Home-made beads?

[MonP'titBoudain]

My niece (3y.o.) loves to make her own jewelry and instead of getting her one of those plastic bead sets from Target, I was trying to think of a way to make beads she might use. But I'm coming up blank. Any ideas? tia!

[Callimom]

Fimo or other brands of polymer clay can be used to make beads quite easily. Marbling two colours together is pretty or you can make stripes, polka dots etc.

There are lots of tutorial for making paper beads online. You could also do clay or salt dough, felt, buttons etc.
hth
Karen

[greenmamato2]

I was going to suggest fimo as well, but you can also get a bundle of wooden beads and paint them together! My kids love that!

[bluebirdiemama]

I like to make them out of make and bake playdough and then paint them

[aeiouys]

Paper beads are fun to make
http://www.tappi.org/paperu/art_class/paperBeads.htm

[faerierose]

I used to make beads from potatoes when I was little. Just cut the the shape you want, put a hole in the center, string them, and hang them out to dry. After they harden you can paint them.

[LittleSoulMama]

Originally Posted by aeiouys

Paper beads are fun to make
http://www.tappi.org/paperu/art_class/paperBeads.htm

I love making paper beads. Thanks for the link, there are some other good paper crafts on that site

[ediesmom]

my grandmother used to make beads from the sunday funnies. kind of like the paper beads, but you make LONG strips....graduating width from about an inch down to nothing (a point) in about a twelve " piece. cover with glue and wrap around a toothpick. the glue makes a sort of shellac and the holes are small enough that you can use regular beads as spacers....


she (my grandmother) would also make 'puca shell' beads out of those foam egg cartons.....i don't even know if they make them anymore? but she would use a paper punch and just punch out a gazillion and string them like the puca shell necklaces. really cut and a nice way to do something with those sturofoam things