Making miniature paper chains

miniature paper chains
© F H Powell 2018

Materials required:
Strips of narrow coloured paper (such as quilling papers) cut into 2.5 cm/1″ strips, paper glue, scissors, grip wax or similar to attach paper chain to dolls house or room box. NOTE: If you can find gummed human sized paper chains, these can be cut into thin strips as follows: with the short sides top and bottom, cut across horizontally. In this case glue is not required.

These paper chains are made to be slightly larger than true 1:12th scale (each chain link would measure about 4”/10 cm diameter if scaled up rather than the more normal 3”/7.5 cm diameter). This has been done deliberately to make the project easier to complete. If you wish for smaller chain links the strips can be trimmed to the required width and length before making up.

Instructions for making paper chains:

1. Take one strip of paper and bend it round to form a circle, this can be done by curling paper around fingers or by running the edge of a pair of scissors along the paper.

2. Glue the tip of one end of the strip.

3. Bend the strip round to form a circle so that the unglued end overlaps the glued end, press gently together until the glue dries.

4. Take the next strip of paper and repeat steps 1 and 2.

5. Carefully slide the curled strip through the circle formed by the previous strip and form a circle so that the unglued end overlaps the glued end of the second strip, and press gently together until the glue dries.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until the paper chain is the required length, alternating colours as you proceed (see photograph).

7. Allow the glue chance to really dry before attaching paper chains to the walls of the room, otherwise the weight of the paper chain could cause the glued ends to slip apart and undo the chain.

© Copyright Frances H. Powell 2018
All rights reserved. This project is for private use only and may not be reproduced in any form, or reproduced for commercial gain including selling any item made up from this project without written permission from Buttercup Miniatures. Reproducing or transmitting this project by any means for any purpose other than for personal use constitutes a violation of copyright law.

This was originally offered as a kit by Buttercup Miniatures from 2002 to 2016.