The insanity of the bead!

Beads, beads, beads!
Wow, this bead making thing has taken up a huge portion of my days lately.

I am hoping to make lots and lots of earrings and pendants which can be sold to people who will enjoy them...and in the process make some spending money.

I began this process with the abject failure of my first bead.
It was supposed to be a bear claw but looked more like some foreign cryptogram word.

I feel okay sharing this image with you again though I do feel shame at the results I know they were made in ignorance! (Please notice also...photo taken with old camera...
I was feeling pretty down about that and sat back down at the computer with some time for reading with my trusty google friend.
There is so much information out there, that we can get within seconds...how amazing is that?

I found a polymer clay cane making professional who was kind enough to photograph her cane making process.
I made another go at it and had mild success, but know I have quite away to go before being truly skilled at this process.
There are few things in my life that I feel pressure to be a perfectionist about, my artwork is one of them.
So, of course I am harder on myself than you would be.
...photo taken with new camera!!!)

My first, 2nd attempt was to try to make a cute little gift box. FAIL!!!
I turned this into what I hope is a mildly successful "plaid."
See all the tiny sideways gift boxes? Ughhh!

Next attempt was a snowflake.

I wish I had taken the time to make this more intricate.
Next time!
Forget that, there will be no next time, only other designs.

I took a huge portion of the FAIL gift boxes and squished them in my hands.
I was frustrated and just wanted them to go away!
They made this fun swirly design which I decided looked a bit like some of that mixed up yarn people work with.



I am not sure what people would wear this with, but I have lots of 'em to work with.
Blue jeans, everyone wears blue jeans, right?

Since I felt a little success with those mittens I decided I would step up my game.
I approached my next project with boldness that can only be born out of ignorance.

Ha!

This is my oldest sons taekwondo school patch.

Each school has their own patch designed especially for their school, so that it is unique.
I asked the school owners if I could pursue the idea of a bead with this design on it and got an enthusiastic go ahead.

I learned from the cane making lady to work on top of a design filling in the pieces with clay as you build the design. I finally broke out my camera to record the action about 2 hours into the process.

Yes, my friends this is 2 hours of work. Cutting every piece to the exact(ish) size and shape needed and placing it with its friends in such a way that they get along.
This is about an inch and a half tall.
Can you tell I am working on a color copy of the jacket patch? I think it looks a bit confusing.

It doesn't get any taller until later, but does get wider and wider as I fill in the design.
There was NO WAY I was even going to attempt those letters, no way no how!!!

At this point I was finally starting to breath a bit, but got immediately nervous again because I knew what had to come eventually!!

Ahhhhh, finally I finished the overall design.

Next up, reducing it.
It is a good idea to run screaming 'round the room waving your arms wildly in the air. This will cause the children to come running and the dog to start barking and chasing you, but it will relieve some of the tension associated with the next painful part of this process.
The part I so totally need more practice on!!!!

You must take the design that you have poured hours into and squish it.

Squish it and squish it and squish it down to a "cane".
There are people who have been doing this process for sometime and can actually keep the ends from going all crazy wonky!


I am not one of those people. YET!!!
This creates a LOT of waste!

I began cutting here, and still didn't come across the intact design.


Oh, see...not there yet. No red square.


I cut and cut and cut until finally I came across the design as it was meant to be!!!

It is a good idea at this point to again run screaming 'round the room waving your arms wildly in the air, this will cause the children to come running and the dog to start barking and chasing you, but it will let everyone know how excited you are that all your effort has paid off!!!
Be careful if you decide to do this...remember I still don't have any furniture in my living room and can do this freely.

The next step is to slice pieces off in the desired thickness.


Next, put them in the oven to bake per the instructions on the package.


And, then there you have it...a days worth of work for a bead.


I supposes I will still put another hour or more into these when I put the wire on and hang them on a necklace for wearing. So, an investment of about 6 hours time total. I think that is kind of insane.

But will I let that insanity stop me???
Of course not.
Right now in my little pea brain is a steaming mug of cocoa begging to be squished into a bead.
A tiny turquoise mug with hot cocoa and marshmallows (homemade of course).
See ya later world, beads I must make!