Category: Crafts and Hobbies
Bet you never knew you could make your own beads and string them on a
necklace. Well, that thought is about to be short lived. Here's how to
make your own beads in no time.
What You Need
Playdo, store bought or hommade
Paint
Toothpicks, the rounded ones, not the flat ones
String
Scissors
Charms
A place for drying
What To Do
Step 1. If using hommade playdo, make the playdo according to a set of
directions you have.
Step 2. Make your playdo into balls, or roll out little cylinders.
Step 3. Using a rounded toothpick, poke the toothpick into each ball or
cylinder until it comes through the other side of the shape. Move the
toothpick around until the whole is the size you want.
Step 4. Let your clay beads air dry in a cool area for a week. You can put
them on paper towels or wax paper.
Step 5. Use paint and paint your beads any color you desire. You can
paint them different colors if you wish. If you want you can also use
glitter paint or add glitter.
Step 6. Place your beads back on the drying area and let them dry
overnight.
Step 7. Cut a piece of string long enough for your necklace or bracelet.
Step 8. Tie a knot at one end of your string. Make sure it is bigger than
the holes in your clay beads so they don't fall off. Otherwise, you can
make a bead knot by stringing a bead through the end and just tying it like
you would any other knot. Then when you're done pull it off gently.
Step 9. Begin stringing your beads on your piece of string.
Step 10. When you're done, tie it off, and cut off any leftover string on
the end.
Now you're ready to show off your new creation!
A few problems with that theory:
Pottery came relatively late in human evolution because real clay, properly
processed and properly heated, is actually hard to do. Putty or play dough is rife
with impurities. Play dough as my Wife used to make it is extremely malleable
and doesn't dry properly.
Clay is a compound, and play dough is at best a suspension. Once you dry out a
material like that, it becomes brittle and will ultimately break apart. A pot would
never be leakproof with that substance, and beads would wear through on the
string in relatively short order.
I have known craft people who made beads out of some sort of clay or
ceramics, but again, these are compounds which are capable of solidifying
properly.
A material like putty would never dry properly due to the chemicals which keep
in the moisture.
I guess if you're doing this for little kids it might work, but I don't think I
personally would do it; sounds like the materials would break apart. Better to
put holes in dry beans or let them string macaroni noodles. Neither will flake
apart.
agree with the previous post.. play dough is way too brittle when dried out for beadmaking. They would crumble and fall apart too easily.
I'd actually like to get into doing stuff with ceramics, pottery and such myself, if I could have a look at the kiln while it's cold. Wonder if the same skills for safe oven use would apply here.
I mean to say, obviously, be careful, but I'm curious if I'd need special tools or mits for handling heated clay. We did some stuff in elementary school, but I always had help with firing the clay. We were never allowed to go near the kiln, so it wasn't just one of those, "She's blind, protect her," kind-of things. everyone else in the class was sighted.