Collection of Lentil Bead Making Tutorial Videos All In One Place

The Jewelry Bead that's Super Fun to Wear and Very Addictive to Make:

A bead shape I haven't talked about in awhile, though I truly love the design of, is the lentil bead. Often refereed to by polymer clay artists as the swirly lentil, this bead shape is named after the lentil pea or bean, commonly used for soup making.

The shape of the lentil bead is circular with a dome'd face and back. What is particularly wonderful about polymer clay lentil beads is the fabulous swirl pattern that is created during the process of rolling the bead.

Polymer clay lentil bead rolling is so fun that most clayers get kind of addicted to the process, and end up swirling lentil beads out of almost every bit of clay within reach!

When I first saw this technique I thought, "What could be so addictive?" Then I realized, "Oh, that's how you do the swirl." Then I tried it. Ok, I admit it. I'm hooked! This has got to be one of the simplest techniques but the result looks so impressive. I lentil-ed a buncho fimo clay this weekend! Thanks Cindy. ~Cynister

Thank you so much for showing us how to make these. I love these beads and they are my favorite as well. ~Lori

Yes, they are VERY addictive!!!! ~Steph

Thank you Cindy! This is truly an addicting technique! ~Maria

If you have never made a lentil bead before, you will be pleased to know they are not that difficult to make. All you need to roll them is some clay and a flat piece of acrylic plexiglas or plastic. A clear cd case can even work for this.

Lentils can be rolled in any color combination. You can start with clay sliced from a polymer cane. Or use a piece of marbled clay. Scraps even work well for making wonderful lentil swirly bead designs.

Rolling a good Lentil Bead is such an important fundamental bead making skill to learn, that when I launched the Polymer Clay Members Library back in Fall 2008, the very first video in Volume-001 was all about making these unique beads.

There are so many cool tricks to rolling a polymer clay lentil that are best explained using video demonstrations. Such as…

• The correct angle to hold your hands and how much pressure to apply so that your beads end up looking like round lentils instead of oval ones.
• Techniques for ending up with more of a bicone look instead of the smoothed-over dome shape of the lentils. Easy to show on video. Much more difficult to describe in words.
• Which direction to keep the bead spinning in, so that the swirl design does not get distorted.
• How the size of the circle you make with your fingertips will determine the angle of the point on the front of the bead.
• How to add cane slices so that the design doesn't disappear during the swirling process.
• How to get unique and interesting effects using your growing pile of scrap polymer clay.
• How to pierce the lentil bead so as not to squash or deform all your hard work.

If you are interested in learning all these cool tricks for rolling polymer clay lentil beads… then hurry over to the Polymer Clay Members Library where you can purchase the Volume-001 back issue package for only $9.95 (this is the cost at the time of this printing… but prices are subject to change without notice).

If you would first like to see preview clips of all 4 of the lentil bead video tutorials in the Volume-001 library back issue package, you can do that at the following links:

• Polymer Clay Lentil Beads – Making Them Can Be Very Addictive
  
• Lentil Beads From Scrap Polymer Clay – A Surprise Every time
  
• Making Lentil Bead Holes Using Piercing Wire and a Gentle Touch
  
• Adding Polymer Clay Cane Slices to Lentil Beads