Making beads from cello sweet wrappers, angelina fibres and metallic threads

You will need:

• Cellophane sweetie wrappers
• Metallic threads
  
• Wooden barbeque stick
• Heat gun

Eat lots of sweets/chocolates for the wrappers (my favourite bit!). Gather your materials together

Wrap a few strips of cellophane sweetie wrappers round the wooden stick. Secure with a pin to hold the wrappers in place














Wrap metallic threads round the cellophane sweet wrappers








Holding the heat gun 6-8 inches away, heat the cellophane for just a moment until it starts to melt and fuse together, twisting the stick while you are heating. Don't overdo it! If you do melt it more than you intended all is not lost! Just wrap another layer or two of cellophane and metallic threads round the bead and heat again!







The finished bead

For the next bead I followed the procedure above but added angelina fibres

Making beads from cellophane sweet wrappers, angelina fibres and metallic threads

You will need:

• Cellophane sweetie wrappers
• Angelina fibres
  
• Metallic threads
  
• Wooden barbeque stick
• Heat gun

Wrap the strips of cellophane sweetie wrappers round the wooden stick















Then wrap a layer of angelina fibres around the cellophane and heat it with the heat gun, holding the heat gun about 6-8 inches away and twisting the stick to ensure even fusing/melting









Here I heated the purple cellophane and blue angelina fibres but then I added another layer of pink cellophane and more blue angelina fibres











This is what the beads look like after heating. The beads are hard and solid and can be sewn like any other bead by passing needle and thread through the hole or by couching by sewing over and around the bead. They are colourful, shiny, textured and bright - great for your textile/art projects!











BEFORE FOLLOWING THESE TECHNIQUES - PLEASE READ THE HEALTH AND SAFETY NOTICE HERE