clay beads

a few weeks ago, allison and i spotted these gorgeous moroccan necklaces in a local brooklyn store - hand-formed resin beads on a knotted rope - in the coolest, off-beat color combinations... marni by way of marrakech if you wish. the price was a little too rich for our blood so i set about to make my own version. i decided to use polymer clay as i wanted the color to be through-and-through, not just on the bead surface. i had bought some sculpey III packs at a yard sale last year, so i decided to use these. this was my first time baking with sculpey and here are a few tips:
- the unbaked sculpey is much brighter in color than the baked result, bear that in mind.
- sculpey is easy to mold, and i loved creating these hand-formed beads, fingerprints and all.
- i used a wooden skewer to create the holes in the beads, easy!
- as it states on the package, you have to be really precise about the baking temperature and time. apparently my oven does not distribute heat evenly, so i ended up with a few burnt beads.
- contrary to online tips, these burnt bits cannot be sanded off easily - i will save these for another project that requires paint.
- the smell of burnt sculpey is not great.
finally, i used a colored elastic band in a fun blue color, as i did not want to wear raw jute rope on my bare neck. what do you think?