Paper bead and chainmail bracelet

I saw this

and I liked it!
But I make these

Sunshine Circles

Maiden's Bandolier

Daisies in my Heart

Chainmail Oragami

So my brain gears started working and I decided I don't have to just stick to Chaimail. I can incorporate other things into it also. Then I started looking around and googling how to do these. That's when I figured it's about time to start sharing how I make what I make. Why? Because it's not secret info. It's all over the web. Google "How to make chainmail." I dare you. Some of the stuff where I though "This is MY idea. I'm so awesome!" I found had been done over and over again by others. I wasn't as smart as I thought'dd I was. So there's no reason I shouldn't just share with you how it's done so you can do it also.

Will this slow down my sales? Probably not. I barely sell as it is. But the people that DO buy are usually people that want it do be done. And if this encourages someone who normally would have bought to make it instead, kudos to them for giving this a try. 

I also want you guys to see what a crafter does when she doesn't have every little fun gadget. Crafting doesn't have to be super duper expensive. I do things the ghetto way. And guess what? It still makes something pretty. 

 

NOW ONTO THE TASK AT HAND!

Day 1 

Ok, I'm not going to act like I'm pro at the beads. Why? Because I know I'm doing it wrong. I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who involves an allen wrench into rolling a paper bead. 

But here's how I did mine today.

 I took a magazine that I wasn't reading but hadn't thrown out. I paid over 3$ for it. Either I read it 20 times or I re-use it. I ripped out pages that were colorful or solid, but not a lot of words. Then I cut those pages into triangular strips. I used one triangle as a template for the others so they were all the same length but you don't have to. For this project you need the beads to be the same length though, so make sure the tops (where you first start cutting and angle down in a triangle) are all as wide as each other. Fatness, don't worry about it unless you're all OCD like that. If you want them skinny, shorter strips. If you want them fatter, longer strips.

 

Most websites say use a toothpick or a bead roller to roll the beads with. This is an awesome idea because it makes sure the centers are all the same diameter and it's much easier to roll it. But I don't have either of those and I'm impatient. So I rolled them myself. I found it was easier to bend the top at about the length I wanted the diameter of the hole to be. Then I rolled it again and it started to roll on its own. HINT: To pull tight, hold the ends of the bead with your thumb and pointer finger then pull the unrolled portion of the paper. You want your grip on the bead ends tight enough that it doesn't unroll the whole thing but not so tight that you end up bending the bead. You'll still end up with bent ends though and need to reshape the middle :( But you're going to be smarter than I am and use a toothpick or bead roller right? RIGHT?!?!

   

When I had about maybe a half inch tail I ran some elmer's glue over the length of the bead. Then I continued rolling until the entire bead was rolled up and had a thin layer of glue.

Because I did a lot of tightening and I was chasing my kids around the house periodically, I had bent ends on some of my beads. For this, I stuck in the allen wrench. It didn't grip the paper to roll it, but it did a great job of resetting my inner tube. I did this when the glue was still a little wet so when it would set right. This allen wrench will also come in handy when I glaze the beads. If the edges aren't straight enough for you, you can take scissors and cut the corners on the tips. 

For some of you, this may be the end of the bead making part. But I don't think that's a wise idea. Is the bead hard enough to thread or use now? Yes. But get it wet even once and you will have a soggy mess. So now you need to glaze it. A lot of people online are using clear nail polish. I hate the smell of nail polish. I'm weird. I know. So I'm going to invest a little into these beads (the magazine was something I already had) and use some Judi-Kin's Diamond Glaze.

Day 2 

(1.5 hours of actual work as a beginner at this: bead part only)

I didn't get to buy the diamond glaze :( I know. I'm all sad faced too. I went to Joanne's Fabrics and after about 20 min of no help from the 3 women I asked, I decided to dollar store it. I needed toothpicks anyways right? So there I found a bottle of clear quick dry nail polish. Maybe it's just because it was from the dollar store.. but I'm not happy with it. Even when it's dry, you can't have the beads around each other with moisture in the air. I live in Portland, Oregon, there's ALWAYS moisture in the air here. But I'll get more into that later and show you guys how to do it with the nail polish since glaze will be pretty similar but with better results. 

K, so I took one of my beads and I stabbed it with a toothpick. Just kidding, I carefully inserted the toothpick into the already made hole. I don't want anyone going all crazy on this and ruining one of their beads and pointing a finger at me. 

I took a video of the next part but it didn't turn out well. I took the nail polish and put one coat of it over the bead. I went across it long ways. (1) Then I put it in the side of cardboard to dry while I did the first coat on the rest. Most sites tell you to use a foam pad. I had the fun cocktail toothpicks and no foam so the side of cardboard worked for me. Once those were dry I put a second coat on in the opposite direction as the first coat. Why? Because the paper is rolled so going across both ways smooths it out.

When I was finished, I ended up with all of these.

 I did my best to make sure none of them touched but sometimes they did. (This is probably why my ghetto cardboard is not as good as foam.) So sometimes I ended up with this: 

It's an easy fix though. Pull them apart, smooth down the sticky stuff with your fingers, let them dry fully, then give them one more coat of polish or glaze. 

Now you can be done. Your beads are finished! 

But if you love wire like I do, you're not finished yet.

This next part is pretty easy, but if you don't measure things out like I do, it's kind of a trial and error the first 2-3 times. Then you get the hang of it. 

The wire I use is 20 gauge copper with a colored finish on it. It's Darice brand. I love their copper and their aluminum is less soft (so it doesn't always unbend on you) than most other brands. I get it at Joanne's fabrics. It's pretty much always on sale. 

Put the bead on the end of the wire. Do not cut it off the coil yet. Now take some round nose pliers (this is something you will need to buy if you want to use wire in jewelry and it's very much worth the investment). Roll a loop on the tip of the wire. This is where you will connect it to jump rings or earings or other items. A good sized loop takes about the length of the tip of your pinky (unless you have doll hands and in that case I'm jealous and no longer like you. In this case, use the tip of your ring finger, jerkface.) Once you have that loop, press the bead up to the edge of it, and measure out another pinky tip of wire. Now you cut it off the wire coil. Loop this edge. 

 Ending result?

 

Ok that was a few of my ending result. I did about 40 of them. 

AND AFTER ADDING IN MY OWN CHAINMAIL TOUCH

 

And just in case you love me lots...

This bracelet is up for sale on Etsy.

You can also find me on Facebook if you ever want to see what else I'm up to. I won't always post my creations up on here and some of them are already made so I won't be doing how to's on them.