12 Days of Christmas: Day 12 - Moving Forward Disk Bead Bracelet

It's time to put 2016 to bed and move forward with bigger and brighter things for 2017! This funky asymmetrical bracelet balances out a row of polymer clay disk beads with three strands of chain. I used geometric findings to give the design a modern edge. 

Supplies:

9 12mm polymer clay disk beads

Pewter arrow button

2 3/4" brass flat cable chain

2 3/4" gunmetal or arte metal oval chain

2 3/4" large copper oval chain (with patina)

10mm brass etched jump ring

2 8mm brass jump rings

3 2.5 faceted brass beads

10 11/0 nickel seed beads

21 mm brass hammered ring

35mm brass rectangle bar

4" 19 gauge blackened steel wire (treat wire with steel wool and Renaissance Wax before using) 

Use whatever leftover chain you have on hand for this project - make sure to mix colors, texture and size for variation. 

Bracelet size: 8 1/2" long. (Shorten the chain and use 8 disk beads to adjust the size of your bracelet.)

Directions:

1. With round nose pliers create a simple loop at the end of the steel wire. String on one seed bead, one disk bead, repeat 8 more times. String on one more seed bead. Create a simple loop on the other end of the wire. 

2. Use chain nose pliers to open the end of the loop and string on the hammered loop, close the wire loop. 

3. Attach the ends of the three chains with an 8mm jump ring to the arrow button. 

4. Attach the other end of the chains with the etched jump ring. 

5. Use an 8mm jump ring to attach the etched jump ring to the brass rectangle, string on three faceted brass beads on the jump ring before closing.

6. Attach the other side of the brass rectangle to the end wire with the disk beads. 

Resources: Disk Beads: Humblebeads. Wire: Ace Hardware. Chain, arrow, hammered ring, jump rings and seed beads: Lima Beads. The rectangle piece was purchased many years ago and I can not remember where! Use any geometric piece for the focal: Color Square Findings,

12 Days of Christmas: Day 11 - Hollow Clay Beads

Hi There!  I'm Terri Del Signore from artisticaos.  I am a ceramic bead artist and I'm looking forward to sharing a tutorial with you! This is something that I have been experimenting with, and I am quite excited to show you what I've learned so far! Hollow clay forms using paper.

I work with ceramic clay but this concept could also suit polymer and metal clay projects.  In fact, somehow, somewhere, I came across paper beads used to make hollow polymer beads.  I don’t make polymer beads, but round paper beads are sold on Etsy for this purpose.  The idea is that you wrap your polymer clay around the paper bead, bake it, drill holes, and soak the bead to soften the paper pulp. Then remove the paper pulp with fine tip tweezers. You are left with a hollow polymer bead.  Even though I don't make polymer beads that idea sparked a different idea for me.

This seemed like something I could try with ceramic clay because extreme temperatures in the kiln would completely burn away paper, leaving only a hollow ceramic bead.  I wanted to play around with this idea because I have a background in papermaking (as we artsy folks tend to dabble in more than one medium;).  I figured this way, I could make various shapes to be used for hollow beads, and not be limited to just round beads. Who wants limits right!!??

I always have tons of ideas, and many that don’t work – but not this time! It worked! Here is a completely hollow bisque bead that I made using a paper bead.  The paper is completely gone, and all that is left is a hollow ceramic bead!

I will share what I did and some things I learned.
And the best part is that it is really simple!!
Making paper shapes to use to make hollow clay beads.

Materials needed
Cotton paper pulp and warm water

Equipment needed
Blender and dehydrator 

See that is not a long list of materials! If you don't have a dehydrator you could improvise with an oven, on the lowest setting, left open - or a heater even!  Cotton paper pulp is purchased through paper-making supply places. I have had mine for a very long time.  I bet you a good quality cotton toilet paper or paper towel would work too!  If you try it - let me know how it turns out!

Add warm water to your blender and add some ripped cotton paper pulp. Exactly how much is difficult to tell you, but, it's better to start with less and increase as needed. I say this because I once killed a brand new blender by adding too much pulp.  Now I have a Ninja, and it would take a lot more than paper to kill this beast!!  I love this machine!!  The left photo is paper pulp sheet.

Blend to a pulp (literally)!

When done, slowly lift out an amount in your hand that would suit your size and shape for your design.  Try to get the correct amount the first time, because adding to it is not ideal. You will learn this as you go and get better at it. Gently squeeze water out while forming your desired shape.  Don't try and get all the water out to the point you distort your shape. You will get a feel of what I mean. Working gently is key to maintaining shape. A little practice will help but I promise it is really easy!!

To remove the remaining pulp, you will need to use a fine strainer once the pulp starts getting low and hard to grab.

Once you have your wet paper shapes. Put them in your dehydrator to dry. Does anyone see my winking emoji;) in the photo below? I got my husband’s smaller dehydrator when he upgraded to a commercial one.  I snuck these into my husband’s, while he was making jerky. I kind of expected him to ask – but he is so past asking questions about my seemingly strange art projects about the house – even when they end up next to his jerky!

Once dry - they will be ready to use for your clay creations!! 

The clay you use to put over the paper will naturally want to take on the shape of your paper shape.  If your paper shape is really rough and bumpy texture (as thick handmade paper tends to be)  you will have to compensate by how you shape the outside. Either go with the rough texture and work it into your design or spend the time smoothing it out.  I did come up with a way to make your round beads smooth so that you can easily make nice smooth, round, hollow beads.  

The technique is to gently roll your rough round beads between two perfectly flat surfaces.  As you can see I am using really advanced equipment for this;) A plastic plate and a flat table top. The important thing is that both have a smooth, flat, textureless, surface!

Here is a pic of the difference it makes.

Now wrap clay around your paper shape and let the creative juices flow!


Important to remember is that there needs to be a hole that reaches into the hollow part of the clay for ceramic and metal clays (can't say for sure about polymer but my guess would be the same) - otherwise air can't get out and that is when things explode in the kiln.

You will see with my elephant head- that my design idea did not allow for air to escape, so I actually put a hole at the back.

Here is another hollow designs I made using this technique.

GIVEAWAY!!!! GIVEAWAY!!!!

And this hollow hummingbird bead is for one you readers who are still reading, and leave a comment. Winner will be chosen using random number generator. The winner will be picked next Thursday. 

I look forward to exploring with this technique much more and I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial!


Terri Del Signore – artisticaos.com

12 Days of Christmas: Day 10 - Owl Forest Knotted Necklace

This has been my favorite necklace for the last few months. It matches all my winter clothes, it feels great to wear and I just love anything with an owl on it. The design is a breeze to whip up and I made several variations.

Supplies

Pewter owl charm

Polymer clay oblong bead

12mm lampwork bead

10mm ceramic round bead

8mm polymer clay wobble

66 11/0 nickel seed beads

200 4mm cube seed beads

48" Irish waxed linen

22mm leaf button

I always over estimate how much linen to use, better to have too much than not enough!

For this project I used 8 different colors of cube seed beads with different finishes like metallic, matte metallic and transparent.