Craft tutorials and free templates

Paper beads

I made these paper beads a while ago and dug them out the other day for my eldest son to play with. At three and a half he’s grown out of playing with his chunky threading beads – so these were the perfect replacement.

Paper beads

They are so easy to make and surprisingly sturdy.

Paper beads

I used some sheets of origami paper to make mine but you can use any kind of paper. For example magazine scraps are particularly good for making beads with a more ethnic feel.

Paper beads

To make them simply cut out some very long isosceles triangles. Mine were 15cm long and 2cm wide. Then get a skewer (or something similar) and wind the paper tightly round it. When you are nearly at the end simply add a dab of glue. I used the remnants of a tube of glitter glue – hence the sparkles. If you want a better explanation then check out this great tutorial at creativejewishmom.com.

Paper beads

You can experiment with paper length/width and make beads of different shapes and sizes.

Paper beads

The beads are perfect for little kids to thread. If you are a bigger kid (like me!) then you can slip them on some safety pins and make some pretty cool pendants/bracelets.

Paper beads

Paper beads

Paper beads

Paper beads

29 thoughts on “Paper beads

  1. Hi Jenn…I wish I could say he got them from me but alas no!! It always seems that the boys get the best lashes! Haha.

  2. Love these. Have tried before, but loved the rainbow pallet. Nifty!!!
    Would also like comment on that honey child’s eyelashes –my goodness what I would give for those lashes!!

  3. love your beads! one of my most popular posts was beads like these from magazine pages, but I love yours so much more! and combined with safety pins…oh my gorgeous! thanks so very much for sharing on Craft Schooling Sunday, great to have you and your very lovely photos and creativity!

  4. I love making paper beads like this, but the bold, solid colors are so great…and the safety pins…and the glitter! So wonderful! Thank you for sharing this…

  5. LOVE THIS!!! I am going to do this at our dinner and a holiday movie event. This will keep their fingers busy as they watch the grinch and sip hot chocolate. These are great for a Brownie badge too! I’ll pass this link on:)

  6. Thanks Alicia and Holly. Thanks for posting me up on facebook Holly. I’m still a bit of a secret blogger so haven’t posted any of my projects on my own facebook page!! One day maybe…haha!

  7. These are so beautiful. I took a glance at the link you provided for further instructions and the writer suggested to seal them with some kind of varnish. Did you put varnish on yours? They also put a smudge of glue on the inside before rolling it, is that what you did as well? Thank you 🙂

  8. So glad to have found your blog, Kate! Great ideas and gorgeous photos. My girls will love these paper beads.

  9. I used to make these when I was a kid! Back then we’d use old magazine pages to make them–it was so much fun! Another thing you can use these days is the publicity flyers they are always dropping in the mailboxes, a nice way to recycle them! 😉
    xxx

  10. Hi! i am familiar to these beads since childhood. You have added a new dimension to it which is still wonderful and colourful. We can also use old calenders which i had learnt as a child as A$ or craft paper is pretty expensive. Calendar paper is glossy and quite a heavy paper. Thanxs

  11. I LOVE THESE SOOO MUCH! I found your blog on Pinterest and I just wanted to say that Disney Word is actually recycling their maps into these nifty beads! This year I bought a
    handful of the brackets. The company sends the maps out to villages in Africa and the women create the beads. 100% of the profit is sent back to the villages. It’s really neat concept! ( can you tell I am a
    Disney fanatic…?) hahaha

  12. I’m young I’m 12 and these look easy I’m gonna make them to sell and those eyelashes are beautiful I would kill for them.

  13. Great idea for craft, showing our 4+ pupils to make their own necklaces using luminous paper, and then to roll them in glitter. Thanks

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