How to: Polymer Clay beads Mokume Gane Style – Part 2

You can find: How to: Polymer Clay beads Mokume Gane Style – Part 1

Take the colorful Polymer Clay slices you created and start wrapping your made beads, gently as to keep it’s shape.

Repeat for as many beads as you want.

Shapes are up to you, from larger pendants to your basic round beads.

You can also make imprints on your newly created beads.

Make sure you make holes in your beads so you can string it or attach with jump ring.
Use a skewer or anything size appropriate to create the holes.

Put your beads on a rack so your beads will retain it’s shape and have even heat on them.

Use oven thermometer to make sure the temperature is actually same as indicted.
Should the temperature be off you can easily burn your Polymer Clay beads.

We used an old toaster oven to bake our beads. It is not recommended to use your kitchen oven.
Put your oven outdoors, in the backyard or balcony if possible.

Now it’s time to sand our beads.
It is better to sand the Polymer Clay beads under water so you are not breathing in the dust.

Start of with a more coarse grade sanding paper.

Gradually work your way to a more finer sanding paper.

Keep working on sanding your beads on finer sanding paper for best results.

Notice the sides of the pendant are now straight and aligned.

While the top and bottom have a slight curve to them.
The design style is up to you.

Finish by buffing your beads on an old pair of jeans.

There are different methods to seal your beads.
We chose to use Pledge with future shine.

We used floral foam to put our beads on skewers and then using a brush coated them with two layers.
Check product instructions for drying time between layers.

Your Polymer Clay beads are now ready to be used. From Jewelry to decorative projects.

Your project is now complete! enjoy.

You can find: How to: Polymer Clay beads Mokume Gane Style – Part 1

How to: Polymer Clay beads Mokume Gane Style – Part 1

My friend Catherine suggested we have a play day making beads from Polymer Clay in Mokume Gane style.
This was my first attempt and not too shabby if I do say so myself.

Start off by protecting the work surface. In this case we used Protecto film.

Pick a color and start working with it. We used Purple.

Choose another color you would like to use with your design. We used light Blue.

Want a shade of color but you don’t have it?
Not a problem, just mix two or more colors.
Start by cutting them into small pieces (we used a mixer to achieve these results)

Then start working the two colors together.

You will end up with the color you want. We were going for Lime Green.

Once you have all your colors it’s time to move on to the next step.
We used an old pasta maker.

Gradually make your clay thiner.

Cut your colors into 3 parts roughly the same size.

Then add Silver leaf on about 1/2 your color Polymer Clay blocks.
Make sure to cover at least 1 of every color.

Now it’s time to stack them.
Be sure to alternate between a block with Silver leaf and a block without.
As well as the different colors.

Once you have your block put dents it different sizes randomly spaced.
Don’t push all the way down (don’t create a hole).

Now it’s time to slice into your block at an angle.
You want your cut pieces to consist of several layers.

You can now create your base shape with a color you will cover partly or completely, it’s up to you.

You can find: How to: Polymer Clay beads Mokume Gane Style – Part 2