Free Beading Projects

Making Paper Beads

One of the best ways to come out with a free or almost free beading project is to make your own beads at home from materials you've got around the house. One of the simplest ways to make your own beads is to make beads out of paper.

All you need is a bunch of paper, either from magazines, junk mail or even old wrapping paper, a craft knife and a straight edge, if you want your beads to come out uniform, and plain white glue or decoupage glue. Some way of turning the beads is also necessary. You can use a dowel or a pencil. Some people like to do this flat on a table while others will stick the dowel into a piece of cardboard so it will spin, making the winding process a little faster.

To make the beads, cut your paper into strips no wider than about three-fourths of an inch. One end should be a little wider than the other, but you can experiment with different shapes and sizes of strips, which will give you different shapes and sizes of beads.

Starting with the wide end, wrap the paper around your dowel or pencil and spin slowly, guiding the paper so it winds evenly around the dowel. When you get to an inch or two from the end of the paper, put a little dot of glue on the end and wind up the rest of the way. Slide off the dowel and repeat until you have enough beads for your project.

To make the beads more durable, you'll need to coat them with some kind of finish. You can use diluted white glue or decoupage medium, gloss varnish or a spray acrylic medium. Either dip the beads (strung on a piece of wire) into your chosen solution or gently spray or brush it on. Allow to dry and craft away!

Other Free Bead Projects

Did you know you can make beads from rose petals? It's really pretty easy, though somewhat time-consuming, and a lot of fun. Your kids won't believe that you can made a necklace or bracelet out of roses, but you can. Click on the link above for complete instructions. If you grow roses, this is a great way to use the spent petals.

You can also make your own clay beads. If you don't have a lot of craft clay laying around, you can make your own. There are tons of recipes out there, using everything from corn starch to sawdust to flour and salt, so you're sure to find a recipe you've got all the ingredients for.

Once you've made your clay, you can shape it into beads. Make round beads, square beads, or any other shape you like. Make sure you make them large enough that you can poke a hole through the center for your beading wire to go through. Use a toothpick or skewer to make the holes.

Paint the beads or decorate them with glitter. Use beading wire, string or yarn to make a necklace. This is a good craft for the kids, because they can make the clay, play with it and wear the results!

Bead Soup

A final idea for free beading projects isn't truly free, but it will help you use up the otherwise worthless supply of beads you've got on hand. Some crafters call this bead soup or bead potpourri.

The idea is to collect all your old beads that you don't have a project for and make something. You don't even have to make jewelry; you could use them in a home décor project or even make a sculpture out of them. Use your imagination and your old beads at the same time.

To make this even more fun, invite some friends and their cast-off beads over for a bead-using party. People can then trade beads, or you could just dump everyone's beads together and give each person a collection of mixed beads. It's really fun to see what other people come up with to do with a similar collection of beads, and you'll get to use up beads on a project that cost you very little money.