Philosophy:
I believe in always doing things full heartedly, top quality, and with love. This is not a hobby, but a way of supporting myself and a form of art to me. I first learned about paper beads from a group of women in Uganda who are were in poverty and turned to paper beads to support their families. That is how I look at it and this is my way out of poverty.
General Information:
The paper beads in each piece of jewelry go through a special process. Each page is hand selected, measured, cut, rolled, inspected, hung to be varnished, glazed with 3 coats of varnish, left to dry for 48 hours, and then inspected and smoothed out with diamond files and an X-acto. After that, the beads are incorporated into finished jewelry that may include glass, gemstones, wire working, and PMC (Precious Metal Clay) - creating beautiful, one of a kind accessories to be loved by someone special. Over the past two years, I have done a lot of research and experimentation to get the bead making down to a more efficient process. I've tried various varnishes, and industrial strength Acrylic has worked the best. Hanging my beads on monofilament fishing line has also proved to be more efficient than the method of using toothpicks in styrofoam. To make the varnishing process time effective, I roll around 500 beads at a time as a large batch. This way, I have a whole stock of different colored paper beads for my jewelry.
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