where can i get free instructions for making clay beads?

Answer 1

DIY (Do It Yourself) Network has lots of advice for projects, including making your own clay beads. You can log onto their website, type "DIY" into any search engine. Have fun, create, express yourself!

Answer 2

There are various types of "clay."
There's earth clay (ceramic clay, etc.), and various types of air-dry clays (salt dough, Creative Paperclay, Makins, Model Magic, and many others) and also polymer clays (the Fimos, the Sculpeys, Premo, Cernit, etc.), just to mention a few of the main ones.

If you're wanting to make beads from polymer clay, there's loads of info at my polymer clay encyclopedia website (for free):

This page has lessons, examples and tips on making all kinds of shapes and basic types of beads:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/beads.htm
...this page covers larger beads, which are often used as pendants:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/pendants_cording.htm

And this page is just about making holes in polymer clay beads:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/beads-holes.htm

These pages are about making jewelry and wearables of various kinds, as well as buttons, with the beads:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/jewelry.htm
http://glassattic.com/polymer/buttons.htm

If you're using polymer clay though, in addition to whatever shape and size you want, you can also make all kinds of patterns on the beads, or you can make textures on them, or use stamps and inks, or use special clays, or you can simulate various materials like shiny metal, wood, jade, turquoise, opal, leather, for them, etc., etc.
There are many other pages at the site that discuss how to do those things... you might want to check out the Table of Contents page for the whole site to get an idea of some of the things that are possible:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/contents.htm
(...scroll all the way down... when you find a topic you want to check out, click on the name of its page from inside the alphabetical navigation bar on the left to go there)



HTH,

Diane B.

Answer 3

I make clay beads. What kind of clay will you be using?