Claytastic Beads

Ever run out of ideas for fun, quick, and easy
homemade gifts that turn out really cool?  
Family and friends will love clay beads!

I would rate these as a yellow crayon, which is called "Eh"  To see the rating key, see the side bar.

   
These are the materials:

• Newspaper
• Good white clay that you can bake (Air dry clay just crumbles after a few days.)
• Acrylic paints
• Paint brush
• Toothpick
• Kitchen utensils (optional)
• Small cookie cutters (optional)

Here are the steps:

1.   Pre-heat your oven to the temperature your clay package says

2.   Spread out the newspaper on your work area because the painting might get messy.  

3.   Take some clay and form it to the shape you want

4.   A fun thing to do is use kitchen utensils to make cool designs.  You can use forks to make stripes, or spoons with holes to make dots.

5.    Once your bead looks like how you want it to look, poke a hole for threading with a toothpick.  

6.    Bake on a non-stick oven pan for how long your clay package says.

7.    Once your bead has dried and cooled, paint with acrylic paints or any other clay paints.

8.    When the bead is dried, thread it and show off your creation!!

Difficulty:  three out of ten stars

Idea: Ella and Hannah got inspiration for this craft from Glass Garden Beads in northern MN. http://www.glassgardenbeads.com/

If you were looking for something other then a bead to make, check out this ring and snowman.

~Hannah (with pictures added by Ella)