The Humble Pop Bead...Humble No More!

Allow me to demonstrate this groovy little hack.

Made from a perennial favorite since your great-grandma's day: the humble, plain-vanilla pop bead.

Yes, there are lots of fancier-shmancier pop beads on the market.  But I wanted to upcycle the original model.  Aren't these fun and kinda mod?

With this technique, you can mix and match lines of color...

...as well as interchangeable dangles and charms!

They can be quite chic...

And, with some extra additions - even kinda swanky.

Want the deets?  Here comes the easy DIY.



Snip off the little 'popper.'

Poke a hole.  (Try a pushpin or pointy scissors.  You can also melt a hole with a heated poker.)

Thread a headpin through the hole, bend it over sideways and trim it short.

Turn a loop; add an earring finding.

Now you have this!  Let's call it the Top Pop Bead.

If you have two ears, repeat.

Now pay attention...here's where it gets complicated...not.  Pop!  And Pop!

 Just add a string of color to your Top Pop Beads, and voila!  A delightful pair of INFINITE EARRINGS that you can mix and match and match and mix.

I think they look really cool, just like that.

A necklace works the same way; just leave off the earring findings, and add a few Top Pop Beads to a cord, chain or neckwire.  Then design away!

 

But wait!  There's more.

Check out this fiendishly clever way to add dangles to these earrings - dangles you can mix and match and change out at will...

Here's how to make the dangles.

First, find a matched pair of very small beads:

You can eyeball them for size; what you want are 3-4mm rounds that are close to the same size as the original 'poppers.'

Put the two little beads on a headpin.  Bend the pin sideways and snip short.

Turn a loop.  Add a charm, dangle or drop.

Now you have this little doohick, which we'll call the Pop Drop Dangle.

Pop just one of those two tiny beads into the earring, and - what, what, what?!?!?

Your charm dangles from the bottom, accented by one tiny decorative bead peeking out.  See what I mean?

Note: 3 mm beads are the perfect size, but not always easy to find.  4 mm beads do work - but can be just a little tight.  Try a few repeated pops in and out, to slightly widen the receiving beads, and you'll be good to go.


So that's the idea, and it makes me very happy.  (It doesn't take much.)

If you like this invention, I hope you'll let me know.  And try it!  And maybe even pass it on?

See ya next time!  Thanks for popping by.*

Updated to answer all the comments, asking where to find pop beads.  Honestly, they are easy to find.  Try toy departments...the kid-crafts section of craft stores...and of course the internet.  If you search 'pop beads' on Amazon.com, you will find tons!  Here's a really pretty set, for example.  Happy popping!



*Constitutionally unable to refrain from including that pun.