Use a Rock Tumbler for More Professional Looking Polymer Clay Beads

Rob your beads are gorgeous and the colouring is very subtle, I love it! I kinda know what you mean about not likeing your own work – I get very bored of the stuff I do and when I look back at earlier canes I do say – what was I thinking!!! LOL!

The fact that you are selling should convince you otherwise – no?

Great beads Rob. It looks like the beads have a silver bottom. Is that the case or is it just the way they are placed?

Way to go Rob!!!!That is so cool that you and your wife can both enjoy the same things. Great for your relationship and your sanity (having something to do). Go for it and I would like to see more of your work. Do you have a shop? Etsy or Artfire?
Polyanya: I am with you on that. I just sold some stuff I had in a box for "What am I going to do with these ugly things." Someone thought they were pretty. To each his own I guess. I am horrible on me too. Everyone says I am anal when it comes to my clay. I wreck more than I make. I just tell them I am still learning and Cindy has my back! They tell me there was nothing wrong with what I just smooshed!

You and your wife do beautiful work, Rob. It's great to find a hobby that relaxes you and the turn it into a combined business for the both of you.

I see you are in Providence, used to live on the East side while attending school in Boston and teaching at the Sargent Center for Communicatively Impaired when it was still part of the United Way building. Loved the Fox Point neighborhood, especially that fresh out of the bakery Portugese Sweet Bread.

The work on your etsy site is gorgeous, as are your pics! Best of luck to both of you, and most of all, thanks for sharing all that information on using a tumbler to maximize fine sanding. So appreciated!

Rob, the modified planet beads are my favorite, the others are beautiful too. Thanks so much for sharing and the best to you and your wife. It is wonderful to find that there are husband and wife teams out there in the poly craft world. My husband is supportive but I wish he would join me. Maybe after his eye surgery I can intice him though I think I may have to move my craft table to the baseball diamond or the football grid. At least the den and the craft room are adjoining.
Hope to see more of your work.

Great work Rob, I like the Fingerprint beads. It sure is nice when a hobby becomes self sufficient. Keep up the great work, and I know other folks would like it but I especially want to see more.

Cindy – I love your Interrupted Broadcast message!!! Fun!

Rob – I've been told that I am my own worst critic so I know where you are coming from. From the pictures here, I'd say you need to stop doubting and keep those beads a-coming! And I so love the fact that you and your wife do this together. That makes for a very special relationship. People laugh at me when I tell them my favorite tools are my drill press and flatbed sander. Both were gifts from my husband who also taught me how to use them. He has since passed away, but I treasure the memories of the work we did together.

What a great blog! I haven't used polymer clay in many years, but am thinking of getting into it again. So many great ideas here, I have a lot of reading to do. Thanks for all the creativity and ideas!

Rob, Your beads are beautiful! I love the colors, especially the blues! But your modified planet beads are outstanding! I totally understand being your own worst critic… I constantly have to work on my confidence – even after all the encouragement I've received here at the Polymer Clay Tutor!! I can relate to your story about working with your wife. My husband and I are a team as well in that he is my photographer and power tools expert! :) Be confident and have fun!
Marsha

Hey Rob, Just let me say BOOM BOOM POW, Gorgeous beads. The Modified planet beads are my Fav!!!!!!!! Keep up the great work and it is so nice to here a husband and wife can be a great Team. Thanks for sharing your work. Lynn

Rob,

You have certainly carried your eye for color and design into the world of polymer clay. I just visited your store to see first hand how you and your wife would incorporate your beads into jewelry. All of the designs are absolutely lovely, but the ones which include polymer beads are so unique that they are probably my favorites. (Guess anyone connected with this site is going to have a bit of a bias when it comes to pc., right? Anyway, thanks for sharing. Your work is really beautiful.

I just purchased a vibratory tumbler. While crusing the web I stumbled upon some comments about the tumblers. One source sent me to a gun shop. Well the gun shops in the big city were very scary even on the web. Well my search sent me to a store 200 miles away, but less then 10 miles from my sister's house. Wow, I could visit my sister and the sporting good store. So on Monday that is exactly what I did. I was surprise at how large the tumbler was. I purchased a Lyman Turbo Tumbler. The label on the box says "gives facoty brass finish; twice as as as other tumblers; heavy-duty, thermally protected motor; quiet running; wide stable base w/protecive motor shield; includes 1200 pro plus 600 pop top bowl and lid. This is a turbo twin pack. It was the last one on the shelf and it had been opened, so there was no papers inside the box. So I am looking for all the advice I can find about using the tumbler with polymer clay. I purchased some plastic "beanie baby" pellets to try. I haven't returned home yet, so I haven't been able to try them. Last night while I was reading I read about two other mehods 1. pea gravel from Home Depot, 2. Bon Aime pot cleanser. Well I might have to experiment to see which is the best. Wish me luck.

ClayCass, as luck would have it, those tumblers are made right around the corner from me. Not sure how you should work them for polymer beads, but here is the site link and a link to the PDF that explains the products and accessories.

Am sure you if contacted them, they would send you all the missing materials and instructions.

lymanproducts.com/lyman/tumblers/turbo-twin-tumbler.php

lymanproducts.com/lyman/catalogue-download/pdf/Tumblers-and-Accessories.pdf

Hope you have fun experimenting. These tumblers make a lot less noise than the Lortone type and sure process a lot more at one time.

I think these beads look great Rob! Thanks for sharing. As far as using different media for tumbling, I just got a big lesson in using the polymer "beannie baby" beads for tumbling. They work great for small hole beads, but be careful when you use them to tumble large hole beads because they can get stuck or work their way into the holes and are impossible to get out. I lost some beautiful beads that way just last week :-( Haven't tried gravel yet. Can anyone tell me if the polished gravel that they sell in packs for aquariums work (the natural ones…not the dyed ones.)?

Sue, think those aquarium river rocks, providing you pick out the smooth light ones, are workable. Just to be sure, I searched this site using the search facility in the upper left corner of the blog, and found two pages of information of info that might help.

Used "river rocks" for the search and a bunch of articles came up. Hope this help you determine the answer that will work for you. Good luck!

Sue I hope you still have those beads. Try using a drill bit and see if you can drill the plastic beads out. – What else did you use with the beanie baby beads? I heard of including baking soda with them.

Good tip about the Beanie baby pellets Sue! I am curious, have you not tried the River Rock? It really is the easiest and best technique I have tried so far. A lot easier than messing around with most other things.

Click the link by my name to take you to the tutorial that's now in the back issues, that will show you exactly how to polish your beads with a rock tumbler.

Back to the scheduled post…

I am so proud of Rob and all he has shared with us here at the blog. It is because of people like him, that this site is turning into such an excellent resource!

@Rob: You must be feeling pretty good with all these great comments about you. Hopefully any doubt is quickly melting away!

Claycass, I used baking soda with them. I'll try drilling those holes out. And thanks for the tips Joceyln. Cindy, I bought the beanie pellets because I read about those before the rocks. I plan to use them next. But really, it does work well for small holed beads.

Rob, sorry we got OT on this, but looking at beautifully polished beads always sparks my own process successes and failures. We just all want are work to look as good as yours!

Great comment Sue! I would like to try the pellets the next time I see them in a store. So good know about them getting stuck in big holes. That sure would be a pain. Rob did do a nice job, I can see why you want yours to look good too! :-)

Thanks all for the kind comments folks, it is really appreciated. Most of all, thanks to Cindy for a great website, inspiration and for this spotlight feature. I look forward to showing off more of my work and the techniques I have learned here.

To those of you using different polishing mediums in the tumblers, I still have yet to find something better than small river rocks / peas stones. I have tried various powders (ie: bon ami, comet, fine sand, etc.) and I have found that the river rocks is by far the easiest and the best. The powders make more of a mess and can be a huge pain to clean up. I ask that if you obtain good results, please post your recipe here to help us out.
Thank you all again,
Rob

I am in the process of tumbling right now. I did not thing to wash my river rocks. With in the first 10 minutes some lite colored beads showed signs of discoloring marks. Also the rocks were noisy when I started. Once I screwed the lid down the noise soften. It is a good thing I live on the first floor. (I placed my tumbler on the floor, to make sure it didn't walk off a table top.) I was a little lazy – I had a set of color sample beads that were already strung together. Well I left them on their string. It seems like a nice way to keep them together. I will keep everyone posted.

I have been experimenting on sanding and buffing. Just today I blogged about my experience.

I used a vibratory tumbler to sand the beads. Also to keep my small beads from becoming flying projectiles, I strung the beads together before buffing.

Claycass, what an excellent idea to string beads first, I am sure it helps keep the bead holes cleaner and less full of debri. Love the finish you got tumbling and buffing on the beads, they have a great organic look, like they've been tumbled in the ocean. Sometimes,in my opinion,a high shine isn't the most desirable, as the surface texture remaining causes you to focus more on the color and shape of the beads, which are wonderful.

Still absolutely adore those faux malachite beads on your site (and everything else, lol), and sure hope you will share the process here someday.

Jocelyn I am going to work on that recipe again. I forgot it. Shame on me.

Keep up the great work! I personally love your brown beads!

Rob your creations are fabulous! Many of your comments I found interesting.

When I was searching the Internet for a new adventure Cindy's website was coming up again and again. I believe it was Cindy who inspired me to open my ETSY store susanscraftcorner.etsy.com. I have learned so much from this website… The cornstarch was a beautiful thing.

I wish you and your wife the best of luck and success. Your work is beautiful. Love the rock tumbler too. Will purchase one soon.

Looks like everyone is loving your work Rob! Way to go!

Great idea Claycass to string the beads before tumbling. Like Jocelyn said, bet it keeps the holes nice and clean. Do you find they the ends get polished just as well as when they are rolling separately on their own?

I am still investigating the rock tumbler thing. I glaze my beads now and I am not satisfied with the out-come. I have been learning and window shopping. These tips were extremely helpful. Thanks a bunch!
Susan

Rob your beads are beautiful and Susan I love your Etsy store. Cindy you just bring out the best in all of us.

WOW Thanks for all the information everybody. I have decided to get a rock tumbler just can't decide what kind. I was wondering if anyone who has a vibrating tumbler if they have tried putting any odd shaped beads or even pendants in their tumbler. I read where the rotary tumblers are better for round rocks and the vibrating tumblers are better for keeping odd shape rocks true to there shape. It just got me to wondering if it would be better or even possible to use for pendants or odd shaped focal beads. Anyone tried this to see if it works. Also those of you that have the vibrating tumblers any ideas on a good value place to shop for one?? I have to watch my penny's like a lot of people so any suggestions on where to get a good price but still nice quality tumbler I would be most grateful.
Thanks again everyone with all your valued information!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@Susan: Thanks for your comments! Rock tumbling is a great option for getting a nice finish especially for small round beads that are tricky to sand. It is important to have a nicely sanded finish on your beads as opposed to just glazing them, if you want to get a professional look. There are lots of posts about sanding an polishing your beads on this blog that will help. I also have a Polymer Clay Bead Making Course that covers how to get a beautiful finish on your polymer clay beads, that may interest you. Click the link by my name for more info. Glad to be of help and happy to have you as part of our claying community!

@Peggy: I like the Lortone Tumbler with the 3lb barrel but others prefer to use a vibratory tumbler. Just do a Google search and see what you come up with as far as pricing. I don't have a resource for you but someone else here may pipe up and let you know about one, so make sure you subscribe to this thread and see if someone does.

If you pay electricity – like I do – the vibratory tumbler works much faster. With three hours of tumbling I get a very nice shine with a muslin buffing wheel.

@Rob Kerfoot: Rob I too love your work. Great color in the brown beads and the fingerprint beads are fantastic.

I hope you don't mind if I ask for some advice on rock tumblers. I just purchased a Raytech Tumbler which is a vibrating tumbler. I had read so much about the vibrating tumblers being better for keeping a true shape to your items and not rounding the corners off so much like the rotary. May I ask what you use in your tumbler. Do you use the river rock like Cindy or something else. Also I was amazed at the instructions when it said how little amount of water it takes. Any suggestions from someone like you who makes such beautiful beads I would be honored to get. Also have you ever tried to put any odd shaped vocal beads or pendants in you tumbler or just mostly round beads?

Looking forward to hearing from you, Peggy at Fort Madison, Iowa USA

@Claycass: Clayclass I would love some more advice on the vibratory tumbler. Any information as far as what materials you use in it and do you line the bowl with anything for the polishing cycle?? I would be most greatful if you would tug my ear and throw me some tips on how you accompish your beautiful beads with this type of tumbler. I just finally purchased a Raytech Tumble – Vibe. I am looking so forward to using it. I will have to admit I am leaning on you and Rob for anymore information you are willing to share with me.
Keep tumbling, Peggy

@Peggy:
Hi Peggy, I use the river rocks to smooth my beads and pendants. I have not mastered the polishing phase yet. I still use the buffing wheel to shine my finished pieces. But the river rocks were great for smoothing out my items.
I was thinking about covering some river rocks with pieces of denim held on with a rubberband to create a buffiing stone, but it has only been a thought. I have some plastic pellets but I have not really tried them yet.
Good luck.

@Claycass: Thank you so much for the information. I hope you do not mind my asking you a couple of more questions. My vibe tumbler only requires 4t added water. I know the rotary tumblers you cover the rocks with water. Is your tumbler like mine? Also do you add the dawn dish soap to your tumbler?
About the polishing I am going to try what Cindy does in her Vol 11-4 video and line my bowl with felt and see how that works on polishing items. If you didn't see the video you might want to go back and watch it or rewatch like I did earlier. I will be trying my tumbler out this weekend so I will try to let everyone know how it worked out for me. Anyone else with advise before then I will be very happy to receive it.
Thank you again Clayclass for your very valued information.
Getting ready to tumble, Peggy

@Peggy: Peggy, I have a Lyman tumbler and it came with two bowls. I have used the larger bowl only (so far). I used a bit more water than you. I did not cover the rock; if there is too much water it will splash around. I sit my tumbler on the floor so that it never has an opportunity to fall off of anything. LOL! Some wrote about theirs walking off the table. I don't know how you would line the bowl? Let us know how it works.

@Peggy:
I use the small river rocks which I purchased at a local big box craft store. I vibrate the beads for 4-6 hours, clean the beads and then put them on my jewelers buffing wheel, which is fit with a cotton wheel.
Hope this helps,
Rob

@Rob_k: Yes it does Rob, Thank you so much for getting back with me. I appreciate any and all help I can get. I am a fan of your beadwork and hope you continue for a long time.
Thank you again, Peggy

Just a tip I found helps with keeping my tumbler(s) in place when it is working. When I use my vibrating tumbler,it will "walk" on smooth surfaces, so I bought a cheap black rubber floor mat, the kind used for standing on (I think). It has a textured, short finger like nap to it. I use my rotary tumbler and my vibratory tumbler on it and they both stay put. I place the tumblers on the floor just in case. It's made a big difference in keeping them in place, and also it seems to keep the vibe tumbler a little cooler when it's working.
.

Great idea Sue. I have read where some of you cover your machines to help cut down on noise. My instruction book specifically says not to cover with anything due to hazard of overheating and possible fire hazard. Has anyone noticed when they cover there machine if it tends to overheat at all. Just want everyone to stay safe. Won't get chance to use mine until next week so I am not talking from experience at all.

Sorry I haven't added any advice of my own Peggy. I haven't worked with a vibratory so I can only go on what Rob, Sue and Claycass have to say, which BTW guys thank you for passing on your knowledge! I love how you guys help each other out. You're the best!

I bought my rock tumbler this week. Yah!! I am so excited. I have begun my expirementing. I do have a guestion or two. :) I used the powder steps the machine came with some results but, I think the plastic pelets that were mesioned will be my next thing. Those are just BB pelets correct? And I need to get a better buff. So I am going with the felt idea around the barrel. But, no water is used in this process correct?
Thanks
Susan

Susan, if you mean Beanie Baby Pellets by BB, then yes. Did you get a vibe or a rotary tumbler? If you have a vibe, then there is no water used. I put a cup of baking soda in with my pellets. I've never used the pellets in my rotary tumbler. I just use that for polishing metal work. But maybe someone else can tell you how to set that up. Good luck!

Thanks Sue. I bought a rotary tumbler. Maybe I should use small river rocks instead? Looking over the comments looks like most use the vibrater. Did I purchase the wrong machine?

@Cindy Lietz from Buffing Beads:

Cindy you work with a rotary? Do you use just the small river rocks and water to smooth the beads? or bb's? Buffing use the felt linned around barrel and do you add water for friction reseasons or no?

Hi Susan! Not to worry… the tumbler you bought should work just fine. I have a rotary rock tumbler as well, and it works beautifully. To learn how to use it effectively using river rocks and water, I would encourage you to watch the Vol-011-4 video in the Polymer Clay Library. The link by my name will take you to a post with more information and a short preview clip of the tutorial.

There is also tons of free information on rotary tumbling on this site as well. Type words like: rock tumbler, rock polisher, polishing, lortone, sanding, etc…. into the search box at the top of the page, and a list of articles will come up. Make sure to read all the comments as well, because they contain as much or more information than the articles themselves.

I'm sure you're going to love your tumbler once you learn how to use it properly.