Come On Over

I noticed that this blog still gets page views, even though I haven't written on it in three years. I'm sure most people who find this are looking for paper beading information, and I'm glad to leave it here for that. But some of you might like my current blog, Picture Lit.

My current artistic passions are for writing and photography, and Picture Lit is where I put them together. Three times a week, I post one of my photographs, accompanied by a story inspired by the photograph. It's a lot of fun and makes you look at photographs of ordinary things in new ways.

So, if you enjoy photography or stories, come on over and check out Picture Lit.

Happy Easter

Just some simple, Easter-y looking beads to say Happy Easter, everyone! It's cloudy here in north Texas and looks like it might rain on our cook-out, but I'm still feeling pretty happy today. Easter is a time of new beginnings, and I feel that in my life. I encourage each of you to have the courage to step out and try something new. You never know when you'll discover a new passion!

He is risen; He is risen indeed!

Striped Paper Beads

I love the way these striped beads came out. (I know, I always say that--I'm not posting pictures of the ones I didn't like the way they came out!)

I made these with a 12x18 inch piece of paper. I loaded my paintbrush with the blue-green paint and painted in a paintbrush-width column down the page. In practice, what that meant was that I had lots of color at the top of the page and next to nothing by the bottom. I did that all the way across the page.

I cut strips that were 5/8 inch on the bottom up to 5/16 at the top. This left triangles between them that were 5/6 inch at the top down to a point at the bottom. When I rolled a bead, I rolled the fatter strip first, then continued with the thinner strip. This meant the paint went from green to white and white back to green, which made these lovely stripes.

As always--have fun experimenting!

Hourglass Paper Beads

I've finally realized that if I want to be better about updating this blog regularly, I should stop worrying so much about writing profound things and focus more on putting up pictures of my beads. I suspect that's what most of my readers are looking for anyway!

(Excuse my occasional foray back into deep thoughts, though--I am what I am!)

I made these beads a while ago but hadn't ever posted a picture. This paper was half and half found/painted. It was scrapbook paper that I added color to; the background was originally white. I cut these strips in 3/4 inch rectangles, then cut long triangles out of the rectangles to leave two separate strips for rolling. I love making paper beads in unusual shapes.

Purple Paper Beads

I love the way these colors came out! These were just a simple, traditional paper bead shape, but the handpainted colors on them make these paper beads pop.

I used 12x18 inch paper and painted it with a mixture of purple and red acrylic paint. Once it dried, I cut it into 1 1/2 inch triangles, measuring along the longer side of the paper so my triangles were 12 inches long. Then I rolled them and gave them three coats of polycrylic, as always, and--wow! Paper beads with pizazz!

Dictionary Beads

It's been Spring Break at our house this week, and I haven't gotten much done, except for playing with my son. We went to Six Flags twice this week--I love roller coasters! My husband and my best friend both hate them, so I don't know who I'll get to ride and scream with me once my son grows up and moves away. Guess I won't worry about that yet.

Said best friend is in Disney World with her family this week, where she's letting them ride the scary rides without her. She sent me a text a few days ago to say she found paper beads for sale in one of the gift shops there. I haven't seen the pictures yet, but I'm excited to hear it. Paper beads are catching on!

The picture up there (you knew I'd get to it eventually) is of the one paper bead set I have managed to finish this week. I made these with pages from an old dictionary. I had to glue two pages together, lengthwise, to be able to get the length of strip I needed, and I had to be careful about cutting margins away. I didn't want to roll up all those lovely words and end up with blank margin at the end of my strip! I thought I might make another set later and give the paper a tea wash first so it would look more aged. I still might do that, but once the paper was rolled and glossed, it had more of an aged tint to it than I expected.

I think I say this about every bead set I make, but I love the way these came out.

Paste Painted Paper Beads

I love the way these beads came out. If I had used red rather than orange, they'd look like little barber shop poles...

I painted these beads with tinted cornstarch paste. That gave me the ability to craw designs in the paint before it dried, which gave a nice texture to the paper. Plus it was a lot of fun! Here's how I did it.

I made a cornstarch paste by mixing 1/4 cup cornstarch with 1/4 cup water. Once it was well blended, I added another cup of water and heated it until it was thick. I stirred in a final 1/2 cup of water, then let it cool.

Once it was cool, I stirred in some acrylic paint in the color I wanted. Then I used a big, thick paintbrush to wet my paper, then painted a thickish layer of the colored paste over the whole page.

Once you're at that stage, let your imagination run wild to choose an implement to etch a design in your paint. I did these by drawing a silicone basting brush in diagonal lines across the paper. I did another page by scrunching up waxed paper and dabbing it over the paper.

Once the paper was dry, I ironed the back side at low heat before I cut and rolled it into beads. These strips were 3/4 inch at the wide end and 3/8 inch at the narrow end. I also did some 3/8 inch little round beads with the triangles that resulted from cutting the paper into blunt strips. My paper was 12x18 inches to start with.

Again, I encourage you to experiment in your own art. Don't be boring!