Since I was a little girl I’ve loved making my own jewellery
(off and on in-between life, puppies and work), so why has it taken so long to
decide to make my own beads? Well the time has come and I’m starting with cold
porcelain clay. This is an air dry clay which I’m told is great for creating
delicate and small pieces. There are loads of people who make their own clay
and I’ll probably have a go, but I wanted to start with some commercial stuff
first whilst I get my hand in.
So off I pop to the craft store to pick up some cheap DAS
air dry clay and after a bit of internet research on tips and tricks, I break
off a chunk and off I go with some simple (?) round beads.
I never realised how hard making a sphere was! Plus I’m not
sure if I’m meant to knead it more first, but it took a while to remove the
fold lines in the clay.
Anyway, a bit of playing later and I’ve made a few
round (rustic) beads, a couple of pear drop shapes and some decorative flats.
I
found an old button and pushed this into one of the flats to see what would
come out. Not convinced, but maybe a bit of paint would help, so I left it to
dry in a safe place away from cats, dogs and Mr clumsy.
Four days later I finally get around to checking on the
beads and I’m a bit surprised to find that they haven't hardened, which is
probably a good thing as I left them on the wires I used to make the holes. This
clay shrinks as it dries so it might have gotten stuck had it actually dried!
Next week, let’s see how I get on painting these. Hopefully they will be dry by then.
