Poseidon's Journey with bead tute (IMG HEAVY)

[teapotdnky]

Here is a necklace that I made recently. I'm happy with it and I love the colors. Once again, sorry about my ages old polyclay table and no apologies for the clay under my nails! 





Now for the bead tutorial.

1. Roll out some scrap clay with a pasta roller or make sure the clay is rolled out to the same thickness all over. Cut out circles with a small cutter and roll all the circles into balls. This will give you even beads.



2. Next, use a clay extruder to make long snakes of clay. For this process I made my snakes fade from turquoise to gold. You need clay cylinders spaced fairly evenly and an extruder cap that has several holes. If you are using a cap that has one hole your snakes will be one color. An extruder that works by turning the handle and screwing the push bar into the extruder tube is so much easier than one you push by hand.





3. Lay about 4 tubes end to end and smash them together a bit to make them stick. Put them in the extruder and make your snakes.



4. Now to cover the beads... grab a snake and start rolling it into a coil. I broke this piece off so you can see how the coil should look at first. Place it on top of the bead and start spiraling the clay down the bead without leaving spaces.







5. Once the bead is covered break the clay off and carefully poke a hole halfway into the bead. Then turn the bead over and poke all the way through the bead. This will help make sure the hole goes straight through and doesn't go off center.





6. Make all the beads you want using this technique. Time for the accent beads. Using all the scraps you have left make small curliques and spirals. Set them aside and roll out some slightly bigger beads. For mine, I just stacked two of my previous discs together and rolled a larger bead. Cover the bead with the curliques without leaving spaces. fill any tiny spaces with a small ball of clay and roll the bead lightly to fill in the spaces. Don't roll hard enough to blend the spirals!









7. Poke the bead the same way as the others. It helps to put the beads on a thin wire to bake them so they don't roll around and stick together.

8. Bake, string up and enjoy!

[vanillaxlight]

omg I love that necklace. Im so sad that I'm not a polyclay arteest like you! But you know my address if you wanna send me a gift...

Seriously, that is absolutely fantastic. And awesome tute!

[teapotdnky]

Thank you! I'm pretty happy with it. It's too long for me, but who cares? I love it. 

[kittykill]

That is amazing!

[Jane Doe]

Love how you've expressed your theme - very glamorous!

[craftydame]

that's so cool!

[teapotdnky]

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the compliments ladies! 

[sweets4ever]

Wow, it's very beautiful!  I adore the color combination you used and the swirls on the pendant pull all the beads together.  Love, love, love!

Thanks for sharing & for the awesome tutorial, too!

[apshai]

that is amaazing!  and thank you so much for the tutorial. 

[slb2724]

love these! great tute!