Making paper beads from your gel prints is a brilliant way to use the ones that didn’t come out so well!

(Note: if you are here from my YouTube Channel looking for free printables, the link is at the end of the post.)

I have now created a special page where will find all my free printables in one place. You no longer need passwords to access them and I have also put in the YouTube tutorial links showing you how to use most of the free printables. Click here to go to the page.

Making paper beads from my gel prints has boosted my creativity.

I have been obsessed with paper beads since the 70s and am always thinking up new projects.

And as someone who is also obsessed with sploshing paint around, despite having no particular talent for it, I always have hundreds of ordinary but colorful abstract paintings laying around begging to be turned into paper beads.

One of my favourite ways of making abstract art is by using a Gelli plate with acrylics and like many gelatin print enthusiasts, I have literally hundreds, if not thousands of fairly mediocre paintings stuffed in portfolios and drawers.

I have so many that I I sometimes wonder if I should be making more – but I LOVE the process.

So of course, I don’t want to stop and my new use for them gives me a reason to create gel prints.

Many people use their Gelatin prints to make beautiful cards.

However, making paper beads is another fantastic way to use your art to save it from being shut away forever.

Watch my latest YouTube video to see how I do it.

It’s exciting to actually use all the hundreds of gelli plate prints we produce to create truly unique pieces of jewelry from paper beads

Making paper beads from my art.

This is what I made from a single Gelli print that was hiding away in my stash of ‘nothing special’ prints.

For those who don’t know what Gelli/Gelatin Plate printing is, it’s a very easy and exciting way to paint.

You use a thick, floppy rectangle of what looks and feels like Jello (jelly if you are in the UK).

It’s used in conjunction with a small roller or brayer as it is also known.

The exciting thing about gelatin printing (also called mono printing) is that while it is used by professional artists to produce stunning pieces of wall art, it can also be used by amateurs and hobbyists to experiment with paint in an easy way that enables them to produce beautiful, unique work.

If you want to see how I create my gelatin prints for journals, click here to watch.

And later in this post, I will introduce you to professional artist Miranda Grayling who combines Gelli plate with mono printing and silk screen printing to produce stunning artwork which sells really well.

Ideas for making paper beads came thick and fast when I went through my stash of paintings.

And lets face it, unless we are professional artists or highly competant amateurs, us Gelatin printers do have stacks of so-so prints that we don’t quite know what to do with.

We all play with Gelli printing for different reasons. My reason is definitely because it is a source of calm when I feel stressed.

For me, the act, or process of creating the prints is the main reason I create that way.

The end product is not the focus of each session. I think this has become even more obvious to me during this awful world crisis where we have all been locked up.

Out of all the arts and crafts I do, Gelli plate/Mono printing is the activity I gravitate to the most.

If I feel unusually stressed or low I get my gel plate and paints out.

I don’t really think about what I produce.

The real purpose is to simply do something creative and enjoy the activity without worrying about the end result.

And so I have a huge stock of Gelli print paintings/stroke backgrounds to use for making paper beads.

The many paintings I produced during lockdown kept me busy while life was so up and down.

It was an escape; sometimes I would spend hours just doing print after print after print to keep from going mad.

I have now paused the printing and am slowly begining to cut the prints up to make jewelry.

While I have been busy cutting up my Gelli prints, my friend Miranda has been busy selling hers in Denmark.

Miranda Grayling is a UK based artist who regularly sells her work at exhibitions both here and abroad.

I highlight her work here to show the spectrum of ability that the Gelli plate printing supports.

Anyone from absolute beginner to pro level can use the Gelli plate to explore their creativity and grow.

Miranda also combines her mono-printing with silk-screen printing to create her beautiful collages.

However, for hobbyists who are learning, the Gelli plate alone holds a myriad of possibilities for making wonderful layered images.

You can visit Miranda’s FaceBook page, Artwork By Miranda by clicking here.

And now for the free digital download I promised in my video…

Click here to get your free download.

Please see here for the Terms & Conditions of using my free printables. There aren’t many but please respect them.

To buy the bead tool and the paper bead template I use in the video, see below for info.

I no longer sell my physical paper bead products on etsy.

If you want to find out how to get them, message me on Instagram.

However, I do still sell my paper bead digital downloads on etsy.

If you want to buy a Gelli plate and brayer (roller) see below for details of my Amazon shops.

My shops are stocked with an array of the lovely art and craft products I use in my videos. Well worth a browse.

These items were available at the time of writing this, however that may have changed now.

UK based customers click here.

US based customers click here.

See my Amazon Affiliate statement here.

Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope you have a ton of fun exploring these paper bead ideas.

Do pop over to my YouTube channel and leave me a comment.