A plain beadable pen doesn't stay plain for long once you've seen the loaded-up sparkly ones, with larger charms set around the barrel and fine sparkle filling the areas around them. The route to that look, for a lot of them, is a beaded pen wrap: a pre-cut sticky strip that goes around the upper barrel and holds your decorations in place. The order is what matters most in this beaded pen wrap tutorial. Larger pieces first, fine sparkle after, then a look and a second pass where more coverage is needed.
This walkthrough uses a pre-cut Pen Wrap made from double-sided Nano Tape, a regular beadable pen as the base, small Nail Charms placed one at a time with pliers, and Sugar Diamonds for the areas around them. A cloth and a little rubbing alcohol are used for a wipe-down first. This project uses the adhesive surface of the pre-cut wrap for the Nail Charms and Sugar Diamonds.
What a Beaded Pen Wrap Does Here
A beaded pen wrap, in this project, is a pre-cut strip of double-sided Nano Tape sized to go around the pen barrel. One side sticks to the pen. The other side, once the clear film peels off, stays sticky. That sticky face is what your Nail Charms and Sugar Diamonds press onto.
The method is where the useful part lives. The larger Nail Charms go down first and set the main decoration, then the fine Sugar Diamonds go on afterward to fill the smaller areas left around them. Larger pieces, then fine ones: two scales of decoration, laid in that order.
What You'll Need
Lay everything out before you start, so you're not hunting for a dropped charm mid-project. Here's what this project uses.
| Item | What it does in this project |
|---|---|
| FS2342 regular beadable pen | The base, a plain undecorated barrel to build on |
| FS1384 pre-cut Pen Wrap | The sticky layer that holds everything on |
| Small Nail Charms | The larger pieces, placed first |
| Sugar Diamonds | The fine filler for the areas around the charms |
| Pliers | Used to pick up and place the Nail Charms |
| Rubbing alcohol + a cloth | For wiping the barrel before the wrap goes on |
This project uses small Nail Charms, placed one at a time with pliers. The Sugar Diamonds go on afterward, filling the smaller areas around the charms.
Preparation: Wipe the Barrel First
Before the wrap goes on, wipe the barrel down. Run a cloth with a little rubbing alcohol over the section you're about to decorate. That's the preparation this project calls for: a clean surface before the wrap is applied.
Step 1: Apply the Pre-Cut Pen Wrap
Line the pre-cut wrap up against the upper barrel used for this project, and press it on. A pen barrel is a cylinder, not a flat sheet, so rotate the pen with one hand while the wrap goes around with the other, keeping it snug against the curved surface the whole way round.
Once it's wrapped all the way around, peel the clear outer film off to reveal the sticky face underneath. Give the pen a slow turn and look over the wrapped upper barrel before adding the decorations. The pre-cut piece is applied directly in this build.
Step 2: Place the Larger Nail Charms First
Use pliers to pick up and place the small Nail Charms, one at a time, onto the exposed sticky wrap. Press each Nail Charm onto the wrapped surface as you place it.
The larger Nail Charms go down first, before any of the fine sparkle, because they set the main decoration and leave the smaller gaps that the Sugar Diamonds fill later. Keep turning the pen as you place them. The barrel has more than one face, so rotating lets you carry the charms around the sides instead of decorating only the front. Here, rotation is part of placing the charms; it does a second job at the final check.
Step 3: Add the Sugar Diamonds Around Them
Once the larger Nail Charms are all set, take the Sugar Diamonds and lower the decorated upper barrel into the tray. Press and roll the decorated upper barrel through the Sugar Diamonds so the fine particles contact the exposed adhesive areas around and between the Nail Charms.
This is the second scale of decoration. The Nail Charms are the larger elements, and the Sugar Diamonds work the smaller spaces left around them. As you roll, the fine pieces catch on the exposed adhesive and the areas around the charms fill in. That's the first coverage pass.
Step 4: Inspect, Press, Then a Second Pass
After the first pass, lift the pen out of the Sugar Diamonds and inspect the coverage. Press the decorated surface gently with your fingers to settle everything in, then check the coverage around the Nail Charms and across the different sides of the upper barrel. Look for any exposed adhesive still showing around the charms.
If there are still exposed areas, return the decorated section to the Sugar Diamonds for a second pass, pressing and rolling where the coverage came out thin. The order is the point of this step: first coverage, then a look, then a press, then more coverage where it's needed.
Finish: Rotate and Look It Over
Rotate the finished upper barrel and check the overall decoration from several sides. Earlier, rotation helped with placing the charms around the barrel; here it works as a final visual check of the coverage around the cylindrical surface, with the larger Nail Charms set in place and the fine Sugar Diamonds filling the areas around them.
FAQ
What is a beaded pen wrap?
It's a pre-cut strip of double-sided Nano Tape, sized to go around a pen barrel. One side sticks to the pen, and once you peel the clear film off, the outer side stays sticky so you can press Nail Charms and Sugar Diamonds onto it.
Do the Nail Charms go on before the Sugar Diamonds?
Yes. In this project the larger Nail Charms are placed first, and the Sugar Diamonds go on afterward to fill the smaller areas around them.
What are the small sparkly pieces around the Nail Charms?
Those are Sugar Diamonds, not Sugar Beads. They're the fine pieces you roll the wrapped barrel through once the charms are on, so they catch on the adhesive still showing around the larger charms.
Want to explore another route? Browse ZoeDIY's beadable pen projects, see a different Clay and Sugar Diamonds beadable pen tutorial, or compare more beaded pen ideas.
Written and reviewed by ZOE, Business Owner at ZoeDIY.
