How to Make Round Polymer Clay Beads
Making jewellery at home can be a fun and creative activity, which yields unique, original pieces that you can wear and show off at parties. One of the many ways to make jewellery at home is by using polymer clay. Although you can choose other shapes too, shaping the clay into round beads is the easiest method, and these beads can then be strung together to form a necklace of sorts, or used in any way you prefer.
Polymer clay beads make for a great activity, either alone or with children, and the results can either be enjoyed by the one who made them, or presented as gifts to loved ones. You can even make holiday-themed beads, and use these as festive presents during Christmas.
Things Required:
– Oven
– Polymer clay in two or more colours
– Cookie sheet or pie tin
– Hot pad to remove pan with baked beads
– Toothpick or skewer
Instructions
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1
Choose different coloured clay
When selecting the polymer clay, you have to be sure of what colours you want. If you want to use the beads as jewellery, you should try getting lots of different colours, as that way you can create lots of beads in varying shades. -
2
Prepare your workstation
Make sure your workstation is completely clean, otherwise the clay will pick up all of the particles strewn across the surface, because it is very soft. It is ideal to tape a cookie sheet to the surface of the table you will be using for your activity. -
3
Roll the clay
There are a couple of ways in which you can prepare the clay. You can either roll it and make small balls from it or pick a round wooden bead and cover it with the polymer clay. In order to follow the former method, you have to collect some clay on your palm and roll it gently until it becomes completely round. For the other method, you need flat slices of clay, which can be pressed onto the wooden bead in order to cover it completely. -
4
Make a hole
Use a pin or a needle to create a hole in each bead. The wooden beads will have holes inside them, so you won’t require anything particularly sharp to create holes in them. Do not skip this step, as it is essential to make an opening in the clay bead. -
5
Bake the beads
You can now bake the beads in a conventional oven at 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Set the time to 10 minutes and you will get the desired result easily.
