After making my plastic bag and t-shirt bracelet, I knew I wanted to try that again but in a necklace.
And I wanted some more pattern and color that didn't involve me painting anything. Then I remember my pile of scrapbook paper under my desk. A little something about me- I love scrapbook paper... but I don't scrapbook. It's a weakness. Anyway, here's a pic:
Alright, to make one of these puppies you'll need:
scrapbook paper (or any other paper you like, even magazine pages could work)
straws
tape
Mod
Podge (or another gluey substance; I like Mod
Podge because it makes the paper beads super strong)
t-shirt strips
Start by cutting out some strips of scrapbook paper. Make them as wide as you want your beads to be; they don't all have to be the same size. Mine were all around 3/4" to 1" wide. And make as many beads as you want on your necklace. I made twelve and used eleven. It's not really a perfect-science kind of project... they don't have to be perfect :)
Take a strip of paper, tape the end to a straw, brush so
me Mod Podge on the paper, and roll it up. Brush on some more podge to really make the beads tough. Do this for every strip of paper, and let them dry (it doesn't take very long, maybe an hour or two for them to be dry enough).
Cut the excess straw off (and save if you're going to make more), and now your beads are ready for stringing.
Cut some strips of tee as long as you want your necklace to be. I cut three pieces that were about 21" each...
To start making the necklace, tie one end to another. This is were the first bead will go. String your bead right up to the knot, and then tie a knot on the other side of the bead to hold it in place (you may need to double knot).
Tie another knot where you want the next bead to go, and just keep on repeating until you run out of beads and string. There's no measuring or set pattern for where the beads go... just wherever they look good to you.
I try to make sure that when I add the next piece of tee that the knot is right next to a bead, and the same for when I close the necklace off.