In her workshop, Michelle taught us three ways to make beads.  I was not familiar with any of the three methods, and they were all interesting.  The first method was to use rolled up paper.  I had some beautifully colored origami paper that I used for this, and it was the process that I was most interested in, probably because it was most related to making books and paper folding.  I have really enjoyed those processes during this class, and I have been thinking about how paper’s properties are so simple and elegant.  I am not very pleased with the product of my bead-making, I like the general idea but I think I would need to explore the material further to make what I am thinking of, which would be these beautiful rolled beads that expand out from the roll into the space around them.  The closest are the beads on the both ends of the string. Here is my paper bead necklace:

Michelle also taught us how to make beads by felting wool, which I thought was really interesting and had a lot of potential, but I didn’t really have the supplies to make it work well.I tried with cotton and it didn’t felt much, it just produced bedraggled clumps that dried into a sort of matted cotton.  I pulled apart some scraps of the felt I used to make the stuffed monster in Daniel’s workshop in the morning, and that worked better but still with cracks.  Next time I would take Michelle’s advice and card the wool carefully in one direction.  It seems like that would produce a better result.  Here’s a picture of my bead, such as it is:

I did not try the third method yet, making beads with ground up flowers and corn starch.  I didn’t have all of the ingredients and I didn’t want to make too big a mess today.  It does seem like a fascinating process, and one that is also full of potential.

I see these projects as being most suited to an elementary environment, or to a workshop setting for older children.  Also, the processes remind me of the work that Michelle was doing in Studio Explorations, and I wonder if she is planning to integrate the flower process into her work.  I feel like she could use it as an element in sculpture, either by building up layers or using the process to make surfaces in her work.