Making Beads

Ooh, I had fun tonight playing with a heat gun and an old overnight mail envelope.

I had heard you could manipulate the envelopes using a heat gun. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I decided to try to make something small – like beads. So, I took out my envelope, painted the white side with some inks and paints, let it dry, cut it into strips, wound it around a skewer and then applied some heat to it. That was cool enough, but then I applied embossing powders, some Pearl Ex powders and tiny mica pieces while the “bead” was still hot and this is what I got. Next time, I’m going to try to add some seed beads, fibers or threads as inclusions. I’m not sure whether I love or hate these beads but it was definitely fun and something I want to continue to keep playing with.