rust_halo78]

that is such a cool idea. i love it 

[onegroovyday]

very nice... love the way the colors stand out....good going green

[xflora]

Wow that project is so creative
and an awesome way to make good use of magazines =)

I love the mix of colors as well.

[RachelKristin]

oh neat! i've never seen that before...that's awesome!

[kurtthesnail]

These are fun! I used to have a bead-making "machine" as a kid. Basically it was just a craft kit that had a contraption to help curl the paper tightly. I might have to see if my mom still has this...

[funkyjunkdesigns]

I love making paper beads, but lordy, lordy, do I hate sealing them.  I would PAY someone to do that. That's why I don't make paper beads...it actually is relaxing to me to roll them but as I said, the sealing, I hate.

The colors of yours all together...scrumpti ous!!!
fjd

[Nesse]

I also love making paper beads! My mum taught me a while ago and I went nuts with it.

[Wendellina]

Love the variety of colors.  What do you use to keep them together?  Is there a particular glue that works better than others?

[Schnuckiputzi]

I'm not the original poster, but I too make paper beads. I use Mod Podge to seal the ends as I'm rolling them up (I use metal skewers because the glue doesn't stick to them), and after another coat of Mod Podge after 24 hours or so, I give them a coat of clear spray paint to keep them from sticking to each other.
The basic bead is cut out of a long skinny triangle of paper, but you can get interesting effects with a long rectangle with a triangle cut out of the end, sort of like a long skinny two-pronged fork.