Painted Wooden Bead Necklaces, Part Deux

I have been wanting to share these necklaces for a few weeks now, but a few of them were secret surprises for my mom, so I had to wait until they were successfully vouchsafed to her. Now I can share them in all their pink and turquoise glory! You may remember my first bead painting attempt, in which I described the output as “little weirdos,” which nonetheless grew on me. Our painting approach this time was, dare I say it, more scientific.

Hillary had a can of pink spray paint, so she and the girls and I used that to coat a good handful of them one summer afternoon. It took a few coats and some turning, and then some patient drying on skewers, but they came out just fantastic: shiny, even in color, and perfectly smooth to the touch. Big thanks to Hillary, who did all of the actual hard work on this! (Well, with the help of my two favorite four-year-olds in the world).

Look, now there is a pretty pink box to boot! I must say, aspiring wooden bead painters: spray paint is the way to go.

Meanwhile, back at my decidedly less professional ranch, I decided to try painting some beads with this lovely turquoise craft paint I had bought with one of those never-endingly present Michael’s coupons. I thought that maybe the paint would take evenly if I just submerged the bead in it. Reader, that was false. The paint is too viscous, and you just end up with a heavy blob. So I devised this ingenious system for even coverage. That’s right, I just strung the beads out over the sink, and then covered the sink with foil to protect it from any dripping. We take quality control very seriously around here, you know. For those who are curious, the strings are just taped down on either side of the sink.

My method was somewhat successful, but it took many coats to cover the deep burgundy of the beads.

Ta-da! This is the finished look. Not complete coverage, but at least it has a bit of character?

You can definitely see a big difference in the finished look of the beads. The hand-painted ones are more matte and show all their brushstrokes. Ah well, variety is the spice of life! The technical term for visible brushstrokes on paintings is impasto, and Eric once creamed us all at a word game when he played it. So, I’ll take it!

I had enough beads (and juuuust enough string!) to make six necklaces, so six necklaces I made. I laid them out and put them into patterns by bead size and color, but there’s no real method to my madness.

I made some that were just pink…

But mostly I mixed the colors. I realized when I looked at all the beads that maybe they looked very..boy or girl? Hillary assured me that they don’t look too baby shower, so that’s the story I’m sticking to. I love that these necklaces are in bright and cheery summer colors.

My mom and I wore our pink necklaces on the same day, and I thought I had a picture of her in hers, but alas, I don’t have a good one. I was hoping to get one of us together, but that was a busy day. So here is, at least, a picture of me wearing mine, on the roof of the building where we stayed. I should have had mom come and stand beside me, but it was cold up there, and I must not have been firing on all cylinders. In any case, these were fun necklaces to make, and even more fun to give away.

Update! My dad is the best, and he sent me this picture of my mom and I in our necklaces! Thank you, daddy!