All posts by chasenfratz

PearlEx Clay Beads

Beads and Jewelry, Mixed Media, Polymer Clay, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Make Polymer Clay disc beads with PearlEx Powders

Polymer clay beads made with PearlEx Chromatic Colors by Jacquard Products.
Polymer clay beads made with PearlEx Chromatic Colors by Jacquard Products.

Normally when I’m planning a new craft project, I try not to be too influenced by trends. The new Pearl Ex Chromatic colors however seem to be in harmony with some things going on in the world of fashion, so I decided that bead-making would be a great application for these bold new colors. Bright jewel and metallic tones are perfect for jewelry!

Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments are a versatile pearlized powder that can be added to nearly any artist medium. They need to be mixed with or coated with some kind of binder for permanence. In this project we’ll be rolling the beads in the powder to apply it to the surface of the beads, and then sealing the surface with PearlEx Varnish.

Read the rest of this tutorial here – PearlEx Clay Beads

Buy PearlEx at Carolyn’s Stamp Store!

Examples of jewelry made with my PearlEx beads:

Necklace With Metallic Apple Green Beads made with PearlEx powder.Necklace With Metallic Apple Green Beads
26 inch necklace with clasp with 2 inch wide beaded pendant sporting a 3 ¾ inch silver colored chain tassel. Beads on pendant are made of polymer clay with a Pearl Ex powder coating, sealed with varnish. Chain and findings are recycled from thrift store jewelry.

Necklace With Metallic Sapphire Blue Beads made with PearlEx powders.Necklace With Metallic Sapphire Blue Beads
56 1/4 inch necklace with four segments of metallic blue and gold beads on wire. No clasp, can wear as one long strand like a “flapper” necklace or double the strand. Blue rondelle beads are made of polymer clay with a Pearl Ex powder coating, sealed with varnish. Gold color chain is recycled from thrift store jewelry.

Stamping on Tissue Paper – Part 1

Home Decor, Mixed Media, Rubber Stamping, Upcycling, , , , , , , , ,

Stamping on tissue paper can be very useful for planning out rubber stamped designs. This arrangement was made while I was designing a stamped border of hand carved rubber stamps for my kitchen, to which I’m trying to give a Santa Fe look.

rubber stamping on tissue paper
Rubber stamping on tissue paper is a great way to plan projects.

You could use plain ordinary scrap paper and not tissue paper, but tissue paper has the advantage of being transparent. Transparency is a great aid to planning designs in which the paper bits might overlap, since you can see the orientation of the design below through the translucent paper. In the example below, I am upcycling a worn out and cracked wooden cutting board. I filled in the cracks with spackling paste, sanded, and am in the process of building up the design with sponging, stenciling and stamping. I will put cork strips on the bottom to make it into a trivet.

Some of the stamp designs you see above are available in a smaller size in my shop – check out my Petroglyph Rubber Stamps.

Bathroom Makeover – Beaded Curtain

Home Decor, , , , , , , , ,

DIY beaded curtain made from recycled beads

I’ve been saving assorted plastic beads for many years. I decided to select some of these in colors that go well with the tile work I’m doing in my bathroom and make a beaded curtain for the doorway from them. I’ve wanted one of these since my childhood in the 1970s, but never had one until now!

DIY beaded curtain

Fishing line and different kinds of cord and string will stretch when loaded down with beads, so I decided to experiment with stringing on recycled florist wire. I like the results – I won’t ever have to restring these because of stretching, and they are easy to attach to the screw in hooks that I used to suspend them.

DIY beaded curtain