Mother's day rolled paper bracelet

I carried on with my rolled paper beads theme to make this bracelet for a mother's day present: 

I made straight beads rather than the usual sort of tapered oval/bicone ones, by rolling rectangles of paper instead of triangles. It's slightly fiddlier in that you have to get the paper exactly straight to start with, with no room for error, and also the pattern will show on the outside of the roll much more obviously so you have to bear that in mind when choosing paper. I used an advert for a Honda car, which has lots of shades of purple in it. I alternated which end of the paper came out on top for a variety of bead colours.

Then I decided to do something a little bit different from just stringing them together, and did this sort of ladder design. The beads are side-by-side, rather than end-to-end. It's quite simple to do, but mine was massively complicated by the fact that I didn't have any proper bead-stringing thread and had to use embroidery thread. I wanted to use a cotton cord, but all the ones I've got were too thick to go through the beads twice (as it has to for this design) and far too thick to go through the fastener, and we don't have any bead shops to get more from in Newcastle. None at all. Not one. So, embroidery thread it was, the benefit of which is that it comes in every shade in the world so you can pick the right one. Combined with some nice purple beads for the ends, I was happy with the colours.

To make the bracelet, you have to start from the middle of the thread so that you have two ends (on needles is easiest, though dangerous). Each time you add a paper bead, you need to thread each end first through a seed bead, then each end goes through the paper bead, from opposite ends of the bead so that the threads cross over inside the bead. Once you get into it it's quite a quick process (though using embroidery thread means it keeps on getting knotted and splitting - don't use this).

Making paper beads

It's both my aunts' birthdays in early March, and this year I made them both necklaces made of paper beads. These are so easy to make (if a little bit of a faff) and they look great (if I do say so myself). 

If you're not keen on making them, you can very easily buy them. Get them from a supplier like this one and give some money to Ugandan women at the same time. If, however, you'd prefer to make your own, there are lots of Youtube videos and online tutorials to show you how, so I'm not going to do that here. This is a good, simple set of instructions if you want them. 

I made two very different necklaces with mine. For one aunt, I made them from Peter Capaldi. Magazine pages are good type of paper to use, as they're thin and glossy and good colours. I chose Peter because I thought my aunt would like the resulting beads - mostly dark grey, with pinkish highlights. Here he is being cut into triangles:

Peter Capaldi in the Radio Times being cut into triangles

Then I rolled them up, glued them and left them to dry, then varnished them. If you put them on cocktail sticks this is much easier to do. Mr T came up with this great idea for a stand, scrumpled up tinfoil:

Beads drying on cocktail sticks

Once varnished (two coats) and dry, they look like this:

Finished varnished paper beads

I strang them with grey seed beads in between, and a few silver-coloured metal ones at the front. They're from an African stall at Portobello Road market in London:

The finished necklace

For my other aunt, I used normal white paper and coloured it with permanent marker. You only need to colour the edges of the paper where it'll show when it's rolled, not the whole triangle. Then I did the same as with the Capaldi ones:

Beads drying

And I strang these ones with blue and red seed beads, and chips of malachite for super-bright contrast:

The finished paper bead and malachite necklace

Get well soon card for my granddad

This is a card me and Mr T made for my granddad, who's in hospital with a broken hip (now mended and healing well). It's a kind of collage mounted on an off-white textured card. 

The 'plants' are cut and torn from lots of kinds of paper and card, including glittery, corrugated and hand-made (by me) paper. They're arranged to look vaguely like plants, with 'water' symbolised by the horizontal wavy lines. 

The fish is an image that Mr T drew ages ago, and he copied it and went over it in fineliner. Then I cut it out and stuck it over the top. The hardest part was deciding how to arrange the plants so that they looked best behind the fish (Mr T came up with the final arrangement). 

Inside are three 'bubbles' of handmade paper to contain the words 'get well soon'. I hope he likes it. 

Child's jewellery

I don't normally make jewellery for children. But I will make an exception for people I like, and a work colleague who I like asked me to make some for a child of her acquaintance. So I did. Said colleague has a necklace of mine which said child liked, and so this is her tiny little version all of her very own, with matching bracelet. I'm quite pleased with getting the two different kinds of hearts to match (I used different kinds because a necklace likes dangly beads but a bracelet likes non-dangly ones, specially for a kid who may catch it on stuff). Hope she likes it - the colours are quite muted but I didn't have any in really bright pink, which is what small girls like, I'm told.

Wire twisted stud earrings

I branched out recently. I had only ever made dangly earrings before, and I hadn't made findings apart from jump rings, but making these twisted wire studs was really easy. I got the idea from a book, though I can't remember which one now. Anyway, you start by just winding the wire into loops, round round-nose pliers is easiest, and when you've got a little bit left poke it through the middle to make the post. Add a butterfly back and you're done!

Kit necklace and earring set

This set is from a kit I've had for years, from France. The instructions were in French so I learnt something from it too.

Asymmetric front-fastening necklace

This necklace fastens at the front, making a feature of the toggle, and has asymmetric lengths of large oval chain either side of the focal beads. It's comfortable to wear and looks darn stylish.

Things for sale on Folksy!

There has been a rather long hiatus, for a number of reasons. First, I can’t blog about things I make in the run-up to Christmas in case their intended recipients see them and spoil the surprise. Second, my main computer died (and is yet to be fixed) so the photos of those things are currently inaccessible. And third, I’ve been insanely busy so I haven’t actually been doing very much in the way of jewellery making. I have been knitting and learning to crochet though, which I’ll write about soon, I promise – I’ve made a scarf inspired by Hugh Dennis. And if that’s not intriguing enough to make you want to learn more, I don’t know what is.

In the meantime, here are some things I have managed to make. First up, a bracelet made with larger size jump rings (I bought the bigger jump ring maker as I liked the little one so much). (Buy it here.)

I discovered that a flush cutter is essential – any other kind of cutter just doesn’t... well... cut it. Side cutters, wire cutters, all a no-no. Flush cutters are the only way to do it so the edge is nice and un-chewed, and you just have to stump up the cash. Mine cost £25. I suspect I was fleeced and they are available for less.

Next, a necklace made using some charm beads I was sent as part of a mixed pack – I think the subscription gift from Beads Unlimited. (Buy it here.)

These, as you might be able to see, are the metal-cored ‘charm’ beads everyone is going a bit mad for. Their large hole means you can do funky things like this with them, and thread them onto chain. The large bead at the bottom is a lampwork bead I’ve had for years. I cut the chain in half, and linked it back together above the beads so that they don’t slide about. It’s fastened with a chunky toggle.

Some earrings, made with black beads and my new-found chain maille technique. (Buy them here.)

And finally, some charms. They all follow the same basic design, a ribbon knotted to form a loop and adorned with whatever charms I could lay my hands on. Some are just joined on with a jump ring, others threaded onto headpins first. The fish in the blue one is jointed, and very cool. They make nice little trinkets, and could attach to a keyring (though not function as one themselves). (Buy the black one here, the blue one here, the green one here and the brown one here.)

Buy my stuff online!

I've just set up a Folksy shop. Folksy is a sort or marketplace for crafters, and you can buy all kinds of hand-made stuff there. I don't know how well it'll do, but we'll see. It's good to have the option, anyway. I've just got a couple of things on there at the moment but hope to put lots more on soon. I really need to improve my photography skills though!

Anyway, from now on, if anything I blog about is available to buy online, I'll link to it.

Items for sale on Folksy!

I went to Leeds at the weekend and bought lots of beads for making Xmas presents, but those will not appear on this blog till after Xmas. However, I also got some other things too, among which these nice bumpy beads. I made links by putting each on an eye pin and linked them together, then attached a length of Byzantine chain maille at each end, then a length of pale pink ribbon and fastened it with a toggle clasp. I've listed it for sale on my new shop on Folksy too.

And I listed this one - made with my jump ring maker out of turquoise and silver-plated wire linked in pairs with seed beads on alternate links.