BY CLARA A RODRIGUES| NT NETWORK
Stare at the heap of papers littered everywhere across your room. Close your eyes for a moment. Open it and how do you feel. If you think you are in the middle of garbage and feel hapless, there is precious little that can be done to get you out of the mess.

But if on the other hand, you feel you are sitting on a pile of treasure, then welcome to the new age trend of people who scent wealth in waste.
Paper jewellery is becoming a craze among collegians in metros and big cities. With more and more people trying and doing in their bit to help save their environment, to become ‘eco friendly’ is the new mantra. And with the opportunity of making one’s own stylised jewellery bearing one’s own statement, youth are looking at paper jewellery as a way of recycling paper into something creative and attractive.
Shivram Narayanan, an origami artiste from Vasco says that there is no limit to what one can do when it comes to making accessories from paper through origami. From crafting bracelets, finger rings, earrings, necklaces, wrists bands, pendants, loops, you name it, and you can make it. You can do it using any type of paper says Shivram as they is no end to creativity as you can tie it, fold it, paint it, into exciting jewellery. One can use newspapers or to give the jewellery a glazed look use invitation cards, envelopes, magazines folios and even attractive paper.
Loraine Kwatra who teaches art to her students says that one can make curious through paper quilling. She says that there is a lot of demand for accessories made of paper.
The pre dominant worry of people many times is how durable is paper jewellery. Because of its properties, paper smudges when brought into contact with a wet substance or if exposed to damp conditions. But you can make your paper trinkets last longer if you dip or spray them with varnish and allow them to dry.
Yet another way of doing your own jewellery is through paper mache. Says Margao based art teacher, Ms Swati Vernekar, “the easiest way to make paper jewellery is to first make beads of paper and then join them with a fancy thread. Like this you can make alluring necklaces, payal, bracelets, earrings etc.”
Samiksha Desai, a student from a city college says that she during the vacations, gets down to making simple jewellery from multi coloured and textured paper. After tearing tons of paper sheets into pieces she soaks them into hot water, drains it and mashes it to form a pasty substance. After that she adds glue and rolls out into shapes of beads which she then places it in a microwave after a couple of minutes, takes them out and allows then to dry. Then its all about stringing your way through the beads to form necklaces, and mostly rings concludes Samiksha.
So, if you are thinking of throwing away that waste paper—think again, as it could become that perfect accessory for that perfect occasion.