Tallulah is quite the artist. She is constantly drawing, painting, coloring – you name it. This leaves a parent in a conundrum: what do I do with all this ‘art’. Most times I can’t bring myself to throw it away and she is so prolific I could fill the fronts of an entire fridge store. Mom had to get creative and so we started making paper beads. Pop over to the I Love to Create blog for my entire post on how to make paper beads from your child’s art work.
Do you have a copy of my book The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girls Guide to Handmade Jewelry in your library. There are all kinds of fun ways to use paper in your jewelry making in the book. Wrapped paper clips, collaged pendants, embedded resin and this beauty – shredded junk mail covered beads.
Recently I had some adventures in paper making. Over on BlogHer you can find my full tutorial on how to turn old newspaper into gift tags. What I didn’t show was how I took some of the pulp and mashed it into a balls and squares around bamboo skewers to make paper beads. Once they dried and I painted them they made for a pretty groovy necklace.
Even if you don’t have kids to make art, you can still get in on the paper bead making action. Try your hand at art journaling. Tallulah is not the only prolific person in this house. Check out my Art Journal Necklace.
Last, but not least I leave you with one final example of how to make jewelry with paper. I love my series of Specs Appeal Necklaces. I have always said if it will sit still long enough I will find a way to make it wearable. Don’t leave me alone with your reading glasses, a pot of boiling water and some collage supplies!
How do you use paper in your jewelry making adventures?
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