Beads made out of pasta and paper
Can’t sleep? Think of other ways to make paper into beads. I remember as a child stringing macaroni into necklaces and painting them. As I was cleaning up my kitchen pantry, I was about to throw a bag of rigatoni which is about 3 years old when I thought of trying this idea. So, here’s the materials for this project:
- 5 or 7 pcs. of rigatoni (choose one that are evenly cut and shaped like tubes)
- Diamond Glaze (www.aubreysbeads.com)
- restaurant menu or old magazines
- old beads
- barbecue stick (to dry the beads)
- paper plate and old make up brush
- softflex and findings to finish jewelry
- spacers big enough to cover the top and bottom of the finished bead
Here’s a sample of the kind of paper I used: old restaurant menu and Catalog ( I love the Isabella Catatog because it has inspirational pieces), like this one.
Old restaurant menu
Old Isabella Catalog
A catalog page with cool words on them
Step 1 – Cut strips of paper (make sure you position where you want the words to be) as wide as your pasta and about 6 inches long:
Strip of paper to be used to cover the pasta
Step 2 – Squeeze Diamond Glaze into the paper plate.
Pasta, brush and Diamond Glaze
Step 3 – Brush the pasta and the paper with the glue and start rolling the paper, continously adjusting it with you thumb and fingers to keep it straight.
Step 4 – Squeeze a generous amount of glue into the paper plate and roll the whole bead in it to keep it evenly coated.
Step 5 – You will then put the finished bead in the barbecue stick and let it dry. Apply glue until you get desired effect. The Diamond Glaze dries pretty quickly.
Step 6 –
I am trying right now doing the same thing but with origami paper. We’ll see how this one would turn out. ‘Til next time………
4 Comments
Dear Janicemae,
I have been watching your videos and I am appsolutley hooked on making paper beads I love it. Thankyou for sharing your wonderful tallents with everyone. I could not find out where to buy a paper roller as I am in Britain and also Diamond glaze is hard to get here if you have any sugestions I would be so happy to heare from you. I have at the moment made my own device with a cotter pin, it works well but I think the real roller would be best. When I have made some Jewelry I will post it onto the site. My whole front room is covered with hundreds and hundreds of paper beads, it is like the day of the tripids there everywhere ha ha totally hooked on paper
Clever and ymmy! Does the pasta hold up over time? I worry that with the large core ot may be crushable.
Hi Jan,
It actually does hold up overtime, I still wear mine from time to time. The pasta even with the large hole is quite sturdy specially that you cover it with paper and glue. Thank you for stopping by.
Pasta? Holy cow you think of everything! UHMAZING!!