{"id":20268,"date":"2016-03-21T05:00:25","date_gmt":"2016-03-21T12:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/?p=20268"},"modified":"2016-03-17T18:12:58","modified_gmt":"2016-03-18T01:12:58","slug":"sanding-trick-gripping-small-polymer-clay-beads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/sanding-trick-gripping-small-polymer-clay-beads\/20268\/","title":{"rendered":"A Sanding Trick For Gripping Small Polymer Clay Beads"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Scotch<\/a>Video #725:<\/span> Low tech solutions are often the best way to go… as you will see in today’s polymer clay sanding demo.<\/span><\/strong> <\/p>\n

In today’s video I’ll show you a neat little tip for making a tape handle for sanding small items that are difficult to hold onto by themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

This idea will work for sanding all kinds of small or awkward shaped pieces… but for this demo, we are specifically talking about sanding polymer clay beads.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sanding polymer clay has many benefits. Sometimes you may want to sand to give your pieces a nice shape and feel to enhance the look with a rich shiny finish. Other times the reason may be more structural in nature. Both of these use cases apply when making Hollow Lentil beads like the ones I am working with in today’s demo.<\/span><\/p>\n

I show an example of a hollow lentil bead that has one side sanded and buffed, with the other side unsanded, so you can see the difference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sanding not only improves the look and feel of the hollow lentil bead, but is also necessary for the construction of the bead. The bead is made up of two halves that need to be sanded before they are positioned together, so that they fit nicely and look professional.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have a paid tutorial (Reptile Pattern Hollow Lentil Neckwire – See link below video), that goes through the entire process of creating one of these hollow lentil beads. Starting with making the Reptile Pattern Cane, through to the construction and finishing of the hollow lentil bead itself, and then onto making the neckwire to add the beads to. It has been one of the more popular tutorials in our PcT Library if you have been thinking about trying out one of the paid lesson ;-)<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the tips that I share in the Hollow Lentil Bead Tutorial, is how to use a piece of scotch tape to make a handle for holding onto your lentil bead shapes while your are sanding them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sanding the larger lentil bead shapes aren’t too hard, but as you can imagine, the tiny little ones are very difficult because your fingers get in the way. Adding a small piece of scotch tape to a DRY bead before sanding, gives you a simple little handle to hold onto… even if you’re sanding your piece under water.<\/span><\/p>\n

Check out the video and you will see what I mean.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n