Spellcraft: Magical Charm Bracelet from Upcycled Paper

The beads on this bracelet are crafted from upcycled paper – and what’s more they’re also good luck charms. The red beads were made from rolled strips of paper cut from an envelope and the gold ones from used wrapping paper.

Here’s how you can make something like it yourself. You need coloured paper, which could be old envelopes and wrapping paper like I used, or could be pages from a magazine or any paper of a colour that you like. You will also need cocktail sticks or thin knitting needles, glue and threading elastic.

Cut strips of paper like long thin triangles (see the picture below as an example). My envelope was red on one side and pale blue on the other, so I decided I wanted the red side to be the front and pale blue for the reverse or inside. 

On the reverse or inside of each strip (the side you don’t want to show), write whatever it is you want to wish for. In the picture at the bottom you can see I’ve written “Good Luck”, but you could wish for love, success, fortune, health or even protection. As you do this, visualise your wish coming true. Then you are ready to make your charm beads.

Place the cocktail stick or knitting needle on the wider end of the triangle, with the reverse side inwards (the bit you wrote your spell on) and start to roll it without any glue. Once you’ve wrapped paper about twice around the stick or needle, put a bit of glue along the inside of the paper strip and carry on rolling. Every so often, dab a bit more glue until you get to the tip of the triangle, which needs to be quite firmly glued down. Do be careful not to glue the bead to the stick or needle. Then, leave the bead to dry.

Once you’ve made several beads and they are all dry, you can glaze the outsides by painting over them with a little dilute glue and leave them to dry again. Again, be careful not to glue any bead to the stick or needle – you want to be able to remove it afterwards.

When they are fully dry, slide the beads off and thread them onto elastic, tying a small knot to join the bracelet up. I upcycled some glittery elastic that had once tied up a present I’d been given, but you can use any thin elastic. 

For extra symbolism when making magical jewellery in this way, you can pick colours that correspond to your intention or you can cut strips from a picture of what it is you are wishing for. That could be roses for romance, a perfect home, an image representing wellbeing, or your ideal job. The image won’t show once you’ve cut out and rolled the narrow strips of paper into beads, but you will know it is there and is attracting what you want into your life.

Links and previous related posts
https://www.globalrecyclingday.com/
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2018/03/craft-upcycled-jam-jar-buttons-tealight.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2020/07/magic-and-games-monopoly-charm-candle.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2019/10/rattle-upcycled-from-crisps-tube.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2018/05/craft-i-upcycled-my-sofa-into-drum-bag.html

To read more posts like this visit A Bad Witch’s Blog at www.badwitch.co.uk