Only a bead stringer would understand how difficult it is to complete a bead work without leftovers. How many times have you added beads to your bead soup stash? You don’t want to dispose of them, but you aren’t sure what to do with them.
Did you know that with little effort you can turn leftover beads into a piece of different jewellery or craft altogether? Yeah, you wouldn’t have to tuck them away hoping that you could use them one day.
In this article, we have compiled a list of unique crafts & pieces of jewellery that you can make with your stash of leftover beads:
#1 Make Bead Bottle Crafts
If you have a pile of leftover beads, you should think about making Bead Bottle Crafts. But yeah, you would have to spend some time to sort the beads based on their colour. Once you are done with the sorting, get a transparent glass bottle and start pouring the beads in layers into the bottle. You can play with the thickness of each layer & colour combinations until you are left with a beautiful design.
#2 Create Ornaments
Yeah, you heard it right. Leftover beads make excellent materials for pendants, earrings & bracelets.
Make a Pendant
Did you know that you can make excellent pendants for necklaces from leftover beads? All that you need is a headpin and a round chain nose plier.
Get a skinny head pin with a thickness that’s enough for the beads to string. Pick the beads that you want to make a pendant with and string them on to the headpin. Make sure that the bead in the bottom is fixed against the head of the pin. Using a round chain nose plier make a wire loop over the pendant.
Make Earrings
Custom made & designed earrings from leftover beads are an excellent gift option to your friends or family. Choose the best beads from your stash and whip up a great pair in no time.
If you are into the jewellery business, you can even add these earrings as a complimentary gift with each purchase. Your customers would love it and it won’t cost you much.
Make Bracelets
Not just earrings, bracelets from leftover beads to make a piece of fabulous jewellery that you can wear. All that you need is a stretch cord, embroidery scissor, bead stopper, some glue and beading needles.
- Cut a length of a chord that’s 4 inches more than the desired bracelet length. Fix a bead stopper 4 inches from one end of the chord.
- String the beads from your stash onto the elastic cord. Make sure that you check the length of the bracelet. You don’t want it to be too tight or too loose. Also, ensure that the last bead you string has a hole large enough to hide a knot in your beading cord.
- Hold the beards away from the knot and use a drop of glue to secure the knot. Use embroidery scissors to trim the end close to the knot.
Making pieces of jewellery with leftover beads is a lot easier, if you have the right tools for the job.
Get the right tools for bead projects
How to identify the right tools for bead projects?
#3 Make Some Garden & Home Décor Products
If you haven’t thought of it, leaf over beads makes excellent home décor products. With little patience and the right tools, you can add beauty to a lot of things in your home. For instance, if you have leftover glass beads, you can make bead curtains out of it. There are a lot of tutorials that are available online. As said, all you need is patience.
Else you can also make small home décor products like beaded pots for indoor plants or beaded napkin rings. Look around, and you can see a thousand options.
- Making a Napkin Ring
Napkin rings are an excellent home décor item. All you need is 18-gauge wire, a wire cutter, leftover beads & a plier. Cut approximately 20 inches of wire and make a small ring in one end to prevent the beads from falling. String the beads onto the wire in any pattern that you want to. Once you are done with it, make a small ring on the other end too.
Wind this beaded wire around a glue box or any cylindrical bottle and your napkin ring is ready!
- Beaded Wind Chimes
Wind chimes are always a thing of beauty. Did you know that you can make a beaded wind chime with some leftover beads, thread, and an old coffee container? Yeah, it’s easier than you imagined. Simply make a bead chain with leftover beads & some fishing line. It would be great if you can string some seashells, clay models or glass beads to it.
Once you are done, secure it to a hanging pot in your garden, tree branches, windows or anywhere you choose to.
#4 Prepare a Bead Repair Kit
Finding the right spare for repair is a nightmare for bead workers. you never know when you might have to repair a broken bead from a piece of jewellery. Though spares are available in the market, you wouldn’t want to buy a whole tube or string of beads when you probably just need a few.
This is where a bead repair kit comes in handy. You can keep a few leftovers after every project in a container and label them. So that the next time you need a spare, you would know where to check for it.
#5 Donate the leftover beads or conduct workshops
If you have a lot of leftover beads, you can think about donating them to art classes or schools. Else, you can even conduct a one-day art workshop for kids who are interested in beadwork.
To Sum Up
These are some of the ideas on what to do with leftover beads. Remember that beads are highly versatile, and there is a lot you can do with them!
You can also visit our website for more information on beads and bead crafts.