Activity Overview
Advertisements and brochures that you receive in the mail are very vibrant, eye catching and colorful. Turn them into something great instead of adding them to the landfill with this Paper Jewelry Project. Crafters of all ages will have great fun creating beaded jewelry out of junk mail that is normally thrown in the recycle bin.
Materials Needed
- Junk mail with a coated, shiny surface or magazines
- Newspapers to cover your work surface
- Stretchy bead string
- Pony beads or other decorative beads
- Ruler
- Pencil
- Scissors
- White school glue or Mod Podge
- Round tooth picks
- Needle for threading beads
How to Make Them
- Cut the paper into small strips approximately 3/4" wide by 41/2" long. Roll each bead by wrapping it tightly around a toothpick.
- Finish the bead by gluing the last 1/2" of the strip to the wrapped paper bead. . Remove the toothpick and repeat until all the beads are made.
- Beads of different sizes may be made by varying the dimensions listed above. To make the beads bigger, use longer strips of paper. You can also change the the width of the strips to make wider or thinner beads. (Chunky beads are from longer triangles while narrow long beads are from short triangles.)
- Tie a knot on the end of your jewelry string.
- Thread the needle onto the other end of your string and place the needle through the hole in the center of each bead to string them.
- When stringing beads, alternate handmade paper beads with other beads that you have in your craft closet or from broken jewelry.
- Tie a knot in the string to complete the necklace, or use a professional clasp which may be purchased at a craft store.
