Making beads with Tyvek, cellophane, angelina fibres and metallic threads

You will need:

• Strips of Tyvek painted both sides with acrylic paint
• Sweetie wrappers
• Angelina fibres
  
• Metallic threads
  
• Wooden barbeque stick
• Heat gun

Strip of Tyvek painted both sides
















Gather materials together















Wrap the Tyvek strip round the wooden stick, then wrap a layer of cellophane sweet wrapper round on top, secure with a pin
















Next, wrap some angelina fibres around the Tyvek and cellophane

Heat the bead with the heat gun, holding the heat gun 6-8 inches away from the bead and twisting the wooden stick while heating










Then I added another layer of cellophane wrapper















I added some metallic threads










Heated again as described above









The finished bead is chunky and lovely - full of colour and texture. All the materials have fused together and when it has cooled down it will be hard and ready for stitching. A great little bead for any project - textile art, creative embroidery or jewellery, etc ...

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

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

Making beads with Angelina fibres

You will need:

• Angelina fibres
• Wooden barbeque stick
• Heat gun

Angelina fibres














Tease out some angelina fibres and twist them round the wooden barbeque stick so it is as long or as thick as you want it










Then holding the heat gun about 6-8 inches away from the fibres use your heat gun to heat the fibres, twisting the stick to heat the fibres evenly. The fibres will fuse together very quickly (much quicker than Tyvek!) so don't get too close or heat for too long. Let the bead cool down and push off the stick

You end up with beads that look like silky cocoons. The bead can be sewn in the regular manner by passing a need and thread through it or couched down by sewing over the bead










Here I tried mixing two colours of Angelina fibres together














Twist the fibres around the stick












I added a little bit of pink!









Heat as described above and very quickly you will end up with a little pile of gorgeous shimmery beads














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

Pattern samples

This is string covered in gold tissue paper stuck down with pva glue in many layers. I added burnt umber to the top of the covered string to highlight it


















Stitching through layers of sheer fabrics, angelina fibres, wire, sequins and brown paper



















I made some paper pulp, layered a triangle of sheer fabric, a fancy yarn which I hand stitched down on top and added beads

Mulberry Paper, Angelina fibres and stitch

First I fused some gold angelina fibres together by ironing between two sheets of baking paper. The fibres matted together to make a thin layer















Then I machine stitched the angelina fibres with a gold metallic thread to a piece of mulberry paper. Mulberry paper is tough enough to take machine stitching because it is very fibrous