Thursday 10 October 2013

Upcycled paper bead jewellery

Inspired by the renowned Australian quiller Licia Politis and her wonderful paper beads, I've had a go at creating some jewellery using colourful paper sourced from glossy magazine pages.

Licia kindly shared with me the method of rolling up long triangular strips of paper to form a conical shape, and I had fun selecting suitable paper by looking out for full-page photographs and colourful advertisements in some larger than average size travel magazines.

You need quite a long strip of paper to make a decent-sized bead - the ones I used were all about 35 cm long. The method involves rolling the strip into a coil, fastening the end with glue and then pushing the middle out to form a sort of telescopic cone, which can then be strengthened using layers of PVA glue and clear varnish.

I managed to create hanging hooks for my earrings using loops of paper twine which I glued on to the wide end of each strip prior to rolling.

With Licia's help, I'm plannng to write a detailed feature about paper bead making for the Spring 2014 edition of the Quilling Guild's 'Quillers Today' magazine, of which I am now Editor. No doubt I'll be experimenting with plenty more designs along the way!

12 comments:

  1. Oh Wow Pretty ! Wat a coincidence...i was also into making paperbeads now...an after effect --yes after receiving a paper bead bracelet gift from Josie Jenkins, along with my competition entries...Awaiting your out of box ideas in paper bead jewellery making too :)

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  2. Beautiful! I cannot wait to read more about it. Would definitely like to experiment with beads. <3

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  3. Superb I love it!
    Greetings Baukje

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  4. This is another beautiful work that I enjoyed.
    Hugs and successes,

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  5. They are gorgeous, Philippa! I love quilled beads of all kinds. Looking forward to the feature in the 2014 mag.

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  6. gorgeous, love the idea that there made with Magazine pages, very clever !!!!
    Paula

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  7. These are great Philippa.Look forward to seeing you wear them!

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  8. how do u attach the loop for ur cone bead to hang as earring?

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    Replies
    1. Hi, before rolling up the paper cone bead, I glue a loop of paper twine along the wide end of the paper on the inside, then roll around it.

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