| Materials and Tools:
-
1/2 2 oz. block Premo: Pearl
- 19 6mm white pearl beads
- Silver bugle beads
- Pearl-Ex mica pigment powder: pearl white
- Sculpey gloss polymer clay finish
- 40" bead stringing wire
- 2 silver tone crimp tubes
- 12mm silver tone lobster clasp
- 2 silver tone 1/4" jump rings
- Silver tone headpins, 2" long
- 2 silver tone earring hooks
- Wax paper
- Round nose pliers
- Wire clippers
- Crimp pliers (optional)
- Brush for mica powder
- Brush for Sculpey gloss
- Sculpey Super Slicer
- Work Surface
- Toaster or Convection oven
- Baking tray
- Oven thermometer
- Oven mitts
Instructions:
Prepare clay: Take 1/2 of a block of the pearl clay and knead it in your hands until soft. Roll the clay into a 3/16" cylinder.
Cut off 15 pieces each 1" in length.
Create spiral beads: Take the first 1" section and taper each end of the cylinder into a point.
Roll the clay from one end to the other into a flat spiral.
With the spiral laid flat between to fingers, slide a headpin through the center of the spiral to form the bead hole.
On a piece of wax paper, powder both sides and the edges of the bead generously with pearl white mica powder. Wipe off the excess with your fingertip. Repeat for the rest of the 1" pieces of clay. Bake all 15 beads on a flat baking tray for 20 minutes at 275 degrees (F), and allow them to cool. Paint one side of each bead with Sculpey gloss and allow it to dry. Flip bead over and coat the second side and edges of each bead with Sculpey gloss. Allow gloss to dry.
String necklace: Cut 2 pieces of bead stringing wire at 20" each. Slide a crimp tube over one end of each wire. Loop the 2 wires through a closed jump ring, and thread back through the crimp tube leaving an extra 1/2" beyond the tube. Using crimp or regular pliers, crimp the tube over the wires.
Trim off excess short wire ends. String beads onto both wires in the following order: 3 silver bugles, a 6mm pearl, 3 bugles, and a spiral bead. After the spiral bead, split the two wires and string separately. On the first wire (for the shorter strand), string beads in the following order: 1 bugle, 6mm pearl, 3 bugles, 6mm pearl, 3 bugles, spiral, 3 bugles, 6mm pearl, 3 bugles, spiral, 3 bugles, 6mm pearl, 3 bugles, spiral, 1 bugle, 6mm pearl, 1 bugle, spiral, 3 bugles, 6mm pearl, 3 bugles, spiral, 3 bugles, 6mm pearl, 3 bugles, spiral, 3 bugles, 6mm pearl, 3 bugles, 6mm pearl, 1 bugle.
Stringing second strand: Tie a knot in the end of the strand you just beaded to keep beads from falling off. On the second wire (the longer strand), string beads in the following order: 3 bugles, 6mm pearl, 3 bugles, spiral, 3 bugles, 6mm pearl, 3 bugles, spiral, 3 bugles, 6mm pearl, 3 bugles, spiral, 3 bugles, 6mm pearl, 3 bugles, spiral, 3 bugles, 6mm pearl, 3 bugles, spiral, 3 bugles, 6mm pearl, 3 bugles, spiral, 3 bugles, 6mm pearl, 3 bugles, spiral, 3 bugles, 6mm pearl, 3 bugles. Take the knot out of the shorter strand, and bring the two wires together. String the remainder of the necklace in the following order: spiral, 3 bugles, 6mm pearl, and 3 bugles.
Add clasp: Slide a crimp tube over the two wires, pulling in any gaps in the beads so the beads sit close together on both strands. Loop a jump ring through the lobster clasp and close the gap. Thread the wires through the jump ring on the clasp, and back through the crimp tube. Crimp the tube shut, and trim off excess wire. The necklace is complete.
Make earrings: Place a spiral bead on one head pin. Next place a bugle bead, a pearl, and 3 more bugle beads. Bend the wire at a 90-degree angle to the top of the last bugle bead. Bend the wire into a 1/8" loop. Trim off excess wire, hook the open loop through the base loop on the earring hook, and close the head pin loop. Repeat to make second earring.
The set is complete! |
