I found a great tutorial for plastic bottle beads on ThreadBanger via Waiting for Wonderland. The beads were very easy and quick to make. I made them a little different than the directions by adding washi paper to them. Below I share how I altered the tutorial and a few tips for making the beads.
Plastic Bead Tutorial, Click here.Instead of coloring the plastic with markers, I glued washi paper to the plastic. You'll want to cover only part of the plastic with paper. This way when you roll up the plastic to make the bead the paper will not be exposed.
* When making the beads always use caution. Some plastics can be toxic when melted.
* If you don't have a heat gun, a blow dryer will work too; I tried it both ways. However, the heat gun yields better results.
* Be careful of over heating the bead which can lead to the edges curling up. Hold the seam down with tweezers while heating. This will prevent it from curling up.
Close up of the back of the bead. The beads do not look perfect but I suppose that's part of their charm.
11 comments:
Your beads turned out amazingly!
I'm so jealous. I still haven't gotten around to doing this. I'm kind of glad I didn't, too. I love that you used paper and I think I'll try it that way.
I tried the paper method, but that didn't work too well for me. I posted and linked to your pretty project. :P
Thanks for the motivation.
Oooh, so pretty! I think the imperfection in them is what makes them "perfect". Can't wait to try this one!
They look really pretty. You did a great job. I will try my hand at doing this. This is something that I haven't tried yet. Thanks for the post!
I really like this! It looks easy for beginner crafter like me.
I'm going to try this one out!
Pretty creative! A new twist to Shrinky DInks!
Very cool! I love how green this is!
I am glad that you liked the
toy maker site! Thank you for
posting about it!!! I have been
visiting with family. When I get
back I see this great post!
I hope everyone checks out it!
I'm linking to this tutorial tomorrow on Dollar Store Crafts!
These are gorgeous! I saw how to make the beads a whie back flicking through craft books at the store, but never thought of adding paper to them. I think I should make my sister some with the pretty papers we got in Nara when she visited :D
These beads are really beautiful! Will try these out this weekend. I have collected lots of plastic bottles for such projects :)
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