This TikToker Made a (Practically Free!) Beaded Curtain Out of Something You Probably Have at Home
Beaded curtains are coming back in a big way, and one TikToker found a way to create one for herself just using a bit of string and some old magazines. This project may take you a while, but the result is nothing short of amazing.
“Do you guys want to learn how to make a beaded curtain out of recycled paper? Of course you do,” TikTok user Audreybee18 (@idonotwritepatterns) said in a March video. “I made all of these beads out of recycled magazines that would otherwise be in the dump. You only need a few simple things and after about 350 hours, you can make this beautiful beaded curtain.”
First thing you’ll want to do is gather a bunch of old magazines and glue. “I use a couple of magazines from my local grocery store with coupons that I never redeem and this is the glue I like to use,” she says, showing Elmer’s school glue in both white glue and glue stick form.
To start your beads, cut your magazine pages into long, skinny triangles that measure about an inch at the widest end. “Doesn’t have to be perfect,” Audreybee18 said. “Just remember, the widest part of your paper is going to be how wide your beads are.”
Then, you just “booger some glue” on one side of your strip of paper, and then start rolling the non-glue side over a toothpick starting at the wide end. “Doesn’t matter if pieces fall off and break, it’s just paper,” Audrey18 continued. “Just roll it up … just make sure you don’t glue it to the toothpick.”
Once your bead is completely rolled, take some of your white glue and slather the outside of your bead while it’s still on the toothpick. Then, remove it from the toothpick and allow the glue to completely dry. You’ve made your first bead!
“Now you just need to do that about 950,000 more times,” Audreybee18 jokes (only kind of).
The curtain part is just as simple of a process. Take a piece of string about the length of your door frame and that is thin enough to fit through your magazine beads and knot one end. Then, just start stringing your beads on until you’re left with enough raw string to tie on a dowel or piece of wood.
“I put more string around the stick to hide all those ties,” Audreybee18 said.
Repeat the stringing process enough times to create a curtain that’s thick enough to your liking and you’re done.
Sure, this process is time-consuming — but in the end you have a beautiful DIY creation that is made from stuff that would have ended up in a landfill, and that’s one heck of a conversation starter.