Teach Me Blog

I created this necklace for a very close friend and thought I would share how it was made.  It was sooo... fun to make.  The idea came from an article I had read in May/June 2009 issue of  "Today's Creative Home Arts"   The magazine is generated from the Home Arts Club which I am a life time member.  This is a fabulous bi-monthly magazine and totally worth every penny.  Check out the website!  www.creativehomeartsclub.com  by becoming a member you can enter some great contests, get patterns, enter give-a-ways, and more. 

This piece was created by first making a clay cane jelly-roll snake using three colors.   After the cane is created you will take an old credit card and push length wide into cane snake making several indentations.   Reduce the cane and let set for about 20 minutes.   This will make the cane easier to slice.  Notice how the old credit card created the clay to drag together making it appear like rose peddles.  Cool huh!

While your cane is resting, so to speak.  You could begin to roll scrap clay balls or what-ever the shape you plan to make your beads.  I made several shapes.  Put aside.  Now with a very sharp blade begin to slice your cane.  Thin slices are all you need to create your bead.

Slice the cane giving you several pieces to work with.  The clay balls now will come into play.  With a tooth pick  carefully grab the slice on the side of the slice so you do not make a hole in the slice and place on your clay ball.  As seen below.

After you have placed you slices around the clay ball I use a piece of glass to roll and smooth the slices onto clay ball.  By using the glass it eliminates fingerprints in the clay and the friction gives the bead a nice smooth surface.  My work space is on a large slab of glass.  So glass on the bottom and a piece of glass for rolling.

After rolling the bead you want to make your holes.  After making your hole you want to take cornstarch to again rid any finger prints and create a smooth surface.  The beads are then placed on a piece of card stock that has been folded like a fan creating wells in the cardstock.  This is so bead does not bake with flatten areas.  Bake your beads in a toaster oven following the directions on your clay package.  Remember be sure the toaster oven is just used for clay.  Making food in the oven after baking clay is NOT recommended. 

Above you can see some of the finished product.  I would change one thing if I was to create this project again.  The beads above were sanded and glazed.  I would have to go with my tumbler  procedure that is dicussed in my article "Sanding Clay Beads" to create a more natural shine of the clay.  The glaze is nice but as you can see with one of the above beads the glaze tends to drip making more work in re-sanding and re-glazing. 

I am making a whole line of this beautiful design and should be on my webpage by the third week of February 2010.  So please check out my new webpage and add to your favs for new up-coming products I know you will love!

www.susanscraftcorner.com

I would love to see some of your finished products if you choose to use this  idea.   If you have any questions I will be checking this blog often to guide you through. 

Have fun!

Susan