I Like This Bracelet, But...

I made this bracelet last year, and I really like the combination of the black and orange beads. It has a nice Halloween feel to it.  However, because of the weight of the beads, the “clasp” is on top of my wrist.   I think this bracelet would work better with elastic beading thread. 

This really shows the importance of test driving new designs.  While it looks good, it just doesn’t wear right.  The darn thing drives me crazy(er)!

But, I'm planning on a necklace or two similar to the bracelet.  I 'm making some orange-gold beads to go with the dark ones I made over the weekend.  I getting ready for a bead stringing frenzy! 

I'm suspect by the time I get my Etsy and ArtFire shops up and running, it will be too late for Halloween items. I can't believe how much there is to do!

I had fun this weekend!

I did some claying over the Weekend!

I cracked open some packages of polymer clay and fired up the pasta machine! 

The clay I worked with was actually Sculpy Premo, and not the Kato in the picture.  It is way easier to condition!  Oh, but I have plans for those packages of Kato Polyclay. 

To get going, I just wanted to make some simple beads.  I made a few and put them in the “secret” ingredient. 

I learned this trick from Silastones’ tutorial blog:  Silastones Tutorials   (scroll down to the "Lava Beads" tutorial.  She uses rock salt in her demo to make lava beads, but I wanted a finer texture and went with Kosher salt.   

And I want to mention, Silastones' work is wonderful and her tutorial blog is a great wealth of information!

After some feverish claying, I had a tray of beads nearly ready for the oven. 

Now, these beads would look rather plain without some sort of patina. 

So to give the beads some pizazz, I brushed on some Perfect Pearls.  The beads will have a nice metalic shine, almost like raku.

 

Guess what the most important item is for working with Perfect Pearls.  YES, that’s it – the dusk mask!  You don’t really want to breathing this stuff.

Well that’s it.  The beads have been cured and are ready to be turned in to jewelry. Oh, and I'm guessing you are wondering what they look like.  Well, you are just going to have to wait! 

Well, okay I did plan to include a picture of the finished beads, but the weather was rainy all day. I couldn’t go outside to get a decent  picture of them.  So, hopefully tomorrow.