Overview of how I make polymer clay beads
I really enjoy making beads with polymer clay. I began making my own beads because I wanted the jewelry I make to be different then anyone else’s. I didn’t want to use the same beads I had seen in many of the designs made by others. Then I became hooked on making them, I make so many I have plenty to share.
I thought maybe the people who bought my extra beads might be interested in how they are made. So in this blog post I will give a general overview of some of the beads and cabochons I made today.
All beads start with pre-measured well conditioned clay…This is a good place to use scrap clay because no one will ever see it.{there is no waste in polymer clay}.
Next I select the cane I want to use to decorate my beads {canes are detailed patterns created by carefully blending different colors of clay.} I make very thin even slices of the cane to apply to the bead base.
I apply the cane slices to the base bead and gently roll the bead to blend ,shape and smooth the bead.
and there you have it a hand rolled polymer clay bead ready to put holes in and cure.
I pierce the beads with bead pins and put them on the rack to cure. When they cool I will sand and buff them by hand and then varnish…When varnish is dry they are ready to use.
I will post photo of finished beads in next post.
How I made a polymer clay eyeglasses case
Here is my new eyeglasses case….would you like to see how I made it?
This isn’t really meant to be a tutorial more of a inspirational “How To”.
Fist thing I did is prep metal base.
1.wet sand.
2.coat with Sobo glue and let dry
Then next I decided what I wanted to make it look like and began to make the polymer clay veneer to cover the metal base.
1. I conditioned equal amounts of Premo purple pearl and regular pearl polymer clay.
2. next I made a pretty Skinner blend with the 2 colors to give the base the pretty pearly hombre shading effect.
This becomes my canvas to embellish and veneer to base. I decided I would go with a garden theme on top and decorate it with flower and butterfly canes and make the bottom textured.
I gather the polymer clay canes I want to use slice and apply them to sheet of clay. Placement is pretty random but I try to keep it balanced…..need to add more flowers and some butterflies I think.
Placement is done and I like the flow and have burnished in all of the canes. This in an important step because the smoother you can get it now will save a lot of time and hand power in the sanding step .
Time to put it on the base…it can be tricky mitering the corners but it’s not to bad. I covered it and soothed in and trimmed it with my exato knife.
ready to go into oven to cure….
This is the bottom I made by marbling the 2 colors together and giving it a textured pattern. I applied and trimmed same as top. Put them in oven to cure for about an hour.
This is The most important part of any piece….finishing. I like a smooth glassy finish on my pieces and the only way I have ever found to get it is to wet sand by hand through many grits of sand paper. I started with 400 and ended with 2000 then I wash and buff it glows and lastly I add a couple of coats of water based varnish and let dry and cure 24 hours.
Varnish died and they are ready to reassemble and line……
And that is how I made this Polymer clay eyeglasses case.
Part 3 of “How I make a pair of bead embriodered earrings
Next step…..
Glue on ultra suede backing and trim neatly.
now I need to embellish with an edging stitch that looks pretty and covers the raw edges of the backing.
side view of edging stitches
Finally make a bail and add ear wires and I now have a pretty pair of finished bead embroidered earrings.
http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=3326633
I like how they turned out and if you do to they are available in my Artfire shop http://Gingerbells.artfire.com.
Part 2 of “How I make a pair of bead embriodered earrings
Time to pick up where we left off in last post…….
This step is back stitching the foundation row for the peyote stitch bezel.
Completing base row now on to the bezel…
Bezel is beginning to take shape
Bezel is coming along. Now it’s time to trim away background and begin to embellish.
Trimmed free of extra backing…it’s gonna be pretty.
Back of cabochon….next I need to add backing so the stitches will be hidden.
Next post will be adding the backing and then the fun part embellishment and then finishing. I am excited to see how they turn out, I have no idea what they will look like until they are finished.
How I make a pair of bead embroidered earrings
I love beads and gemstones of every kind and I was lucky to find a matched pair of Kyanite cabochons. They are a beautiful blue violet stone that has a lot of depth and color. I decided when I saw them that they had to be a pair of earrings. Then I thought it would be fun to share the creative process step by step.
I am not a good planner when I make something I kinda like to create as I go letting the project develop organically. That being said I am trying to be a better planner so step one of this bead embroidered project was to make a rough[very rough] sketched plan as a starting point who knows if I will follow the design as sketched.
The next step is to mount the stones to some very stiff interfacing that will become a stitching base. I use e-6000 glue it’s stinky for a while but works great for this step.
Now come the fun and frustrating job of picking the colors of beads to stitch with. I an very inspired by color and for me it’s a big part in the development of a design. I have a huge stash of beads to choose from. I like using Delica beads; they are a very high quality bead from Japan.
I like to start with a lot of colors and then narrow them down to a few…
Now the stitching begins…..to be continued in next post.
