How to Make Turquoise Polymer Beads
Making your own projects out of polymer clay can be a lot of fun. There are so many different things that you can make, including faux turquoise beads, which can be used to make all different kinds of jewelry. The neat part about making turquoise polymer beads is that each bead will be distinctive and you can change the way they look by using variations of paint or clay.
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Things You'll Need
- Polymer clay (blue-green color)
- Food processor or sharp knife
- White sand
- Black acrylic paint
- Gold or copper acrylic paint
- Wooden skewer
- Baking dish or pan
- Oven
- Wet/dry sandpaper (220 grit and 400 grit)
Instructions
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1
Put the clay into the food processor and chop it into random size chunks. Be sure the food processor is used only for this purpose. Alternately, use a sharp knife to cut the clay into small chunks.
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2
Mix a drop of black paint and a drop of gold or copper paint with a very small amount of sand. Toss the chunks of clay with the sand mixture to completely coat them.
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3
Shape the chunks of clay into balls or other shapes, depending on the size beads you want. Make some into cubes, some round, some a little less round---this is all up to you.
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4
Put the beads on a wooden skewer and lay the skewer across the top of a baking dish or pan so that the beads are suspended.
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5
Bake according to the instructions on the back of the clay package.
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6
Once cooled, sand your beads under running water with the 220 grit sandpaper. Continue sanding until you are happy with the appearance of your beads.
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7
Sand the beads with the 400 grit sandpaper until they have a shiny appearance.
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8
Use the beads to make your jewelry.
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Tips & Warnings
You can combine different colored clays to make different shades of turquoise. Wet/dry sandpaper can be found at any hardware store.
