Make Your Own Beads from Household Items

If you like to make jewelry, you know that beads can be expensive. Instead of shelling out money on fancy glass beads that carry just as fancy a price tag, why not learn to make your own?

Beads can be made from a variety of items and those suggested here are made with materials that can be found in your home. Some would make great projects for children, and others require a bit more effort, but all of them result in unique and beautiful beads that you can make free or at a fraction of the cost of glass beads.

Old News
Remember papier mache? You can make beads in a similar manner. Since these beads are made from newspapers you'd discard or recycle, they're basically free to make. Simply cook the newspaper in large pot, add glue, then roll into little round balls to be painted when dry. Find the complete instructions for making beads out of newspaper here.

Round Paper Beads
You've probably seen beads made out of paper, but most varieties end up in a tubular shape. If you'd rather have round beads, you can make them in much the same way with a little alteration in the dimensions of the paper strips. Here's how to make paper beads that are round.

Flour and Water Beads
It's easy to make beads from a simple mixture of flour, water and salt. No, we're not baking bread (that's next!). Mix the three ingredients, shape the dough, make a hole and allow to dry at a low oven temp and voila '" beads. The full recipe for flour beads can be found here.

Raid the Bread Box
Instead of mixing the bread-like ingredients to make beads as above, how about making beads from the bread already made? This recipe for homemade beads is similar to papier mache, but you'll be using bread pieces instead of torn paper. Bread, glue and a little time to dry is all that's required to make these beads.

One Potato, Two Potato
Beads from bread-baking ingredients. Beads made from bread already made. What could be next from your kitchen? Potato beads!

You probably know you can carve a design in a potato to make a stamp, so now cube the potato to make potato beads. No other ingredients required for this recipe, just cubed potatoes and the time to dry them before painting.

A Rose by Any Other Name
Rose petals can be used in softly scented potpourri and other crafts, but who would have thought to use them to make beads? The process to make a rose petal paste to make beads requires a little more work, but what a lovely way to use a prized bush once the blooms are spent.

You'll need lots of rose petals for this project, but you could take the kids petal picking much the same as you would berry picking and make a family day out of it. Your local flower shop might also agree to contribute excess petals they have no other use for.