Deceptive Drops

These earrings are not all they appear. They are made from paper beads encased in electrician’s heat shrinkable plastic tubing!

Posted by Helen Bowen

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These beads look like porcelain but they are actually rolled paper encased in shrunk plastic tubing. There are lots of opportunities to use non-jewelry making components in your designs - you just have to use your imagination.
You can buy bead rollers from Cbar5Creations on Etsy and electrician's tubing on Ebay.

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You Will Need (21 things)

  • Supplies

  • 2 Earwires
  • Willow Pattern Plate
  • Paper
  • 3/16” diameter electrician’s heat shrinkable plastic Tubing
  • 2 Headpins
  • 2 Small round Spacer Beads
  • 4 Bead Caps
  • Glue

  • Tools

  • Camera
  • Color Printer
  • Cutting Mat
  • Metal Ruler
  • Craft Knife
  • Paper bead Roller
  • Heat Tool
  • Round nosed Pliers
  • Chain nosed Pliers
  • Bead Reamer
  • Scissors

Steps (10 steps, 30 minutes)

  1. 1

    Gather your supplies. In addition to the items shown, you will need your camera, a printer, some glue, jewelry pliers and a bead reamer or similar pointy object.

  2. 2

    If you've completed one of my other projects (Time for Tea, Temple Tassel or Polymer Porcelain project), you can use the same willow pattern plate photograph. If not, you’ll need to take one! If it’s a very large plate, a section will suffice. Use a high quality setting on your camera and ensure good lighting. Print it out so the pattern is the same size as the pattern on the plate. You are going to need a patterned paper piece that extends to 5” (15cm) wide by at least 6” (18cm) long. An inkjet or laser printed image is fine for this project. Cut a rectangle of patterned paper that is 5 inches wide by at least 6 inches long. I managed a 5” (15cm) by 8.5” (25cm) rectangle from my image.

  3. 3

    Cut the paper into strips, around 1 inch wide and 5 inches long. My metal ruler was just the right width for this! Cut six strips in total. This is enough to make two beads for this project and four more for my Temple Tassel project or another project of your own design.

  4. 4

    The visible pattern on the finished beads will be the pattern at the end inch of the paper strip. The rest of the paper will be hidden. Choose two paper strips that have similar pattern density at the end (you want the earrings to match-ish!).

  5. 5

    Apply a small amount of glue to one end of a paper strip (the end that will be visible on the bead). Slide the other end of the paper strip into the groove on the bead roller and begin rolling, slowly and steadily, keeping the bead uniform. Press the gluey end down firmly and leave to dry for a minute or two.

  6. 6

    Slide the paper bead off the bead roller and push inside the end of the electrician’s tubing so it overlaps the end by a whisker, no more. Cut the tube to the right length with a tiny overlap at the other end of the bead.

  7. 7

    Slide the bead onto a bead reamer, or similar pointed object, then heat with the heat tool. Within seconds the tubing will shrink around the paper bead. Turn the bead to ensure the shrink is even and pay particular attention to the ends.

  8. 8

    Now thread a spacer bead, bead cap, paper bead and another bead cap onto a headpin.

  9. 9

    Turn a wrapped loop above to secure them. Attach to an ear wire of your choice and repeat in full for a second earring.

  10. 10

    Make four more beads with the remaining paper strips from step 3!