MAKING CERAMIC CLAY BEADS from Two Part Molds

[josephknightcom]

Carve channels in the mold around the sculpture cavity to allow excess to flow into and make sure the offset is thin enough to cut off this excess.

[josephknightcom]

When making the mold place two marbles at alternate corners of the inside of one half of the mold. Make sure the marbles are not more than half submerged. Once that half of the mold is hardened remove the marbles. Then when you make your other half it will fill in the marble indentations creating a peg-and-hole locking mechanism that helps you better align your pieces. But this will only work right if the two mold pieces are coming completely together and flush upon pressing. See next comment...

[BHClaysmith]

Your kiln will not fire hot enough even for my earthenware clay which goes to 1875^ (cone 04). All of my clays fire to different temperatures in different types of kilns using many different programs. Generally speaking, the kilns fire from 8 - 12 hours and then need to cool for about 10 hours before unloading. My kiln is an 1027 Skutt.

[paulasmits]

what kind of clay is it and at what temp should I fire it and for how long?ty

OOPS pardon me you talk about that. Ur um what is cone 10 degrees? I have a kiln that goes to 1500. Is that hot enough? I use it to anneal glass beads

[paulasmits]

what kind of clay is it and at what temp should I fire it and for how long?ty

[TheSuccari]

very nice :) thanks for the great tips.

[BHClaysmith]

Creative Hobbies (1-800-THE-KILN) has these available for sale.

[WisdomLoveProsperit1]

I just love your work! Just beautiful. Thank you for the post.

[BHClaysmith]

Thank you! I don't know if you can tell in the video but I use mostly stoneware clay scraps which I collect in a small lidded tupperware container to make most of my beads. Scroddling or mixing the different clay bodies together makes an awesome bead.

[meajha]

Your beads are beautiful. What are the molds made from? Thanks.

[rxqueen22]

very cool!