25 Days of Art: Paper Beads

I don't personally wear a lot of jewelry, but one of my very favorite pieces that I do own and occasionally wear is a necklace made of magazine paper beads by my great grandmother a million years ago. The beads are tightly made, in only one style, but they are gorgeous and when I'm in need of a dangly accessory, it's my go to piece. When I decided to teach the kids how to make similar beads out of paper I was surprised to find that there are so many different ways to cut the initial strip of paper that then leads to differently shaped beads.

Supplies:
-magazines
-glue sticks
-yarn (for stringing)
-pipe cleaners

Prep:
Cut magazine pages into strips, the wider the strip, the wider the end bead will be. Cut the strips into different shapes for different shaped beads- rectangles will result in a long, uniform bead, triangles will result in a bead that tapers off on both ends. For further examples, see this picture.

Process:
Apply a generous amount of the glue stick to a magazine strip and begin to roll it around the pipe cleaner so that the glue is on the inside. Once you've got the entire strip rolled up and secured (you can add a little extra glue to the end just to be sure) slip the bead off the pipe cleaner and allow it to dry. Then you can string the beads onto yarn for


Miss Lucy's Example:















Kid Art: