Gelli Print Beads

Many of you are familiar with the technique of making paper beads, but have you tried making them out of Gelli prints?  This is a great way of using up your less than gorgeous pulls. The beads will look great as long as there's some colour variation in your prints. Here are a few I made earlier today:

Gelli print paper beads

For those of you who may not be familiar with this technique, here's a quick tutorial. Making paper beads is super easy!  All you need is a sheet of patterned paper, some toothpicks or matches, some glue and optionally a paper trimmer and glazing medium.

First, cut your paper into long triangles, approx 1" wide (or a little less) at he widest point. This is very quick and easy if you use a paper trimmer, but you can just use a pair of scissors too.

Cut the paper at an angle with a trimmer to make long triangles

Next, roll your paper pieces on a toothpick starting at the widest part, making sure that the tail end stays in the middle and doesn't go off course, otherwise your beads will be wonky.

Use toothpicks to roll the beads

Use some glue or gloss gel medium to secure the tail end.  I also like to coat the whole bead with the glue, so the layers don't move on top of each other. Let it dry for an hour or so. When it is completely dry, use some kind of glossy glue or varnish to make the beads nice and shiny.  I used Diamond Glaze, but Glossy Accents will work just as well.

Tip: use a piece of Styrofoam to secure your toothpicks in an upright position while the beads are drying.

Tip2: If you find the beads stuck to the toothpicks when you want to remove them, try twisting them gently. They should come undone.

Use a varnish to make the beads shiny

You can use paper beads to make jewellery and all sorts of decorations for your cards, tags and journals. Have fun making your own! If you would like to see a video of  how to make paper beads, check out this tutorial that my crafty friend +Anikó Dóbiász uploaded to YouTube.