How to Cut Apart a Strand of Beads

"PAMELA YAGER: Now, every project has one difficult part and this is my difficult part, and that is trimming the beads and getting the beads off this strand. Now, most Mardi Gras beads, what they do is they have a mold. And they pour the little plastic inside of the mold. And all these molds are together and then while it's wet, they have the string that goes through it. Okay, well that's great for Mardi Gras beads but I'm going to use these as embellishment and I don't need to have that little string in there. So what I'm going to do is cut as closely as possible to the strand. And first I cut it on the end so we can cut, say, right in the middle. And then, right away, you have this little string that's holding the beads together. I want to cut it as close to the strand as possible and on the other side, to remove the bead. Sometimes, if you have them loose, by themselves, it's easier to cut that. Another way of doing this is to get a razor blade, if you feel comfortable with that. I always get a little scared with the razor blades so I also just take the scissors and rub off the side. And if it's that difficult, if you can see this bead right here doesn't have thread on one side but it has thread on the other side, and you just use that portion on the bottom and so nobody will be the wiser, just you and me. And I won't tell anybody. Okay, so let's get started on putting this on and start embellishing our frame, right after this."