Wednesday 6 January 2010

My new beads

I have bought these metallic open flower charms a while ago, planning to fill them with polymer clay, but then I forgot about them. A wonderful work by shimshoni reminded me of my flower frames, and soon I came up with these flower charms:

I am not sure yet, which way to use them, as a necklace or as a bracelet. I have tried to take pictures of different ways of using them :)


Here you can see that they are like little padded cushions :) They are very pleasant to touch :)))
I took photos when making one of those charms, so if you like you can find a little tutorial below :)

I prepared a millefiori sheet and a few open flower charms. I have bought these charms on eBay, I can even give a link

Place flower frames on the sheet of clay. One of the frames will remain in the charm, the other one is only used temporarily.
Press frames into clay, using your roller.
Cut out the excess of clay around the flower frames.
Lift clay and frame off the working surface.
Carefully stretch the clay sheet, so it becomes raised over the metallic frame. Keep an eye on the edges of clay sheet, don't let them pop out of the frame. Donna Kato taught us this thick at the Polymer Play Days last summer :)
The other side of a sheet. То, что получилось с изнаночной стороны.
Cut off the excess clay.
Two parts of the flower are ready.
To make a flower puffy, you have to place a piece of scrap clay inside it.
Put scrap clay on one half of a flower.
Take the second half of a flower out of the second frame.
Put it on top of the scrap clay.
Now pinch the edges of a flower, hiding the ugly inner sides of flower parts under the metallic frame. You can use a toothpick to push the most stubborn bits inside.
The clay has to slightly overlap with a metallic frame from both side of a flower. This way the frame will not come off the flower after baking.
Here is the resulting puffy flower charm.
I smoothed the surface of charms with corn starch. It removes fingerprints and makes it easier to sand charms after baking.
All charms - baked, sanded and glazed :)
I also have round open charms in my stash, I will definitely try to work them out in the same way. They are a lot smaller than these flower charms, I still did not come up with a pattern for such the small circles.

PS. Sorry for such a long post, I hope you liked it :)

37 comments:

  1. How cute! I love them! I think I need some!

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  2. Thanks!!! Beautiful beads and soo good explained tutorial!!

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  3. Thanks! I am glad you liked the beads and the tutorial!
    Sue, would you like a swap? :)))

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  4. These bead frames and frame charms are great for polymer clay, aren't they?:) I'm glad you find yours!
    I myself make double sided polymer clay stripes before the "pushing". The 3D effect comes from a resin coating.

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  5. Elena, thanks! Resin is a fantastic protection for a bead, but adding resin on both sides of each bead is a lot of work for me, I am very lazy :))) That is why I think you are a hero :))) Your set is wondeful! :)

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  6. Very nice beads and fantastic tutorial!!! Thank you!!!

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  7. Thank you so much for sharing these cute charms and the way you made them. It is fun to see different ways people do things. Smiles, Sue Castle

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  8. This is just too beautiful! I love it! Thanks for tutorial, maybe I will try it some time:).

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  9. your creation is great, and your ideas are brilliant! I will follow you forever! because there are many thing to learn.

    really compliment!

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  10. thank you a lot for tutorial and compliments for your fantastic work!!! ^^

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  11. Absolutely wonderful ! And thanks for the tutorial. Bye.

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  12. These are wonderful!! I loved them in all the different ways they were presented... you could make some of everything and they would all be beautiful! :) Really good tutorial!

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  13. Those are absolutely positively gorgeous, and you're so generous to share your technique!

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  14. Very nice beads, I love them! And thank you very much for your tutorial

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  15. bellissimi questi lavori...e grazie per il tutorial!

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  16. they turned out beautiful! loved it!

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  17. you should make keychains and sell them for donations for Heidi!! they look reallyy nice and i'm sure people will buy them :)

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  18. Awesome! I have been on the look out for an effective way to do this! Thanks so much!

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  19. What a color is used in the black and grey version?

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  20. Just black and white clay

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  21. I love your flower charms. Thanks for sharing the information in your tutorial.

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  22. cool!!
    Beautiful!!!
    Thank you!!!

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  23. really fantastic, you are so generous to share it! congratulations!!

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  24. wow! it is so beautifil!
    where do you buy such small metallic frames?

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  25. Hi Marina, I got them fro eBay. I wish I could give you a link, but they do not sell those frames anymore

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  26. I love your tips and lots of photos, Thanks!

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  27. wonderful!!!! thank you so much!!!

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  28. Thank you so much for your tutorial!!!

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  29. I was wondering if the metal changes when baking the clay?

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  30. Also thank you for sharing! Great idea!!

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  31. Gorgeous charms! 😍 I can't wait to try this myself, I already have the metal frames. Thank you for the inspiration to create today!

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