Cats are some of my best friends. And I’m guessing you’ve got some animal BFFs too. That’s why you want to learn how to make pet hair beads. And you’ll craft these faster than turning their hair into yarn.
Step 1: Get hair for the bead.
This is the hardest part of the entire project–find a willing participant. Sneak up on your friend and cut a hunk of tail hair for this project. Depending on how cooperative your muse is, you may only have one shot at this. And leave enough so you can do a nice comb-over when you’re done.
Step 2: Seal the hair
Attach one edge of the hair tuft to the sticky side of clear packing tape. Then, spray it with a couple light coats of clear, polycrylic spray on each side. You don’t need to saturate the hair, but the spray gives it enough texture to work with it later. (Think 80’s and Aqua Net hairspray.)
Allow it to dry for at least 30 minutes after applying the last layer. Then cut the hair away from the tape. It should be one big chunk of fluffy love.
Step 3: Add the pet hair to the mold
There are two ways to make your pet hair beads.
Bead version 1
Take a tuft of hair, then pull it tight.
Thread the hair into the cavity of a bead mold until it’s completely enclosed in the mold.
Bead version 2
Apply Mod Podge to the tuft of hair. Not enough to soak the hair, but make it sticky.
Then, wrap the hair around a knitting needle that’s larger than the stem of your bead mold. A 2 mm difference is enough.
Let the hair dry for two hours, then slip it off the wax paper. Insert it into the mold.
You can already see that allowing the pet hair in loosely (left) in the bead mold will give a different look than the glued hair (right).
Step 4: Mix and cast resin.
Mix Resin Obsession super clear resin and poured it into the mold. This jewelry resin is the best choice because it combines in a thin viscosity. It would be pretty tedious to get a thicker resin into the cavity without introducing a lot of bubbles.
💡 Pro tip: You can make the cavity opening larger by using a toothpick to push the ‘stump’ over while you pour.
Step 5: Demold
Once the resin is dry, demold by pushing from the back. Then, grab the bead.
Finished pet hair beads
The bead on the left is the one put into the cavity without gluing it in a tube first. It’s cool how it takes up the entire shape of the bead.
By using glue to make the hair into a tube, it traps bubbles.
Making pet hair beads is also a beautiful way to remember your pet friends after their passing. It makes a nice gift to someone missing their furry friend.
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OMG! This is by far the funniest thing I’ve read today! While I like the idea of forever having a piece of my fur-baby with me…getting her to be a willing participant would be the tough part! It also calls to mind how often I’m shooing her AWAY from my resin projects! I never thought to make her a part of them. Literally!
These are a great idea and has been the basis of my business for almost 10yrs… how’s tos like this one are great, not that I set them the way you have set out, but ultimately they do take away business from those who use these as a source of income to feed their families… not just these beads, but most pieces created.
Great timing! I have been experiment with exactly this type of cast however I am struggling with a sealer I find modge podge seems to leave a slightly cloudy layer in between the hair strands but as I am in New Zealand I can’t get aerosols sent to me because that resin spray seems perfect. Can you recommend a pump spray or something that could be shipped that would produce a similar result?
I would try an acrylic based, clear spray. Maybe what you are seeing with the Mod Podge is what happened with my second bead?
Really great idea, my dog sheds enough for me to make a fur bead necklace for every person I have ever known. LOL
So after you spray both sides of the fur, do you cut the hair off the tape? There is no tape in the bead, correct? Thanks!
Yes, that is how I did them. Thanks for asking for the clarification.
Interesting fur baby beads. I have a Great Pyrenees and I brush her once a week or more and get a plastic grocery bag full each time so I’ll have plenty to practice with haha
We have a black cat and a mottled gray cat that shed mats of hair constantly in spite of daily brushing. No worries about not enough hair! I made tube beads by placing tufts of hair on waxed paper and dripping resin on them, and rolling them into tubes when in soft cure stage.
Like that idea!
Love this can you get the silver ends for the beads
Hi Cher, we have bead grommets in our store here: https://shop.resinobsession.com/products/european-bead-grommets
Nice memorial idea
My one medium is paper so I won’t be making these fabulous beads, despite tons of ambient cat hair from my three cats. So my question is: would you make them for me and sell them to me if I send you the cat hair??
Hi Laurie, unfortunately we cannot take custom requests at this time. You are welcome, however, to post your request in our forum: https://www.resinobsession.com/forums/forum/commissions Someone there may be able to help.
Hi Laurie! I can maybe give it a try to make beads for you. I just received my bead mold yesterday so haven’t tried making any yet.
Thank you for this project. I’ve been scouring the web for a memorial piece for a deceased dog. I have some of her eyelashes and coat, and couldn’t find just the right thing. I’ll make some beads, that way I can attach them to her old collar and still be able to see the fur and lashes when I feel the need.
For those wishing to make a pet memorial, see the Instructable” re: making felted beads from dog fur. My beloved Great Pyrenees/Golden mix, Grace, died a month ago today. I plan to use her beautiful fur to felt some beads & make a bracelet.
Hi there ! I am really interested in making a few beads, but instead of hair I would be using my pets ashes. I have never used resin before and am curious to know if I would put the ashes in the mold and pour the resin on top, or mix the ashes in with the resin and pour together in the mold ? Any advice you can give I would appreciate it. 🙂
I would mix the resin with the ashes, then pour into the mold.
I was hoping someone asked this question because i was thinking the same thing using ashes. Have u tried it? Could u possibly let me kno how it turned out or tips?!
These are amazing! It looks like the beads needed some cleanup after you removed them from the mold. How do you make the rough edges that were exposed to air smooth? Also do you have any advice for how to pour (how much of the mold to fill, how not to over or underfill?). Many thanks!!
You can sand up any rough edges with a file or sanding stick after demolding. It’s always better to overfill a little bit as the resin will shrink a smidge as it cures. You can clean up any extra after demolding.
Do you NEED to use the sealer spray? Or can you do without? I can’t wait to try this out!
If you don’t use the sealer spray, the hair could change color when it gets wet in the resin.
Where do you buy molds for resin hair beads? It is lovely
We have bead molds in our store here: https://shop.resinobsession.com/collections/molds/bead
Love, love your pet hair bead tutorial!!!!! I’ve been collecting my 2 cat’s whiskers for a couple of weeks. Would love to make a “pendant” for each of my cat’s collars. Their whiskers are black and grey. Any ideas???
I love that idea! I think you could use them just like the hair.
Hi,
my friend has a beloved horse and wants me to resin her horses hair, into bracelets, can i do such a thing?
Ive never used resin and i know this horse will produce and supply me with as much hair as i need but just wondered if others had done this before?
thank you
Hi Tricia. Yes, you can use horse hair in resin.