Beads!!!!!!!

I  couldn't  find a listing for Bead-rollers Anonymous in the phone book;  besides it was a Saturday afternoon.  So I decided to just continue to roll beads and figured if I were still at it on Sunday morning - at least in a continual session - I would have something to worry about.

At a garage sale I came across the Carl Larsson 2006 calendar with its thick glossy pages and gorgeous colours;  I have a book of his paintings so the calendar was raw material.

Before too many minutes of being back home I was cutting up that calendar and rolling beads.

I've done this many times before - rolled beads - and loved it.  So - once again.....

Basically you are cutting a strip of paper, rolling it around something like a knitting needle, gluing when you get to the end of the strip, removing rolled paper from knitting needle - dah dah - a bead!

A kids book in the library many years ago alerted me to the fact that different shapes of beads will result from changing the shapes of the strips.  Here I have used mostly triangles but have been experimenting with right angled triangles as well as isosceles  etc. and cutting off the point on some and rolling the leftovers from cutting the triangles.  Oh, do try it!  It is so much fun. 

The piece of stiff muslin ripped into strips with a bead or two strung on it is a try to see about making a door  curtain  from that material (have to see what happens when I wash out the sizing) and using beads randomly on it to give it weight and interest, possible interspersed with simple knots.  That is also the reason for the large beads which could be used at the very bottom; the pointed ends can be trimmed flat.  It is still very much in the "...wonder what would happen if...." stage.  And since the doll adventure is very much in progress I am wondering what would happen if I made a round bead and then some long ones and.......

  Brown paper bag material got rolled into beads and turned into earrings which I like for their simplicity;  they could have designs drawn on them but so far I  have left them plain;  etching them using the sun and a magnifying glass appeals but I haven't gotten around to doing that yet. 

These are fabric beads rolled from the same fabric I ripped to knit the bag with.  I made them ages ago but I think I glued the material onto a piece of paper first. 

I can imagine a room with beads large enough so that people could walk through their centers....wouldn't that be something.  What could be used for them.....recycled carpet?.....pasta dough?........junk mail glued together and then cut into triangle?.........

If you roll beads, I would like to hear from you. 

Comments

[laughing purple goldfish]

I remember making this style of beads as a child, using old magazine pages... it was always such fun! I love the idea of the rolled fabric... it looks perfect on the bag... love it...

[Esther]

have never heard of making beads like this..
the calendar that is displayed on your blog..I have that picture framed in my kitchen.
How about showing a picture of the finished earrings?! please and thanks.

[Karen]

Hello laughing. I wonder if rolling beads from magazines has been a universal activity for kids. Would be interesting to see a round-the-world selection of same; the similarities, the differences.

[Karen]

Hi Esther. I think Larsson's work is in many homes - he depicts family life so well. If I can get the sun to etch a design - without burning up the earrings - I'll post the result.