…or rather rolling them up for the new year.
The first batch of beads being offered is here and available
in our shops on Etsy, Ebay and Storenvy.
Unlike the beads we’ve made in the past which were designed by cutting
and rolling random strips from magazines – these beads are made with strips
that are measured and counted to make a specific style of bead. It’s really quite amazing how many types of
beads can be designed from just rolling strips of paper every which way.
It’s been a little over a year since I started
ReInnovations. My bead rolling obsession
began during a visit to San Francisco. I was working on a campaign at Forest
Forever. A month before I had bought a
paper bead bracelet at Whole Foods, and thought it was the most amazing piece
of work. When I was in San
Francisco, a man tried to sell me a box that he said
contained a laptop. I gave him some cash
– he looked like he needed it pretty bad.
He gave me the box. I then began
to regret taking the box because I realized if there was a laptop in it – it
was probably stolen. I was relieved to find that the box was full of
magazines. I had been meaning to start
making paper beads, and now I had the incentive to do it. Those first beads looked really rough. But after a year – I feel I’ve really gotten
it down.
Before I began upcycling paper into beads – I was upcycling
coffee bean burlap from local roasters in Ann Arbor,
Michigan.
I used the burlap to make messenger bags with a cooperative project
called Basement 6. I plan to pick that
project up again in the near future. I’d
also like to begin experimenting with making wrapper bags within the next year.
For now though, it’s all about the beads.
