Hand Embossed Beads

At the start of the summer I decided that I wanted to make some simple beaded, polymer clay necklaces. These were supposed to be quick and easy beads to make fun, everyday necklaces.

I chose my colours of clay and made into little balls. I decided to hand emboss little patterns onto them which would be accented with acrylic paint once hardened. Cup of tea to hand and Netflix playing I set to work.

Let me tell you, these quick and simple beads took hours to make. Each colour had their own pattern so after about 5 colours I had to get a inventive with my embossing tools. I also made some smaller plain balls and flatter disc shapes.

I loved the results though once the paint was applied and the embossed beads got 2 coats of gloss varnish. I left the smaller beads and discs in a matte finish and strung them on waxed cotton cord. Those dark green beads remind me of cacti!

They were all strung differently so no two necklaces are the same and I coordinated the cord to the beads so the lighter colour beads had a lighter cord and the darker or earthier colour necklace had a navy or dark brown cord respectively.

As well as every colour scheme being unique I also varied the fastening so some necklaces have a traditional clasp and others have a sliding knot fastening so that the necklace can be slipped on over your head and then the two ‘clasp’ beads can be pulled to make the necklace shorter.