Polymer clay beads ... experimenting at home

The topic for the class this week will be polymer clay beads. So with the Fimo having arrived and lots of tutorials on "You Tube", particularly those from "The Crafts I couldn't resist having a play.

Polymer Clay Beads

Materials and Tools:   Polymer clay (I'm using Fimo ), Sharp knife, Baking tray, Oven

Polymer clay comes in blocks. Cut off a piece to use and wrap the remainder of the block in plastic bag or other airtight container.   Work the piece by kneading and rolling. The purpose of this is to make the clay more pliable, easier to work with and eliminate air bubbles.

I'm going to leave any discussion on patterns until after the class. This was just having a go and I limited myself to two colours (ochre and turquoise). I made a check pattern by layering the colours then cut into cubes which I rounded into beads, and pierced a hole. As the colours became more mixed there was more marbling and I tried a couple of different shapes. 

The clay is baked (according to instructions) at a relatively low temperature (110 degrees C) for about half an hour. 

All tools used for polymer clay are no longer fit for food use so the baking tray needs to be covered in tin foil or made exclusive for non-food use.

Paper beads

 

Making beads with paper. Can be made from any paper and very effective using junk mail, magazine pages, wallpaper.

Materials and Tools:  Paper, Glue Stick, Dowel or cocktail sticks, Ruler, Pen/pencil, scissors/trimmer

Take piece of paper and make a mark 1/2” along one side, then make marks at 1” intervals. On the opposite edge mark at 1” intervals.

Score from the marks on one side to the other resulting in long triangles.

Cut along the scored lines so that you have the triangle shaped strips of paper.

Glue a narrow strip along the base of the triangle, on the wrong side of the paper. Place the dowel on the paper and fold the glued edge over to stick to the paper on the other side of the dowel. The dowel is there to provide the hole in the bead and should not be glued to the paper.  You should have something that looks like a pendant flag. 

Put glue on the wrong side of the paper down to the point. Continue to roll the paper around the dowel.

Slip the bead off the dowel and allow glue to dry. Applying a coat of varnish will help to protect the bead and make it stronger.  

So what am I up to?

Well, the assignments are done, revision is in progress and I've just started an evening class in Jewellery Design. So, l thought I'd keep a record of the fun stuff :-)