I was wondering if people could give me ideas for making beads?

Question

I am really looking for some ideas for making beads. I love making jewelry but need ways to make unique beads. Web sites or just ideas will do. PLEASE NO GLASS BEADS!!!

Answer 1

cut strips of paper in a long triangle shap as wide as the bead you want and about 6 or 7 inches long. put a dab of white glue on the corners and wrap around a tooth pick. put a dab of glue near the end and wrap tight to the end. pull off and string as you like. Best paper is the glossy magazine pages.
go to http://www.hgtv.com and click on Carol Duval and type in bead making
and http://diynetwork.com Jewelry Making. for step by step and pix

Answer 2

Check out joanmiller.com. She does really awsome porcelain beads - very original.

Also, polymer clay is a great beadmaking medium that is relatively inexpensive. Three are some really great books out on this, my favorite is an older book called The New Clay, which treats polymer clay as more of a fine art than a craft medium.

I know you said no glass beads, but if you want to look at some really awsome glass beads, go to corinabeads.com and look at her gallery pages. Ignore her current work she's coming back from a 'bad spell' and her current beads are junk. Also, bluffroadglass.com, again look at the gallery pages although her current work is awsome and she's making a fortune with it. I also make awesome glass beads, but am still working on my website.

You can also make beads by filing and drilling shells, I did this years ago. Be sure to not breath the dust.

Answer 3

• Paper beads can be made by tightly rolling strips of paper around a toothpick. They can be painted and varnished afterwards. Coat them with melted beeswax when finished to waterproof.
• Felting beads is a new and big thing- you take felt wool and transform it into beads and shapes by firmly tamping it with different sculpting tools.
• Polymer clay is always good for beads, or paper clay if you want a much lighter weight bead. You can even try the old white-bread-and-glue dough to make beads that have a porcelain look.
• Blank wood beads are an option- you can paint them, saw or engrave into them with a rotary tool, or even whittle your own.
• Friendly Plastic makes a pellet product that melts in hot water; you can use this to form beads of all shapes and sizes.
Hope these help.

Answer 4

Polymer clay! There are great ways to make beads out of clay. Go to Hobby Lobby and see all the WONDERFUL books they have and the selections of colored clays. Also, if you are close to a pottery class, you can make beads out of pottery clay and have them fired. I think you'll like the polymer clay the best. Good luck!

Answer 5

There's *loads* of info on making beads from polymer clay at my polymer clay "encyclopedia" website.

Making all kinds of jewelry is covered on these pages:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/beads.htm
....http://glassattic.com/polymer/beads-holes.htm
http://glassattic.com/polymer/jewelry.htm (necklaces,bracelets,earrings,hair,etc)
http://glassattic.com/polymer/pendants_cording.htm
http://glassattic.com/polymer/buttons.htm

There are many patterns,etc., though that can be put onto/into the surfaces of beads... for those, go to the Table of Contents page and shop for a technique or pattern that looks interesting:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/contents.htm
(then go to any particular category page you want to check out from the alphabetical navigation bar on the left side)

Btw, beads or other things made from polymer clay can look any style you want as well... from elegant and sophisticated, to bright and colorful, from whimsical to serious, etc., etc. And the items and techniques can go from really simple to really difficult, so there's room for any level of interest.

There are several good groups for those who are interested in polymer clay where one can get lots of support, etc.
For those check out this page:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/groups--online2.htm


Have fun!

Diane B.

Answer 6

Go to google.com (no offense yahoo) and search "unique bead making technices (sorry for spelling) And it should come up with a few of them

There's *loads* of info on making beads from polymer clay at my polymer clay "encyclopedia" website.

Making all kinds of jewelry is covered on these pages:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/beads.htm...
....http://glassattic.com/polymer/beads-hole...
http://glassattic.com/polymer/jewelry.ht... (necklaces,bracelets,earrings,...
http://glassattic.com/polymer/pendants_c...
http://glassattic.com/polymer/buttons.ht...

looked some up for ya