It broke!

beaderlee · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:46 am Post subject: It broke!

My lovely hollow pillow bead, posted it to customer and it broke Embarassed

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I wrapped it in bubble wrap and put it in a padded envelope. Was I naive, (should have put it in box) unlucky or was it inevitable?

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Cherie · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:55 am Post subject:

I bet both you and the customer are gutted. It is (was) such a pretty bead too.

ejralph · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 2:36 pm Post subject:

It depends what clay you used and how thin the walls were. But generally speaking, all baked clays are not hugely strong when used in thin sheets. So thin walls, flower petals and other fine protrusions are always risky.

Try to ensure the walls of your hollows are at least 2-3 mm thick and use a strong clay formulation such as Fimo Classic or Premo - that will help.

Posting in a box is a good idea, but really beads need to stand up to wear and tear anyway. If a bead is too fragile to survive the post in a bubble mailer and bubble wrap, then it probably needs a little re-think in the design IMO.

Its a lovely bead though - hope you remake it

Emma

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beaderlee · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:01 pm Post subject:

I don't know who was more gutted Cherie, me or her.

I agree Emma it probably would have broke at some point if it was that fragile and therefore not really usable. The walls were only 1mm and I used fimo soft - will have to get some classic and experiment.

Anyway luckily I had some of the cane left and made her a none hollow bead

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elebelly · Avid Beader Joined: 22 Sep 2007 Posts: 313

Ohh it's beautiful - great that you had some cane left over. It looks Patrick Heron-esque

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ejralph · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:16 am Post subject:

beaderlee wrote:

I don't know who was more gutted Cherie, me or her.

I agree Emma it probably would have broke at some point if it was that fragile and therefore not really usable. The walls were only 1mm and I used fimo soft - will have to get some classic and experiment.

Anyway luckily I had some of the cane left and made her a none hollow bead

That's too bad. But at least you know why it broke. Live and learn as they say.

Remember you can still use classic as a base layer to your fimo soft canes too. So if you get some classic you won't need remake your canes. Although eventually you might want to just switch over to classic for most things anyway and just use the Fimo soft for the special effect clays or colours that you can't easily make from the classic. Certainly for those more complex types of bead design. For solid shape beads, fimo soft is fantastic.

Emma Daisy

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beaderlee · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 8:26 pm Post subject:

Now you've got me thinking. Idea

I loved making the hollow bead coz you join two side leave a hole and 'blow' it up, it gave such a nice effect, but having it brake made me think I could not make any more but........................

.................. if I use fimo classic 2mm thick use the same technique and then add cane slices it might just work Very Happy

Will have a go and let you know, it may take a while to get they clay, make the bead and post it to someone to test but I will be back!

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ejralph · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:51 pm Post subject:

beaderlee wrote:

Now you've got me thinking. Idea

I loved making the hollow bead coz you join two side leave a hole and 'blow' it up, it gave such a nice effect, but having it brake made me think I could not make any more but........................

.................. if I use fimo classic 2mm thick use the same technique and then add cane slices it might just work Very Happy

Will have a go and let you know, it may take a while to get they clay, make the bead and post it to someone to test but I will be back!

Yup

Another idea you could try is to add the cane slices first though - just roll a base sheet of classic, add a layer of your canes and roll smooth to create a clay "fabric", then cut out your sides for the bead from that sheet.

Personally speaking though, making the bead hollow is still going to be more liable to break than if you have something giving it a little support inside.

Many clayers when making these beads will use a ball of scrunched up tin foil inside the bead, just to give a little "body" to the bead. The tin foil armatures are really lightweight, so they don't detract from the bead.

Emma Daisy

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LoopyLou · Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 11:54 pm Post subject:

You beat me too it, Emma. I was going to suggest a small bit of foil inside.

Sculpey light also makes a great core for beads, but then of course, it wouldn't be hollow, would it. Brick wall

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LORRAINE

beaderlee · Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2008 2:15 pm Post subject:

Thanks Emma and Lorraine, I will try the foil as well.

I am not sure I will be able to get the look of fabric that I want with anything inside but it is worth a try to make it stronger.

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