Paper Beads

I wanted to put more in my post yesterday, but the other half was mithering for me to join him in Telly Watching (a national sport in itself, in my house) so my various activities were somewhat curtailed.

In another swap on UK STampers some bright spark (Pinky!) came up with the idea of a paper bead swap. I used to do a LOT of quilling, so making paper beads is something I'm ok at. I even mastered the art of the round bead, once upon a time, which if fine if you want something that is only about 2mm in diameter! The reason being that the width to length ratio is so extreme that for anything larger you need an inordinately long piece of paper. LOL.

Anyway, I digress. Kind of.

I picked purple as my colour (what else?!) and these are my results. I only had to make 20, but one style of bead is so small that I decided to make double the quantity of those, so people don't feel short changed....



Now, I don't have a melt pot. Not yet, anyway - it's now on my ever lengthening list. But a melt pot may not have been able to achieve quite the results that I got with these beads. For starters, I use Versamark ink to give the UTEE something to adhere to, then heat it. And generally, I repeat ad infinitum until I have the thickness of coating I require. Of course, this has its own snag as you end up twirling the bead constantly to ensure that the huge great glob that wants to drip off and hit the deck, doesn't. Makes a nice embellishment when it does though! Well, on these beads I decided that after layer number 1 of the UTEE, I'd add a little moonglow embossing powder to create a bit of interest, heated as normal and then of course went back to the UTEE. I forgot that it would reheat the other EP, and in the process of constantly rotating the bead I wound up with the following effect. It really is scrummy in real life - like glass that's been stretched and wound during the blowing process.

It's at times like this I love my camera. It's an Olympus SP-510UZ, nothing too fancy, or even that expensive, but it has both Macro and Super Macro (sounds like a computer game!) functions on it. Which enables quality shots like these. I mean, you can even see the print dots on the paper I used for the beads!





Naturally, this post wouldn't be complete without a look at the teeniest beads I did. Bear in mind that I'm showing them off on cocktail sticks - so I put one of them on a pound coin, just to show the size properly! It's just plain purple paper, only 5mm wide, cut to a flag and wound slowly and tightly to create the rounder bead. UTEE just the same, but the last lot was a half dip in hologram powder. Gorgeous!





The bug has bitten - and once I have all my other swaps under control, I'm going to make more.

And more...

and more..............