Handmade Doll/People Paper Beads

These were hard for *me* because it is small and fussywork. My handmade paper withstood the mis/handling really well. Better than the recommended construction paper.... though if you are more dexterous than I am, I could see how you could use any paper.

Once I got the gist of it though, I moved from the measuring and cutting to freehand/eyeballing and that made it much faster and less stressful. The book, while maddening is so worth having:

Creating Extraordinary Beads from Ordinary Material by Tina Casey
1997, Northern Lights Books
ISBN 0-89134-763-1

I got the book and the patterns were undecipherable-- or thinking that if you are going to show me, you are going to *show* me how. They were a challenge: they are all made of *one* strip of paper an inch to an inch and a half wide that is sliced and then rolled. I am not into little fussy stuff but really wanted to figure out how to create a dry sheet-formed vs. pulp-formed figure.

After much internal resistance, I got into decorating them and found my Prismacolor and Sharpie markers plus the wonderful (cheap, irid/metallic Rimmel) nail polish to be fun decorative tools.

My sister said they looked very 50s and Japanese, reminiscent of a wooden jewelry box she remembered me having.... I still have that box that looks like a kind of mini armoire and on it is painted a stylized figure whose head/hair/hat? topknot? and face resembles these. I was so glad she said this as this box is about 40 years old, a gift from my favorite aunt from one of her trips to Tokyo and while cherished, it isn't noticed. Seeds planted just wait for their time to blossom.






2005, I returned to creating these for a bead swap and they grew

and grew



and grew





where the center Chakra Lady bead is about 7" (not including the wire) and is formed from one strip of "Heinz" plant paper.



Hand Papermaking WebRing| Sources on the Net|Creators on the Net|
Suppliers|Reading|Akua's Workshops 2003|Making Paper Bowls|
PaperWorks Debut| On Armature for Pulp and Papier Maché|Making Paper Overview|
Casting Notes| Making Big Paper|On the Critter | Sally Fox, inventor |Woven Heart|The Cherub, another Revolution in Studio Papermaking!| Making Paper From Arugula| Burdock Paper| Catalpa Bean Paper| Cattail Paper| Cattail Head Paper | Carrot Paper| Chicory Paper| Dandelions and Green PaperMaking| Dracaena Paper| My First Gampi| Grass Paper| Ground IvyPaper | Hemp Paper| Hydrangea Paper | Making Paper From Hostas and Teasels| Jerusalem Artichoke Leaf Paper| My First Kozo| Kudzu Paper | Milkweed Paper Milkweed Fluff Paper| Paper Mulberry Paper| Queen Anne's Lace Paper| Smartweed Paper | Early Spiderwort Paper| Spurge Paper | Teasel Top Paper Yucca Paper | Wheat StrawPaper | Handmade Art Paper Beads: Flat, Flag, Scroll Beads|

'Zines!!
I've created my first and second 'zines on hand papermaking: Introduction to Hand Papermaking (May 2003) and Handmade Beads of Handmade Paper (July 2003). Info here.