Simple twisted beads : Tutorial : Beginners

Hi !

As a beginner clayer I was never sure what I wanted to do. I wanted to cane but very (very!) often I really screwed it up. The colour combinations would be terrible and since I never had the restraint to control the squishing, I would always end up getting mud colours.
And once I got mud colours, I just never took that chunk seriously and I just played with it (no worry of colour contamination). That's how the previous beads were made and that's how these came into being as well.

In many ways, these beads are even simpler than the beads previous turorial.

Materials Needed :

Polymer Clay
Roller / Pasta Machine
Clay Knife
Tooth pick

Clay Knife , Half a Bar of Premo Gold , Toothpick , Roller

Process :

1. I make 8 beads from one quarter of the 2 ounce Premo! bar. 

2. Condition the clay. I prefer cutting them , and then conditioning them. but this works only if you are using the colors straight out of the pack. 

Since I mostly mix colors, I would say get your clay conditioned well, use a pasta machine or a roller to get them evenly thick , the use a cutter to get equal sized portions of the clay. 

3. After conditioning the clay 

1. Make a small roll of it , a thick snake.
2. Use your hands to taper the end.
3. Then lightly press it , without losing a lot of thickness.
4. It will now look like a narrow diamond.
5. Now slowly twist the ends of the diamond , but in opposite directions.
6. Continue twisting gently , it will begin to have a screw like look.
7. Put the bead between your thumb & forefinger , and slowly the press the ends down onto the bead.
8. Press it down some more , so that it resembles a curvy barrel.
9. Let it rest for a few minutes , then use the tooth pick to pierce the bead.

Now bake them ! Refer to your clay packet for the temperature & time. I have used Premo! , so 130  degree Celsius and I baked them for an hour.

Tada ! You are done !

Thanks for reading ! Have a great day :)