What I'm Making.

Paper beads, a simple project that I can do while hanging with Parry (rolling the beads doesn't smell, make noise, or cloister me in the craft room).

I cut the paper into very narrow triangular strips. Using white glue diluted with water, I pinch the flat end between two toothpicks and roll the paper around. Pull out one of the toothpicks, use the other to open up the hole, and squish the bead a little to make the hole round, then pull out the toothpick. Let dry.  The remainder I do in my craft room because the polyurethane smells. I string a bunch of beads together, paint polyurethane onto them, and hang to dry. When they are mostly dry, I move the beads around on the string so they don't get glued in place. Can do more than one coat of polyurethane.

Maybe I'll be able to sell these. I can try. If it doesn't pan out, I've been looking up beaded jewelry designs, so maybe I can sell jewelry from them.

The set up for drying after glazing. Not that you can see the beads very well, but this is with two coats of satin polyurethane.

Scrapbook paper and coloring book page. The thick scrapbook paper is very easy to work with. One coat of satin polyurethane. Pencil for scale.

Origami boxes to keep them tidy while rolling them.

Pages from an old book. (Don't worry, it wasn't valuable). This works best if I glue 2 sheets together before cutting the strips. Beads are not glazed yet.

Coloring book pages. This paper was difficult to work with. It stuck too much to the toothpicks and bit of paper would stick to my fingers and peel off the bead. Beads are not glazed yet.

Another coloring book page, the same paper as above. Also not glazed yet.