Crafters Anonymous: Artsy Syracuse woman finds passion for making paper beads
(LEAD) Beads that have been secured with PVC glue dry on colored toothpicks as Rose Brontmire makes another paper bead at her home in Syracuse on Friday, April 1, 2016.
(Secondary) Rose Brontmire makes paper beads at her home in Syracuse on Friday, April 1, 2016.
(Secondary) Rose Brontmire glazes a paper beads at her home in Syracuse on Friday, April 1, 2016.
(Secondary) Rose Brontmire tightly wraps a strip of paper around a paper bead roller at her home in Syracuse on Friday, April 1, 2016. The paper is then pinned down with PVC glue and then coated twice with Mod Podge. The final step is lightly dunking the beads in a gloss.
(Secondary) Jewelry strung with Rose Brontmire's paper beads are displayed at her home in Syracuse on Friday, April 1, 2016.
(Secondary) Rose Brontmire glazes a paper beads at her home in Syracuse on Friday, April 1, 2016.
Rose Brontmire makes paper beads at her home in Syracuse on Friday, April 1, 2016.
Rose Brontmire makes paper beads at her home in Syracuse on Friday, April 1, 2016.
Rose Brontmire makes paper beads at her home in Syracuse on Friday, April 1, 2016.
SYRACUSE — When you see the jewelry Rose Brontmire is wearing, look twice.
The Syracuse woman crafts her beads from paper.
That’s right — paper. The paper beads are hard as rocks, and come in different sizes and shapes. The retired elementary school teacher spends quite a few hours making just one bead. Though each step of making a bead doesn’t take very long, allowing Brontmire to make more than one at a time, she says the process as a whole is time-consuming.
When I asked her why would she craft beads instead of buying them, Brontmire said, “It’s fun to wear and unique. And definitely a conversation starter.”
For Brontmire, an artsy woman who loves to paint, the decision to start crafting beads was a natural one. Brontmire loves to paint. Her walls are covered with her artwork. One painting I liked was of an abandoned car in the middle of a Utah desert.
She started with oils, but said they were too messy for her. She then moved on to watercolors and pastels before discovering collage art.
I loved a collage she made using paper strips, watercolors and sand to create the image of a sunflower.
“I like to explore different mediums,” Brontmire said.
In the process, she learned to create her own collage papers. “I love textures. I love color,” Brontmire said.
Then she discovered how to make paper beads on YouTube.
The jewelry she creates by using paper, glue, Mod Podge, glazes, wires and other items is breathtaking.
Most of the time Brontmire said she doesn’t know what the finished project is going to look like, but is never displeased with results.
The vibrant, colored beads are hard as stones. The hardness comes from several coats of Vibrance, a paper bead glaze.
Brontmire said when she decides to make jewelry, she first starts by deciding on the color. It takes her some time to cut the width of the strips precisely. She also has paper bead rollers of different sizes, which she bought from an internet site.
She uses a variety of paper to create the beads, including construction paper, shiny wallpaper remnants, children’s storybook pages and handcrafted collage paper.
The type of bead she wants to make is determined by the width of the paper, the size of the roller and the amount of paper she uses. The smaller the roller, the tinier the bead hole. The wider the width of paper, the fatter the bead. The more paper she uses, the larger the beads get.
She uses PVC glue to hold the paper strips together. She places the finished bead on a toothpick, which is inserted in a Styrofoam block.
While the glue dries, Brontmire makes a few more beads. Once a bead is dry, she applies a few coats of Mod Podge with a brush. Then she waits for the bead to dry again, which takes several hours, before adding more Mod Podge or other features, like glitter and fabric.
The larger beads sometimes require up to 20 strips of paper, which she glues as she goes and holds tightly.
“If not, they go ‘boing,'” Brontmire said with laugh.
Brontmire and her husband square dance, and she made him a hat band for his cowboy hat with a matching bolo.
After she retired from teaching, she did have her artwork displayed and even sold some of her pieces, but “then it felt like work and wasn’t fun anymore,” she said.
You can reach reporter Loretta Park at lpark@standard.net or at 801-625-4252. Follow her on Twitter@LorettaPark SE or like her on Facebook.