October 22, 2009
Making Polymer Clay Bezels and maybe a Ring
There are many ways to make bezels, with or without and extruder. Going to show you how I make some of my bezels with a quickie tutorial.
I love my Makin's Extruder as it has so many possibilities, but one of my fave ways to use it is for making bezels. I like to use the small rectangular extruder disc, but also the one with the 1/8" of a hole (more on that later).
Simple bezel:
Condition some clay, roll into snake and insert into extruder (as per extruder instructions)
Use a small round cutter and wrap the extruded clay around it. Trim where ends meet.
Smooth joins with a needle tool or finger.
Carefully remove bezel from cutter.
Using a cabochon with same diameter (or a baked disc that you previously made with same cutter), insert into the bezel.
This is ready for any which way you want to use it....
A more decorative bezel and maybe a Ring to wear:
Roll out some clay on #3 setting (I decorate and texture the back of this if for a pendant or when the back is going to be visible - part of another tutorial). Cut out with a slightly larger cutter.
I'm showing cabochon on center of this cut out, just to show you how much of an outer edge the larger cut out has compared to the cab.
Using a round disc for the Makin's extruder, squeeze out about 10" of clay. Some people call these 'snakes', some call it 'log', but this looks more like 'string'.
Trim off about a 6" piece and fold in half.
Hold left pieces between thumb and forefinger and with right thumb and forefinger start to twist these two strands together.
Keep twisting until you have a nice looking rope.
Take cabochon (without the backing I showed earlier) and place twisted clay rope around it. Trim diagonally so that ends will meet.
Like so...
Place back on larger cut out.
Apply left-over string against the rope clay but still on surface of the bottom cut out. Trim where ends meet.
I like to decorate strings with a cartridge-less pen. It hides the join really well.
If you want to further enhance your cab, you can use some of the extruded strip and cut it into small triangles to apply like prongs...
Then apply mica powder all over your design (Note: as you all know...use a mask if using the metal pulvers). For lighter clays I use a brush...
Finally, bake your design, then varnish and let dry. Maybe glue on a ring shank so you can wear it...
Hope you enjoyed this mini tutorial
October 14, 2009
