I found a way to hide exposed crimp beads or stringing wire. Make a
polymer clay bead the right size, bake (put your stamp or initials
on it if you like). Then cut the polymer clay bead in half(polymer
clay is easy to cut with a sharp blade, razor), hollow out a space
in the bead halves that will allow the two halves to close around
it. Then glue the two halves together. Be careful not to put glue
near the bead hole area–you only want to glue the bead together,
leaving the bead hole clear. Use a cyanoacrylate (super glue) type
glue. I hope I haven’t made this sound more complicated than it is.
You can make these beads “signature” beads, since stamping or
caving polymer clay is so easy. If you haven’t worked with polymer
clay, find a polyclay hobbist or artist to help you. Sally in
Houston, waiting for it to cool down.
Sally, Great idea. An alternative that could save time/energy is to
make the bead around a thin tube that the crimp bead would slide
through. Bake as usual, and string – the crimp bead fits into the
tube, saving the carving, cutting and gluing. You also avoid the
possibility of breaking the bead while cutting it.
Enjoy!
Karen Goeller
@Karen_Goeller