Saturday, February 3, 2007

Beaded Pen Tutorial

Okay, here it is! These are so easy to make, and they are a great gift! I will let you in on where I get most of my supplies for this before I start the tutorial. The pens you can get a lot of places. Easiest is Walmart - a 2 pack is $1.06. You can get them at office supply stores in larger quantities and they are most likely cheaper that way.

The microbeads themselves you can also get a lot of places. I prefer one place for both my beads and my O'So sticky tape/sheets. I go to PennyWiseArts for all these items. Not only are they a great price there, but they are super nice and helpful too! I have been extremely please with the items I have gotten from them. For the pens I used 1/8 inch O'So sticky tape, 6 x 8 O'So Sticky Paper Backed Sheets, and Mini Micro Beads Clear - CB-1000. I could not recommend this store more, their products are the best, and they have the best prices too!



Beaded Pen Tutorial

Supplies:
Pentel R.S.V.P. ball point pen
O’so Sticky Sheets – piece cut to 2 ½ in x 3 ¼ inch
O’so Sticky Tape (or red liner tape)
Dazzling Diamonds Glitter
Bowl or Container long enough for a pen
Patterned paper (or Stamped paper) cut to 1 3/8 x 3 1/8 inches
Microbeads


Step 1:
Put red liner tape along both edges (lengthwise) of your patterned paper. The side you want to see on the pen should be facing down.









Step 2:
Removed one of the red strips and stick that part onto the barrel of the pen. Then wrap the paper around the pen very tightly. Remove the second red strip and adhere the end of the paper to the pen. Your paper should overlap slightly.















Step 3:
Remove one side of backing from your o’so sticky sheet. Very carefully (when it is stuck down, it is hard to move!) stick this onto your pen. I try to line it up on the opposite side of the patterned paper seam.






Step 4:
Very carefully, adhere the sticky sheet to the pen. When you reach the first edge of sticky paper, start there and remove the other side of backing. The end of you sticky paper should overlap your beginning seam. If they do not over lap, or there is a gap – this is easily fixable. Just cut another strip 3 ¼ inches long and just wide enough to cover your gap. Then stick it on the pen over the gap. This won’t be noticeable when the pen is finished, but a gap would be!


Step 5:
Pour microbeads into container. Drop sticky pen into beads and roll around to completely cover sticky paper.



















Step 6:
Hold bead covered pen over container and roll between your fingers. This helps to get any loose beads off the pen and also kind of “set” the beads into the tape a bit more.








Step 7: (optional)
Hold beaded pen over container of glitter. Sprinkle glitter all over pen as you roll it around in your fingers. You want to really coat the pen with the glitter. Then tap it off several times (or thump one end with your other hand) to shake off excess glitter. I like the glitter because it fills any tiny gaps left from beads. Plus it just makes it sparklier!





That’s it! You’ve got a gorgeous, sparkly, beaded pen!






I made a few more just to show off different papers. In my experience, the darker designs or inks will look better with the beads on top. Lighter ones tends to get a little washed out by the beads. Have fun with it!

**ETA** I was asked how many pens you can get from one container of beads. I purchased a 5 oz bag at least a year ago. I still have over half of it left. I have made at least 30 pens so far as well as a few other projects. A little goes a long way with microbeads. And no, the beads do not fall off when the pen is used. I have some that are two years old and the beads are still on there!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Turned out great Em! I might need to do these for an upcoming class...thanks for sharing!

msdetloff

i{heart}2stamp said...

great tutorial! how many pens can u make from one container of beads?

Rachel Hope said...

reat tutorial!! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Wow, they look so pretty! But won't the beads fall off when the pens are used/handled? I'll try to find some sticky tape here, and see if I can do that!

Anonymous said...

Emily...Thank you sooo much for your clearly presented and lovely tutorials!

Anonymous said...

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I've been wanting to learn how to make these for a long time. I'm such a visual person, so your pictures were very helpful!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the great tutorial AND thank you for letting us know where to get the supplies.

Love your work.

Anonymous said...

Emily, your pens are beautiful and your tutorial is very easy to follow. Great job!

bethtrue said...

thanks for the tutorial - you make it seem so easy!! i would like to try these; a great way to spruce up a regular 'ole pen!!

i enjoy your blog - keep up the great work!!

_Beth

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much, I love you blog!! You are awesome. Thanks,Katie

Jackie said...

That's a great tutorial - it's much easier to understand when it's shown in steps like that. And I love the part about adding glitter - I didn't think of that but I'm sure it makes them sparkly and pretty!

Anonymous said...

i'll be using this tutorial.. i bought a sheet of the sticky tape and a couple tubes of microbeads. i can't wait to try this out!

Anonymous said...

I am doing this pen at my stamp camp tomorrow. The glitter addition is a brilliant idea. I know my campers will love this. Thanks for the inspiration as always, Emily!

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