For one of my Christmas presents I got a book on the history of beads. I really liked one of the beads on the cover. Unfortunately it did not say where it was from, only that it is an example of beads traded in the 15^th century. The bead was a rounded rectangle with a white background and three blue stripes on each end and a red one through the middle. The bead was made out of glass. I could not help myself and wondered what the best way was to make the bead out of polymer clay. I decided that a soft-in-soft inlay on a log would be the way to go.

Materials

• Reddish clay – I mixed Fimo classic terracotta with a bit of red – about a third of a block or less – but if you want to make it into a necklace mix up a 56g block
• Light blue – I mixed Fimo classic light turquoise with white and transparent – also about a third of a block
• 1 small block of white clay
• Varnish

Tools and equipment

• Sheet of glass or ceramic tile
• Additional sheet of glass to roll the log and bead shape
• A stiff metal blade
• Pasta machine
• Acrylic roller
• Baking paper
• Toothpicks
• Latex gloves

Method

Mix and condition the clay. Roll a log of white clay, about 1.5 cm in diameter. I rolled my log to about 26 centimetres long and managed to get 9 beads out of it. But it depends on how many you want to make.

Roll out the red and blue clay. To get better detail you should roll it out very thinly. I rolled it through my pasta machine and then cut some pieces of baking paper to cover each sheet. Then I rolled it through my pasta machine until the second thinnest setting.  Remember to pull the baking paper from the sheets on every setting you run it through the pasta machine. If you don’t do this the clay gets compressed so much that it breaks apart when you try to remove the baking sheet meaning that you have to reroll it all again.

Cut the sheets to size. The height of the sheet should be enough to go around the log [image 1].

Cut 19 thin slices (as thin as you can) of the blue clay and 9 thicker slices (4mm or .2 inches) of the red clay. Place the slices as on the image; 2 blue, 1 red 2 blue for each bead [image 2]. Turn the log around and press the slices against the white log. Remember that the coloured clay will expand when you reduce the log, so make sure you have enough space between the elements. Turn the log again until you get back to your starting point. Cut the blue and red slices and press it against the clay making sure it lines up to the starting point [image 3].

Use the other sheet of glass and reduce the cane by rolling the glass backwards and forwards. Depending on your preference you can smooth the cane until joins between the different colours are smooth or go for a three-dimensional effect. I decided to reduce the cane until the red and blue clay was smoothed into the white clay [image 4].

Put the glass sheet on top of the log and press down to get a flattened shape. Rock the glass backwards to keep a round shape.

Use your blade to cut the beads. Image 5 shows a cut bead.

Take a toothpick to make a hole through each bead [image 6]. Turn each bead around to make the hole from the other side. Roll the bead on your sheet of glass by holding the toothpick on either side. If you rock the bead forward and backwards you should get this rounded shape. The bead will deform a bit during this step. So you might want to pull the toothpick out, put it down on your sheet of glass and lightly press the other sheet of glass on the bead to even the top and bottom. Rolling it with the toothpick in this way will also enlarge the hole. If you press too hard the hole will become deformed as well. If this happens just compress the clay with your fingers and do it again. Wear gloves to protect the clay from your fingerprints. (Sanding off fingerprints is a pain.) Image 7 shows a rolled bead.

Roll the beads a little bit more with the toothpick. Place the beads on a heatproof surface and bake according to the manufacturer’s directions. I rested my beads on two planks of wood with the toothpicks through the centre [image 8].

If you want to make a necklace out of these beads, then roll the excess white, blue and red clay into round beads.