Monday 18 May 2009

A bead covered with seed beads

Here is an idea for recycling large polymer clay beads you don't like.
Materials: large bead, painted into one colour (normally, to match seed beads), seed beads, a needle and a thin invisible nylon thread.

I have chosen two shades of gold and blue seed beads. Mixed them in a dish.

To stop seed beads from sliding down from a large bead, place a stripe of a double-sided sticky tape.

Pass a thread through the bead and stick the end of the thread to a tape.

Take 4 beads and join them into a circle.

For the second circle take 3 beads, and join them into a circle with a top bead of the first circle. Pass the thread so that it comes out of the top bead of the second circle.

Make the full row around the bead.

For the second row take 3 seed beads and join them into a circle with a bead of the first row.

Now take only 2 seed beads, and join them into a circle with 2 beads (one of the first circle of a second row, and one of the first row).

Make a full second row around the bead, then make a third row.

To reduce a row, in some places (according to situation, depends on a size of a large bead) pass a thread through 2 beads of a previous row instead of one, and count those two beads as one. Take 2 seed beads, and join them into a circle consisting of 5 seed beads.

A few more rows, and your bead is ready :)