Premo Ombre Hollow Bead Necklace

Getting Started Polymer clay may stain. CLAY MAY DAMAGE UNPROTECTED FURNITURE OR FINISHED SURFACES. DO NOT USE polymer clay on unprotected surfaces. We recommend working on the Sculpey clay mat, wax paper, metal baking sheet, or disposable foil. Start with clean hands and work surface area. Knead clay until soft and smooth. For best results, clean your hands in between colors. Shape clay, pressing pieces together firmly. Bake on oven-proof glass or metal surface at 275°F (130 °C) for 30 minutes per ¼" (6 mm) thickness. For best baking results, use an oven thermometer. DO NOT USE MICROWAVE OVEN. DO NOT EXCEED THE ABOVE TEMPERATURE OR RECOMMENDED BAKING TIME. Wash hands after use. Baking should be completed by an adult.Begin by preheating oven to 275 °F (130 °C). Test temperature with oven thermometer for perfectly cured clay. For best results, condition all clay by running it through the Clay Conditioning Machine for several passes on the widest setting. Fold the clay in half after each pass and insert the fold side into the rollers first.

To make this necklace you will be mixing a different ratio of Purple to 18K Gold for each size bead. Condition the Purple and 18K Gold and roll each color out into a sheet on the #1 setting on the clay conditioning machine. To get equal amounts of each color you can use a shape cutter and cut out the multiples of each color; a good cutter to use is the 1” circle cutter in the graduated cutter set. After cutting all of the circles out of the ratios used below set aside extra clay from each mix to use later.

1-3/4” Bead:The ratio for the 1-3/4” diameter bead is 5 parts Purple and 1 part 18K Gold. Condition the portions of colors together until you have a consistent color. Roll out a sheet on a #2 setting on the clay conditioning machine and cut two 1-3/4” circles. Place them onto the Hollow Bead Maker so that they are making good contact with the form all of the way around. Gently press the Scotch-Brite Pad over the entire surface of the circles to create a coarse surface texture.

1-1/2” Bead:The ratio for the 1-1/2” diameter bead is 4 parts Purple and 2 parts 18K Gold. Condition the portions of colors together until you have a consistent color. Roll out a sheet on a medium/thick setting and cut four 1-1/2” circles. Place two of the cut circles onto the Hollow Bead Maker so that they are making good contact with the form all of the way around. Gently press the Scotch-Brite Pad over the entire surface of the circles to create a coarse surface texture. The remaining two will have to be baked separately unless you have a second Hollow Bead Maker form.

1-1/4” Bead:The ratio for the 1-1/4” diameter bead is 3 parts Purple and 3 parts 18K Gold. Condition the portions of colors together until you have a consistent color. Roll out a sheet on a #2 setting and cut four 1-1/4” circles. Place two of the cut circles onto the Hollow Bead Maker so that they are making good contact with the form all of the way around. Gently press the Scotch-Brite Pad over the entire surface of the circles to create a coarse surface texture. The remaining two circles will need to be baked after the first two are baked so that you can use the mold for all of the circles.

1” Bead:The ratio for the 1” diameter bead is 2 parts Purple and 4 parts 18K Gold. Condition the portions of colors together until you have a consistent color. Roll out a sheet on a medium/thick setting and cut four 1” circles. Place two of the cut circles onto the Hollow Bead Maker so that they are making good contact with the form all of the way around. Gently press the Scotch-Brite Pad over the entire surface of the circles to create a coarse surface texture. The remaining two will have to be baked separately unless you have a second Hollow Bead Maker form.

3/4” Bead:The ratio for the 3/4” diameter bead is 1 part Purple and 2 parts 18K Gold. Condition the portions of colors together until you have a consistent color. Roll out a sheet on a medium/thick setting and cut four 3/4” circles. Place two of the cut circles onto the Hollow Bead Maker so that they are making good contact with the form all of the way around. Gently press the Scotch-Brite Pad over the entire surface of the circles to create a coarse surface texture. The remaining two will have to be baked separately unless you have a second Hollow Bead Maker form.

All of the circles made using the ratios from above need to be baked for 15 minutes and allowed to cool completely; you should end up with a total of 18 individual domes. Once they have all cooled you will need to sand a flat on the inside edge of each piece. Wet your piece of sandpaper and using gentle and even pressure sand the open side of the dome so that you have a little bit of a flat edge. Rinse the piece off, dry it, and set it to the side. Repeat with the remaining pieces.

Pick up one of the pieces and squeeze a thin line of Bake N’ Bond all of the way around the flat edge. Pick up a second piece of matching size and press the two halves together so that the open sides are facing each other. Repeat this process until you have matched up all of the halves; you should now have a total of 9 beads. Place the joined halves onto some batting, bake for 15 minutes, and let cool completely.

Pick up the 1-3/4” sized bead and rub a thin layer of Bake N’ Bond into the groove that runs around the outside edge of the piece. Roll a snake of the mixture used to make the 1-3/4” bead; this was the 5 parts Purple 1 part 18K Gold mix, that is a little bigger in diameter than the depth of the groove and long enough to go all of the way around the bead. Press one end of the snake into the groove and continue winding the snake around while firmly pressing it into the groove. Continue doing this until you have the groove completely filled in all of the ways around. Use your Super Slicer to trim away the excess clay. To do this start from one side and hold the blade at an angle against the outside edge of the bead and run it around the edge. Repeat this on the other side. Next, hold the blade so it is flat against the top of the groove and run it around the outside of the bead; think of this like peeling an apple. You might need to repeat these steps to make sure you have the excess snake trimmed away cleanly. Once you have the snake cleanly trimmed away use the Scotch-Brite pad to texture the clay you just added to the seam. Repeat the process on the remaining beads making sure to use the correct color mix for each size bead. Once you have the groove filled and textured on each bead place on the batting, bake for 15 minutes, and let cool completely.

Once the beads have cooled use a fine tip marker to mark two places on the outside edge of each bead that are directly across from each other. Pick up one of the marked beads and use the 1/16” drill bit to drill a hole through the edge of the bead until you have drilled through to the hollow inside of the bead. Repeat this on the other marked spot. Continue this process until you have all of the beads drilled.

Now that you have all of your beads drilled you can start stringing them into a necklace. The length of the combined beads will not be long enough to make a necklace on their own. You have a variety of choices for finishing the necklace. You can string the beads with a 4 mm Gold bead in between and finish the length using more gold beads or you can use a length of chain as was done on this piece. If you would like to use the chain you will need to need to do the following: determine the finished length you want the necklace to be, subtract the length the hollow bead section of the necklace gives you and divide by two; an example being that if you want a necklace that is 18” in length and the section of hollow beads gives you 11 inches you will need 7” inches of chain divided into two pieces that are 3.5” long. To finish the necklace using the chain you will need to attach each end of the length of hollow beads to one end of each of the pieces of chain. The other ends of the pieces of chain need have the clasp portions added; the ring on the end of one chain piece and the lobster claw clasp on the other chain piece.