Try something new! Bobbin Beads!

…I discovered something very dangerous to my wallet last week…shopping for craft supplies on ebay! 😀 I has seen some beautiful lampworked glass beads that were made on metal sewing machine bobbins so I went on the hunt for steel bobbins and I found a package of 100 on ebay for $13 with free shipping and they are the kind my machine takes so even if this bead making adventure turned out to be an epic fail I can still use the bobbins for sewing (what a concept.) Well the two glass beads I made on bobbins were yuck, I could not keep all of the glass hot enough to work it so then I grabbed my polymer clay and made a few really simple but nice ones:

I made the glass beads on the necklace and earring too, Now that I have gotten used to it I am enjoying my Devardi glass, I really like the Pandora mandrels for making the large-hole beads. I can’t wait for my 1000 bead cores to arrive (yep, another $4 spent on ebay LOL!) so I can snazzy them up good and proper!

The technique is really easy in clay, first condition brown, teal and light blue separately and roll them into ropes. Twist the ropes together. Fold them and twist them as many times as you like to get a nice marble effect then wrap the rope around the bobbin and press the clay in good to make sure it is all filled but you want the clay to stick out in all directions. Take a razor blade or clay blade and shear off any clay sticking out past the edge of the bobbin and through the holes. Slide the bobbin on a pencil or knitting needle and roll it along a fat marker or rolling pin to smooth the edges of the bead. The smaller round clay beads on the earrings were made in a tri-bead roller.

Making an adjustable knot:

You can do this with any satin cord, leather cord or ribbon. I used satin cord that came on a card. To take any wrinkles or kinks out of the cord or ribbon you and pass it a few times over a hot light bulb (on old-fashioned kind) untill the cord or ribbon is smooth. Tie an overhand knot at each end and seal the ends with fray check (if ribbon) or burn them if satin/nylon cord. Leather is fine as-is. Now keep one of the knot stationary and tie a surgeons knot with the other end around it. Repeat with the other side, it will look like this:

Then you can pull the knots apart to make it smaller:

easy peasy! Any questions? Just leave a comment and I will get back to you! thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!