Idea for covering beads

As I've already mentioned, my latest problem has been deciding how to get the cane designs onto the finished beads. Aside from this I still have a lot of scrap clay and that in itself has been troubling me. Am I merely wasting all this clay and not producing anything to be proud of?

So a revelation came to me while having a surf on the internet, when I found Ponsawan Sila's blog post about making square flower beads and I couldn't quite believe what a great idea it was. It basically involves using scrap clay and marbling it. (Great, this I can handle!) Form a long log with the scrap clay. Then use your flower cane slices and place them on the log and slice into equal pieces. Then shape the sliced logs into square beads.

I was stunned by how something so simple can create something so effective and professional. I am so glad I found because it has raised renewed inspiration and that is definitely most needed.

The blog post includes a slideshow which is very handy too.

What a find!

Yesterday, just by accident, I came across the most fabulous website explaining all about how to make beaded jewellery and I have to say that I couldn't quite believe my luck. I can't put into words my excitement when I found it! What is so wonderful about it is that it has pages that explain basic things like how to use crimp beads, what tools you need, right down to what size beading wire to use etc.

Instantly by looking at a few of the projects I can see some potential for how I could use my beads. In particular, this little gem about how to make a pendant necklace caught my eye. It's perfect for using with my lazy mokume gane heart, and simple enough for me to do. What was a real revelation and a useful tip is that there is some explanation on this page about pendants where the holes are too large and for this the solution is to add a bead at top and bottom to hold the wire in place.

Another type of necklace also grabbed my attention. I may use this idea for the kaleidoscope beads I made. I have a pair of pliers at home so that is a start. I just need to go out and find the crimps, the wire and whatever other bits listed in these projects.