ONE TUTORIAL A DAY FOR 31 DAYS – DAY 17 OF MY JOURNEY – BEADS, BEADS, BEADS!

DSC_0282

I have always loved beads. Even before starting beading, I had this attraction to beads. If I had to choose between a beaded dress and a simple dress, I would chose, without thinking too much, the beaded dress. And my passion for beads goes way back. I remember that when I was 3 or 4 years old, I gave my favorite doll in exchange for two strings of glass beads (red and green). My choice was a disappointment for my entire family. They did not understand how could I give my favorite doll and for what? Beads? Yet, I have never regretted it. I was so happy with my two strings of beads. 33 years later I love beads just the same.

Materials and tools used for these faux glass beads: pearlescent Fimo polymer clay, translucent Fimo polymer clay, a pasta machine, alcohol inks, Fimo golden powder, triple thick varnish.

I have softened a little bit the polymer clay and then rolled it through the pasta machine. I have colored the translucent clay with alcohol ink (and let the inks dry completely before mixing the polymer clay).

IMG_1354

IMG_1358

I have made a ball of translucent clay and wrapped it in pearlescent polymer clay and rolled the bead round again.

IMG_1377

IMG_1374

IMG_1375

I have made very thin ropes of colored polymer clay (the one I have previously colored with alcohol inks) and rolled them around the beads, making patterns on the beads.

I have rolled little oval beads, flattened them with my fingers and shaped them into petals. I have used them to decorate the beads.

IMG_1378

IMG_1379

IMG_1381

IMG_1382

I have put a toothpick in the middle of the beads (to make to holes and also because it was easier to turn the bead around while decorating it).

I have made also little leaves (just by adding lines in the middle and on the sides of the petals).

IMG_1384

I have baked the beads according to the polymer clay manufacturer’s specifications.

IMG_1389

I have taken them from the oven and put them directly into cold water with ice in it (I read once that this technique enhances the translucent effect). I thought it would be good for the pearlescent  as well.

IMG_1394

Then I have colored them with alcohol inks and Fimo golden powder (mixed with water). The Triple Thick Varnish gave them the look of faux glass beads.

I have used a chain, jewelry findings and pliers to make a bracelet.

IMG_1401

More beads made using the same technique:

DSC_0294

Advertisement

17 Comments

    1. Thank you very much! Thank you also for taking the time to share this with me! Have an amazing day! Best wishes! Mihaela P.S. I am very sorry for replying so late, I had to sit a little bit by myself, to find my center, my creativity because I was overwhelmed by my idea of doing a tutorial a day, but in the same time I wanted to do complicated things (which you cannot do in just one day). I am feeling again energized and I will try to be less hard on myself and even take the time to do interesting things

    1. Thank you so much! I am so happy to read your kind comments. I have been working the entire day on that project and when I have posted the picture with the little bracelet with three beads, I was a little bit disappointed because I thought that the picture did not make justice to the entire work behind the project, so I am so happy that you found the process interesting, because it was exactly what I have tried to show.

    1. Thank you very much, dear Irene! I got interested in polymer clay when I realized I could make my own beads and cabochons. Because, as you surely know, when you love beads, you have never enough beads:)

      1. I love gemstones as well. Not to mention that they have special properties. I wanted to tell you that I loved your blog post about Gemstones and their energies. Can you imagine that 4 years ago when I went to visit a museum, I have bought some semi-precious stones at the entrance of the museum and the person that sold them to me, told me that taking into account the stones I have chosen, their symbolic meaning was that my life was going to change and that I was going to discover things about myself that I ignored and that in a way I would find my path in life. When this happened I was in Romania, I had a little baby (I was a translator, yet on maternity leave), I had no idea that I would leave the country and that one day I would be making jewelry. But now I really understand the message that stones gave me…

    1. Thank you so much, Cathy! I simply adore your colorful paintings! And I loved your Steampunk jewelry. Most of all I loved Souls in the Great Machine: I loved the colors, the design and the name as well! You are an amazing artist! Not to mention the bracelets (made with paintings or collages), they are wonderful!

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.