Partially Dipped: Wood Bead Finishing Part 5

Here we return to our bead finishing tutorial Dip and Drip from day one. This isn't a full-coating technique, but it's decorative so it makes for an unique finish. This time I quite literally dipped the bead in the paint and set it aside for drying. For the dipping to work, one may want to master the art of dipping an ice cream cone into chocolate sprinkles. Master may be a strong word, but it's appropriate here. There are a few things to consider on the dipping:

You will want to use a thinned-down paint. Just as the hand-painting technique, artists' acrylics are a bit too thick to manage. Even when diluted with water, the paint thins out a bit too much. Leave the paint as it is and you get chunky-glop look above.

And here we have a nicely dipped bead... much like a strawberry ice cream cone. Maybe still a little thick, but that can be adjusted with a splash of water. Again I used the matte craft paints because they have just the right consistency.

Now speaking of ice cream, how about some sprinkles?

Or glitter? Or confetti? Here the bead doesn't need so much of a dipping-action. I lightly coated the end of the beads with craft glue and sprinkled the glitter on top. When the glue dries (about a half hour), just tap the beads to release the excess glitz and repackage the "run-off" glitter.

Since the bead dipping doesn't completely coat the beads, you may want to sequester these beads for interior use only. You could spritz with a clear sealer; but you're still running a risk of the thick paint or glitter from chipping off. 

Have fun with your bead decorating! If you have additional techniques, write us - we want to hear from you :-)

~Samantha

All in the Details: Wood Bead Finishing Part 4

Tell me these aren't fun! Decorating your beads is only limited by your imagination. It can be done as simply as making a few dots or squiggly lines, but even this tiny detail draws a lot of attention. Note: All the beads above were painted and sealed before they were decorated.

Decorating utensils.

Now put the paint away. We're going to focus on PENS. I occasionally used a small brush to make some of the metallic details you see above (just because I didn't have a metallic pen, but the paint was handy). Pens are a bit easier to control and the ink usually dries so quickly there's limited worry for smudging, blotching, or stain transfer. So if you're in a production frame of mind, you can move as quickly as your genius and hands can scribble.

The one pen which surprised me most is the jelly-roll: it works on sealed wooden beads! Turning the pen every now and then to keep it rolling may help, but they work. So for fine detail jelly and felt pens with tips .5mm or smaller are ideal.

Highlighters can be used... on completely unfinished beads. I attempted to "paint" the beads with the highlighters as well as other markers. Just note that the ink is transparent so coating over and over will intensify and darken in some areas. The end results are something else though - like water colored beads.

The green bead on the lower right was made with
vertical overlapping strokes of the pen tip.

Decorating the beads using pen and ink is relatively simple. It can be time consuming since all of your focus is on ONE bead at a time. I recommend this when working large beads in smaller batches. Small beads (say less than 1") may not catch the eye so easily so you could just be wasting your time on fine detail. 

Again it may go without saying: spray the finished beads with a clear sealer so that you don't see your hard work bleed or fade if it finds itself meddling with moisture.

If you are painting your own wood beads, we want to see them. Feel free to leave a link to your work in our comments.

~Samantha

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Stroke of the Brush: Wood Bead Finishing Part 3

Mmm-mmm! Hand painted beads. You can't get a cleaner look than that... except for maybe spray painting. While this method does take time, the finished look is second to none. 

Painting wood beads by hand.

Time it does take... bead after bead for hand application. Unfortunately this method does not guarantee a finished look on the first coat, unless you've:

A. Primed the bead ahead of time, and even this wasn't 100% helpful.

B. Use a paint-primer combo paint type (see your local hardware store exterior/interior paint counter).

C. You're not too eager to have a completely coated bead.

As you can see above, you can mount your bead onto a pencil or disposable chopstick (or even a finger,) and then go to town slapping paint everywhere. However, most beads are a little flat at the entrance of the hole, so pinching the ends between two fingers to stabilize may be all that's necessary.

Tah-dah! Finished wooden bead.

For this method I used both artists' acrylics and plain, cheap, simple (matte) craft paints. Honestly, I really have a preference to the cheap stuff. The paint applies surprisingly even and the color saturation can easily be pumped up with a couple coats of clear sealer. The artists' acrylics will give you a nice stained effect and an instant sheen; for a nice flat color, opt for the craft paints.

Con list of the brush:

• Multiple layers required (maybe 2 or 3 coats ideally).
• Slow... see previous note & add a few minutes for drying time.
• A little tedious if you have a lot of beads to manage.

Pro list for brush technique: 

• Your color pallet is only limited by your imagination!
• Clean looking results... unless you just glop on the paint.
• The mess factor is significantly lower then other bead coating methods unless you're clumsy and drop things often. Then you may want to worry more about bead impressions on your clothing and furniture.

For small projects requiring maybe under two dozen beads, this really is the finishing method for you. Or also if you're meticulous about your details, you would probably enjoy this very much.

Professional painters tips: Really try to prime your beads first, especially if there's an obvious wood grain, because that can bleed through over time. Also I used a clear spray paint to seal my beads, but you can most certainly use a paint-on cover. The spray is just much faster.

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