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Jewelry made out of polymer clay is becoming one of the
latest fashion trends among most of the college going kids in India. In
fact clay jewelry is nowadays widely available in most of the fashion
hangouts in India. With this trend in the fashion scene, it is no
surprise that polymer clay jewelry is catching on as a fascinating hobby
among a large number of youngsters in India.
When you are making polymer clay jewelry, there are some important tips
that might just make your work easier. Most polymer clay beads are
rather heavy, so you need a durable material for stringing. Make sure
you find yourself an extremely fine steel cable with a plastic coating.
This will remain very strong and will also be easy to work with. It
might kink easily and be a little stiff, and therefore not drape well
when used with lighter beads.
You can even use something that is more flexible and drapes better, but
it might be more expensive also. Many beginners who try to make polymer
clay jewelry make the common mistake of stringing the clay beads on
inexpensive nylon monofilament, but this has some disadvantages as the
monofilament is weakened by exposure to heat and sunlight, and it tends
to stretch out when used with heavy beads. Nylon or silk stringing
thread can also be used, but make sure to use a heavy enough gauge to
support the weight of your beads.
Large-holed clay beads can also be strung on leather or satin cord. One
popular style is to string one or a few large beads on a short length of
cord, letting the cord show between the beads. This style is especially
good for men's necklaces made out of polymer clay.
Another common practical problem that generally arises with polymer clay
jewelry is about how to pierce a bead for stringing. Polymer clay beads
are most easily pierced before firing, although they can be drilled
afterward. In order to pierce a bead, you can use a skewer or needle.
Make sure you hold the clay bead between your fingers and poke a hole
almost all the way through it, not allowing the needle to come out the
other side. Then withdraw the needle and poke it through from the other
side. This is in order to ensure that you avoid creating an unsightly
lump of clay around the edges of the pierced hole.
Some of the beginners even wonder about how to make a clay piece into a
pendant. There are several ways to hang a clay piece as a pendant for a
necklace or earring. You can pierce a hole from front to back at the top
of the piece and insert a jump ring. This technique is most suitable for
light, thin pieces made of strong clay; brittle clay may crack at the
top after a while, causing the pendant to fall off. You can also try to
embed an eye pin into the top of the piece before firing, leaving just
the eye at the top visible. Bend the end of the eye pin a little before
inserting it, to make the join stronger.
You can try and pierce the pendant from top to bottom,
fire it, then insert a head pin from the bottom and twist the top end
into a loop. You can also make the piercing bigger and thread a ribbon
or cord through it, knotted at the bottom.
Author M. Hemdev copyright
data 2004 Indianchild.com
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