My profession is “Craft Project Designer.”  It is my mission to educate the general public on the benefits of making something yourself.  My fortes are “all things stamped, anything beaded and whatever else I’m in the mood for.”  I’ve had over 80 projects published in over 25 different outlets including magazines, books, and websites.  I am a member of the Society of Creative Designers and a Designer Member of the Craft and Hobby Association.  I am also the cofounder of the Orlando Area Polymer Clay Guild.

Now that that’s out of the way…  One of the questions that is asked the most is, “How do I make beads?”  Jeannie Havel (the pcPolyzine publisher) asked me to work on a series of articles that cater to someone who has never picked up a package of clay. (My very first beads are shown at left and Jeannie's first beads are pictured on the index page of the ezine). We’ll start with the very basics of beads then work into rollers and shapes and textures and inclusions and pendants and finishing up jewelry and adding crystals………

To get started you will need the clay, something with a point, and something to bake on.  Personally, I poke the holes in my beads before I bake them.  To get a perfectly drilled hole after baking would require a drill press attachment to my tools.  In the beginning I used a long doll making needle.  Now, I use the pins that came with my Professional Bead Roller.  Needles and pins will give you a hole big enough for jewelry wire.  Use a skewer to get a hole big enough for cording.

Beads must be baked (only in an oven, never in a microwave) using one of two methods.  Clay sitting on tiles or a pan during baking will develop a shiny spot where it touches the surface.  To bake beads, either suspend the needle/skewer on something or lay the beads in polyester batting.  Batting can be found in craft departments near the pillow forms or quilting items.

One of the dictionary’s definitions of condition is “to render fit and in good health.”  For polymer clay, condition means “to render warm and pliable.”  If your clay is not warm and pliable when you start, your project results won’t be what you want.  This is true for packaged clay, pre-made canes and clay or canes that have been sitting around a while.  (For the complete novice: canes are logs of clay with pictures in them just like those slice and bake cookies.  The design of the cane goes all the way through -- you slice it and bake it.)  You warm up packaged clay my kneading it.  You warm up canes by sticking them under a heating pad set at medium.

My favorite method for making beads is to use the Professional Bead Rollers designed by Poly-Tools for AMACO. The reason I love them is that they save me time.  After you measure the clay and roll it, your fingers never touch the clay again- no fingerprints, no sanding.  After the beads are dipped in FIMO Mineral Glaze they look like glass.  Complete beginners can do these -- I know, I’ve taught them!

Follow my "Very Basic Bead Making Steps" (on Page 2) to make your own basic polymer clay beads, and look for Part II of this series in the next issue of pcPolyzine.