How to make your own beads [glass, bread, plastic, clay, wood, paper, papier mache]

1. Bread beads

Materials needed: baked bread, lime or lemon, color, brushes, lacquer.
Tools needed: broom-stick, art knife.

Steps

• Make preliminary sketches and idea development of the bead to be produced
• Remove the outer hard brown cover of the bread
• Crush or break the inner soft portion of the bread into smaller bits and put it into a fine container
• Add some amount of white glue and lemon to the bread dough and knead
• Roll and cut the kneaded bread dough into the expected sizes
• Mold into the expected shapes and sizes
• Use broom stick to create or perforate hole in the bread dough
• Allow it to dry
• Decorate it using color and brushes
• Apply lacquer to it to make it shinny and attractive
• Allow it to dry and string

2. Bead and loop

• Cut wire into strips. All of the same size
• Hold the tip of the wire and coil to make a loop on one side with the round nose plier
• Put bead through the other side
• Make another loop to lock the bead
• Make several of them and use jump ring to join them to form chains

3. Seed beads

Materials needed: seeds, color, lacquer and thread.
Tools needed: an awl, hand drill, needle.

Steps

• Make preliminary sketches and idea development of the bead to be produced
• Collect seeds from the locality
• Dry seeds for some time
• Perforate the seeds for threading. If seeds are too hard for perforating, heat sand in a pan and arrange the seeds in it to be soften
• Remove their radicles and thread through it
• Decorate it by either vanishing or painting to enhance its beauty

4. Wooden beads

Materials needed: wood, color, and lacquer.
Tools needed: saw, scorching iron, file, chisel, brushes, sand paper, awl, bodkin, hand drill, art knife.

Steps

• Cut wood into size and shape desired with a suitable woodworking tool
• Use file and sand paper to smoothen the shapes
• Create threading hole in the wood pieces with either a drill or hot iron
• Decorate the beads by scorching, painting or spraying with lacquer and vanish to give it a glossy effect
• Thread the pieces of beads together

5. Plastic beads

Materials needed: discarded plastics (cups, bucket, plates, bowls, basins etc.), color, lacquer and thread.
Tools needed: hand saw, an awl, thin metal, pan or empty tin, hand drill, bodkin, awl, needle.

Steps 1

• Make preliminary sketches and idea development of the bead to be produced
• Collect discarded plastics from the locality
• Break plastic material into pieces
• Melt plastic pieces in a container
• Allow the melted plastic to cool a little bit and mold into the desired shapes and sizes
• Use a scorching tool to make hole in them
• Polish and string

Steps 2

• Make preliminary sketches and idea development of the bead to be produced
• Collect discarded plastics from the locality
• Cut plastic material into strips
• Set light to one end of the strip and hold the burning strip over a bowl of water
• Allow the melting plastic to drop into the water to solidify
• Collect the droppings and perforate them

Steps 3

• Make preliminary sketches and idea development of the bead to be produced
• Collect discarded plastics from the locality
• Shape plastics into geometric shapes such as round, triangle, rectangle, Square etc.
• Use bodkin or heated metal to create hole in the
• Polish and string

6. Clay beads

Materials needed: clay, color, and lacquer.
Tools needed: broom-stick, kiln, brushes and art knife.

Steps

• Make preliminary sketches.
• Prepare the clay using dry or wet method
• Knead the clay to remove trapped bubbles.
• Roll the clay.
• Cut the clay into required shapes and sizes
• Mold into the expected shapes and sizes
• Pierce or create holes in them.
• Allow it to dry
• Fire the beads
• Decorate the beads
• String the beads

7. Paper beads

Materials needed: paper, glue, color or dye, lacquer.
Tools needed: broom-stick, pair of scissors, ruler, brushes, and art knife.

Steps

• Make preliminary sketches
• Use pencil/pen to draw the outline of the bead you want to produce
• Use pencil/pen and ruler to measure and rule the lines on the paper
• Cut the pieces of papers into strips using scissors or the knife
• Roll the strips round a piece of broom stick or matchstick using the glue
• Decorate the beads by painting, spaying or vanishing

8. Papier mache beads

Materials needed: paper, glue, color or dye, lacquer.
Tools needed: broom-stick, pair of scissors, ruler, brushes, and art knife.

Steps

• Make preliminary sketches
• Soak paper for some times
• Remove from water and squeeze out excess water
• Pound the soaked paper to get fine particles
• Mix pounded paper with glue or starch
• Mold to the desired shapes and sizes
• Use broom stick to create hole in the beads
• Allow to dry
• Polish the beads by filing to make it smooth
• Decorate the beads by painting, spaying or vanishing

9. Glass beads

Materials needed: scrap glass, clay, cassava leave stalk, suede (color), fuel for grease/oil
Tools needed: metal mortar, metal pestle, grinding stone, file, sieve, bricks, and mold

Stage 1: Designing and making clay mold

Steps:

Prepare clay slab
Make holes of the desired shape and size in the slab
Allow to dry

Stage 2: Designing and building a brick kiln

Steps:

• Make a design of the kiln
• Make a dimension of the kiln to be made
• Prepare bricks
• Construction of kiln according to the design

Stage 3: Preparing glass powder

Steps:

• Break glasses into pieces
• Pound or grind broken glasses into fine particles
• Sieve pounded glasses into fine powder
• Store for use

Stage 4: Making beads from glass

Steps:

• Paint the holes of the mold with kaolin or oil
• Fix a cassava leaf-stalk into each hole
• Fill the holes with powdered glass
• Add colored powder to the glass powder for decoration
• Pack mold in the kiln for firing
• Allow to fire
• Remove from the kiln and allow to dry
• Smooth beads by filling the rough edges and polish
• Design if necessary

Source: Jewelry theories & practices for Senior High School by Juliana E. Ankutse-Ashiagbor