New Craft Forum

I joined a new forum, It's called Craft Pimp and is specifically for crafty people, any sort of craft.
It's a place where you can show your work within galleries, you can chat to like minded crafters and enjoy seeing other peoples work.
There some amazing talents on there and I recommend joining.
The link is here

First beads in ages

After a long Hiatus I have made some beads, and it feels good, sigh!
I started off with the old favourite random planets and stuck to my favourite colour, green. I made a faux agate pendant and small tiles for earrings. In the mix was some lovely bronze clay which really shines now that they are varnished. However the before picture is shows the true colours better.

Then I found a cane I liked and made some flattened round beads, two round pendants and some more of those earring tiles

I'd forgotten how long it takes to finish polymer beads off, Phew!
I am back in the zone. :)

Planet Bead Tutorial

I made this tutorial in order give something back to the polymer clay community which has given me so much, It's not a unique method, there are lots of similar tutorials out there, but here is my version. I hope you like it.

1. First make a base bead from 'mud' colour. The finished bead will be quite a bit bigger than this bead so take this into account.

2. Make a 'log' from your chosen colours, I chose orange, grey and white here. Put the 'log' into your extruder with a small round die in the end, and begin to extruder the clay.

3. Put the base bead onto a mandrel (this is optional, I just prefer to do it this way) and begin to wind the long thin piece of clay around the base bead.

4. Break off the clay once the bead is fully wrapped and remove it from the mandrel if used.

5. At this stage there is a choice, to leave the bead bumpy or roll it smooth in your hands. If you decide to make it smooth, you will need to pierce the hole again.

6. Bake the beads according to the manufacturers instructions. Once cool they need sanding and buffing.

Here are some more I have made using this method