Polymer Clay Beads

Have you ever tried to make beads using polymer clay? If you have an avid interest in arts and crafts, you will definitely find this task extremely enjoyable. The reason why many clay sculptors or artists use this material is mainly due to its pliability. Though this material does resemble the texture of clay, it doesn't contain even a small amount of actual clay in it. Fine particles of polyvinyl chloride are suspended in a liquid plasticizer to create this material. This sculpting material is easily available in crafts stores. It can be shaped in a variety of forms, patterns or designs. If you love wearing trendy beaded jewelry, you can make beautiful polymer clay beads and use them for making brooch pins, earrings, bracelets, pendants or necklaces.

Polymer Clay for Acts and Crafts

You can create sculptures, figurines, decorative bowls, coasters, vases and various other decorative pieces using this sculpting medium. You can even make beautiful ornaments using polymer clay. To make beads, you will need this sculpting material, an oven and of course a creative mind. You can bend the clay into any shape that you desire and string these beads to make your beaded jewelry. By blending the different colors together, you can create vibrant-colored beads. You can even replicate the look of glass beads, marbles, coral, turquoise, jade, ivory, amber and a variety of other materials using this material. Besides creating faux effects, certain molds can also be used for giving texture to the beads. With a little practice, you will be able to create beautiful patterns. These beads can then be used for making groovy fashion accessories for teens. If you have never made beads before, here's all you need to know.

Making Beads from Polymer Clay

If you love to adorn yourself with funky handcrafted and beaded jewelry and are also interested in jewelry making, then you can go through these instructions on making beads.

• Before you start making the beads, make sure that you prepare the surface you will be working on. It would be a good idea to tape a wax paper over the work surface.
• First of all, you need to figure out the color, shape and the size of the beads you wish to make.
• You could make round, tubular, square, rectangular or star-shaped beads or any other shape that you like.
• How the bead will look will depend on the pattern you will create. For creating the pattern, you need to roll different shades of this material and blend them together. Keep rolling, twisting and blending the clay till you get the effect you want.
• Once you like the pattern, pinch off a small piece of clay and roll it into a bead of the required shape and size.
• Before you place the beads in the oven, make sure that you use a needle or skewer to drill a hole in the beads.
• Once you have drilled the hole, place the beads on a parchment paper and place it on the baking tray.
• After placing the tray in the oven, bake the beads as per the instructions given on the package.
• After the beads are done, take the tray out and let them cool. After that, string the beads to make necklaces, bracelets or use them any way you want.

Now that you know how to make beads, you can create funky beaded jewelry on your own. So, get your hands on polymer clay and unleash your creativity to create stylish fashion jewelry!