Upcycling Tyvek: Beads, Jewelry, a Tutorial and More!

For years I have been making my own unique beads out of recycled Tyvek USPS mailing envelopes. I use them in my handmade jewelry and as embellishments on my art quilts and mixed media projects.

There was a tutorial about how to make them on one of my blog page sections but I accidentally deleted it a few weeks ago. Fortunately, I remembered that the same tutorial was published on the Cloth Paper Scissors website waaaay back in November 2007. I searched my computer and storage drive without success for a copy of my instructions. Then I searched my ancient emails and fortunately found the link to the article. (The instructions are at the end of this post.)

I have great fun painting, cutting, and rolling the beads, and even more fun blasting them with my heat gun to melt them a little bit, which gives them uniqueness and charm. I use Lumiere acrylic paint...I haven't found that the beads melt beautifully and look magical with any other paint. It's very relaxing and creative...each bead comes out a little different.

I have also used the upcycled, painted Tyvek in quilted postcards and "inchies," and sold small mixed-media Tyvek art in Art-o-Mat machines.

This is an Art-o-Mat block from a batch I created several years ago. In addition to the Tyvek, they have waxed rice paper, machine stitching, and dots of dimensional gold acrylic paint. Art-o-Mat retools old cigarette machines, which they fill with handmade, affordable art.

A bracelet with Tyvek, glass, and metal beads.

This bracelet has glass and Tyvek beads, with Turkmen pieces from Gwen Lafluer's website.

A recent batch of Tyvek beads, waiting to be used.

I added a tassel, small beads, and a Tyvek bead to this journal page marker.

Above are four 4" x 6" fabric postcards made with painted Tyvek, metal mesh, and free-motion quilting.

These 1" x 1" mixed media pieces, called "inchies" are made of painted and heat distressed Tyvek with hand stitched small beads.

Here's the tutorial if you would like to give Tyvek beadmaking a try. The tutorial suggests cutting the pieces 1", but that makes a long, thin bead. I now prefer making my beads about 3/4" long and a little chubbier.

Amazing Year-Long Art Journal Swap!

Last year I saw a wonderful reveal video from artist Ann Sullivan Barnes; she slowly flipped through a gorgeous journal that she had just received in the mail after its year-long journey. 

Naturally after seeing Ann's post, I wanted in on journal trading too, so when Tina Walker organized a trade for 2025-26, I jumped at the chance. So many people joined that there were three groups of 12. Not 36 people though...six adventurous and ambitious artists joined two and three groups, so if my math is right, there were 30 participants.

Not only did my handmade journal get filled with artwork from 11 other artists, I also created work in the journals of 11 other people that they got to keep. 

The waiting was hard. I really wanted to share some of the art I made on social media, but I somehow managed to keep my fingers off the "publish" and "share" buttons for a whole year. Now that everyone has received their original journals back, everyone can finally reveal their art treasures.

 Outside cover of my handmade 6" x 9" art journal.

Above is the journal I made. The cover was machine and hand stitched from trims and sari scraps found on the beautiful website of Gwen Lafluer. Its interior pages were made from 9"x12" cold-press watercolor paper folded in half and hand-stitched.

Sooooo...grab a cup of coffee or tea, settle into a comfy seat, and take a looksie at all the wonderful art!

First, here's all the work created by the 11 other artists that are now part of my journal. Each page of the journal opens to 9" tall x 12" wide:

Art by Michelle Schenker

Art by Edye Beans

Art by Joanna Rangel Jerome

Art by Ranelle Fortier 

Art by Tina Walker

Art by Tracy Krueger

Art by Ann Barnes

Art by Dori Patrick

Art by Ali Flukes

Art by Kristi Nazzaro

Art by DeeDee Catron

Tags created by each artist, tucked into small pockets inside my journal

Take a look at the pages I created that now live in the journals of 11 other artists across the country. Each artist had a different size journal...some were handmade, some purchased, and others created from vintage books:

Doll-themed collage art sent to DeeDee Catron

Collage with fabric, stamping, and embossing sent to Kristi Nazzaro

Collage art sent to Ali Flukes

Collage art with Japanese themed elements sent to Dori Patrick

Paper doll-themed collage art sent to Ann Barnes

Collage art with my own StencilGirl stencils sent to Tracy Krueger (the baby is my dad!)

Collage art and folding paper doll in a pocket sent to Tina Walker

Collage art made in the house-shaped and house-themed journal of Ranelle Fortier

Collage art with my Lily stencil sent to Joanna Rangel Jerome

Collage art sent to Edye Bean

My abstract floral paintings in the journal of Michelle Schenker

Whew! That's a LOT of art. Probably the hardest part was keeping it all secret until today! 

If you are interested in participating in the next journal trade, check Tina Walker's Facebook page for information.

Stamped Journal Pockets and Tags

How charming are these new stamps by Gwen Lafluer for PaperArtsy? She just released three new sets, and I was lucky enough to get my hands on EGL49, which has four oversized faux postage stamps and some smaller elements to coordinate with them.

I have been saving canceled postage stamps from my many trades with other artists, and also recently purchased a little paper punch that is shaped just like a postage stamp, right down to the serrated edges. Lately I have been smitten with making journal pockets, so I thought the stamped postage frames would look amazing on the pockets--and I was right! I tried them with an assortment of colored papers and inks and used the two I liked best for the pocket adornment.

For the journal page on the right, I used my punched papers and old stamps to create a background. 

Next, I used white embossing powder with the "POSTE VATICANE" stamp on black paper for the front of the pocket template. 

I stamped the sweet bird on watercolor paper and carefully added color with a fine brush dipped in watercolor. Then I cut it to the shape of the opening and glued the bird in place.

The journal page on the left has a background of sari silk from Gwen's website. I stamped a leafy floral from an older (but still fabulous!) set, EGL40, for the pocket background to coordinate with the sari silk. In the center of the pocket, I used the "INDIA POSTAGE" stamp in black on white cardstock. I carefully painted in the details with watercolor and Derwent watercolor pencils. The small figure in a festive hat was added separately and cut to fit the opening. At the very top I added some Japanese faux stamps and postal-inspired washi tape.

But, what good is a pocket unless you fill it? I decided some tags would fit nicely in the pockets, and experimented with the other stamps in set EGL49. You can find all kinds of gorgeous embellishments on Gwen's website to add to your tags or pockets. Check out the vintage embroidered Hmong star I used on the center of the yellow tag. 

I hope you enjoy using Gwen's new stamps as much as I did! If you want to try making your own journal pocket, below are some templates that can be printed on 8.5" x 11" paper. Have fun creating!

 

Investing in Myself

Digital surface design done in Adobe Illustrator based on a leaf shape that I constantly doodle.

Almost 50 years ago, I packed up my belongings and left a small upstate New York town and headed for the big city to pursue my dream of becoming a textile designer. I had found a fabulous program at FIT that zipped you through the textile program in a year if you already had a college degree. So, I learned how to draw and paint textile designs and put them in repeat. We had no computers. No color Xerox. No scanner that could enlarge or reduce a design. We had tracing paper, a T-square, and a ruler. It was probably the happiest year of my life.

One of my first textile designs, done in 1977, hand screen printed

After FIT, I took a job working for a small textile converter. Converters own the fabric and the screens or rollers that print the fabric, but not the factory. It was great fun. I got to travel a lot, meet all kinds of clothing manufacturers, and select hundreds of designs from freelance artists.

Scans of hand-painted artwork from my FIT portfolio (top) and from a 1980s fabric design (bottom). 

That all changed when I decided to stay home with my daughter until she was old enough to go to school. Right before she entered kindergarten, my husband said the magic words: "honey, you're the smartest person I know..." and asked me to help him with his newspaper business. I learned how to use a little mac computer, then took QuarkXPress so I could help with the newspaper layout design. I loved layout design and worked for his newspaper and then the NYC Health & Hospitals for many years.

"Roses in my Head" painting, used for fabric sold at Spoonflower.com.

By the time my daughter was in high school and I though about reentering the textile business, it had all changed. The garment center had shrunk; manufacturers were working overseas. My industry contacts had either gone out of business or gone digital. I started doing art quilting and mixed media work. I got a few things in books, magazines, and shows. I had some stencil designs accepted at StencilGirl Products, and kept busy making samples with them and artwork incorporating my stencils. But a little voice in my head said "I want to design fabrics."

"Dreaming of Fashion" art quilt, published in Quilting Arts magazine.

"Eye of Panic" art quilt, published in the books Quilts & Health, Quilts in the Attic, Machine Quilting Magazine and shown at Sacred Threads quilt show.

A couple years ago I took a free online course in using Adobe Illustrator for surface design. It was hard. It was confusing. I made a few designs. They were ok...not what I knew I wanted to produce, but passable.

Repeating pattern for surface design, done with Adobe Illustrator in 2022.

A few weeks ago I saw another freebie for Bonnie Christine's free week of instruction for Adobe Illustrator for surface design and gave it another try. BUTttttt, my computer died. I couldn't install Illustrator. It froze up. I wanted to cry. I watched all videos while waiting for my new computer to arrive, but I couldn't participate or practice. I did realize that the program didn't scare me as much as it used to. In my day job, I have been working in Adobe InDesign and Photoshop and this time, looking at Adobe Illustrator's tools and menus, it didn't seem so foreign or undoable. 

SOOOOO, I this weekend I invested in myself twice: 

1) I bought a really, really, really nice desktop computer with a huge screen and lots of memory ANNNND 

2) I "bit the bullet" and signed up for the very pricey Immersion course from Bonnie Christine.

I am taking a leap of faith and a lot of deep breaths, and am hoping that all the patterns and colors that I see inside my head can be channeled through my fingers, onto the keyboard, and into the design program. Fingers crossed that with my new equipment and new skills, I can finally make the fabric collections I have been dreaming about for years!