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beads

How to Make Paper Mâché Beads: A Pulp-and-Paste Guide

Soak torn newspaper, mix it with flour paste until clay-like, and mold it around a smooth stick to form paper-mâché beads with center holes.

By ThatPainter Team 2 min read
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To make pulp-based paper-mâché beads, soak torn newspaper, mix it with thin flour-and-water paste until clay-like, then shape each bead around a smooth stick or dowel. Leave the support in place until the bead is fully dry; size the hole a little larger than you want it to be because it may shrink as it dries.

What you need

  • Newspaper, torn into small pieces
  • Flour and water for paste
  • A bowl and a pot
  • A smooth pen, wooden skewer, round dowel, or knitting needle to form the hole
  • Non-toxic paint and a paintbrush
  • String for the finished beads

The Federer Foundation’s Toy Book activity, identified as a 2024 reprint, lists 6 cups of water and 2 cups of flour for its paste. Treat that as the recipe used in that activity rather than a universal ratio: different paper and conditions can change how much moisture the mixture needs. Federer Foundation

Prepare the paper pulp and paste

  1. Tear the newspaper into pieces about 3 cm square and soak them in water overnight.
  2. Squeeze out excess water.
  3. Mix flour and water in a pot until the paste is smooth and thin.
  4. Work the paste into the wet paper, squeezing and mixing until the material feels like clay and holds together for shaping.

Shape beads around a hole-making support

  1. Choose a smooth stick or dowel that is slightly thicker than the finished hole you want. A vocational textbook passage warns that the hole may shrink while drying, but it does not quantify how much.
  2. Press a small lump of the pulp mixture around the support. Compress and shape it into a round or cylindrical bead, keeping the material evenly distributed around the hole.
  3. Leave the bead on the stick while it dries. This helps keep the opening defined through drying.

Dry completely before painting

Wait until each bead is dry all the way through before painting or applying any finish. There is no fixed drying time established for these beads: bead size, moisture in the mixture, and surrounding conditions all affect how long drying takes. A general paper-mâché tutorial cautions that painting before the material is dry can trap moisture and contribute to mold. Ultimate Paper Mache

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Paint and string the beads

Paint the fully dried beads with non-toxic paint, then allow the paint to dry before stringing them. Thread string through the center holes; if a hole has narrowed, avoid forcing the thread through in a way that could break the bead.

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Paper-mâché pulp beads versus rolled-paper beads

These are different techniques. Pulp-and-paste beads are molded from a clay-like mass; rolled-paper beads are made by winding strips around a straw or wire. Choose the pulp method when you want to mold a bead from paper mixture, or the rolled method when you have colored paper strips and want a wound-paper look. The sources do not compare their strength or speed.

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Feature Pulp-and-paste beads Rolled-paper beads
Starting material Soaked torn paper mixed with flour-and-water paste Long rectangular, tapered, or triangular colored-paper strips
How the bead is formed Mold the clay-like pulp around a stick or dowel Wind a strip around a straw or wire, using a little glue
Drying and finishing Keep the support in place and dry fully before painting; bead-specific drying time is not stated by the Federer Foundation guide. Rest on a holder to dry. Michigan State University Extension suggests clear or glitter nail polish for a protective coating, or glue/Mod Podge for a more matte look; these suggestions are for rolled-paper beads, not tested finishes for pulp beads. Michigan State University Extension

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