Thursday, April 2, 2015

Baked Beads - flowers and things

 
I'm loving making these baked bead flowers and things... Thanks to one of our quilling gals for letting us know how to make them BIG GRIN - see below for the instructions

I first tried them with the clearer type diamond shaped beads (3rd row) - the beads I wanted weren't available at my local Michaels sigh!! so had to make do. But as it turned out, it worked with them too.

packaged beads
So then I got to thinking - OK if it works with those, how would it work with the white pearly type beads (top row) - and I was soooooo pleasantly pleased and surprised. I got these vintage looking things - all crinkly and aged.

Then I traded some beads with another one of my quilling galls - the long type of beads (bottom row). She was having troubles with them and I can understand that. But it gave an interesting shape as well.



And I finally found the beads that were originally recommended and they worked like a charm (2nd row above pic). Sheesh.

The bead image at right: the big container holds the recommended beads. Then the white beads and then the diamond shaped clear iridescent beads.

So after doing a few bakings and getting a little frustrated because my beads were rolling all over the place when I tried to put them in my toaster oven... so I said to myself, why not glue them down... So I punched out a 1/2" circle and put a small bead of glue around the outer edge and then placed my beads down. The small amount of glue was enough to keep the bead from rolling. PS your beads HAVE to TOUCH each other so that when they soften they will meld together and your flower won't fall apart.

You may notice from the pic below, some of the beads are standing up and some are on their sides. Works either way. I did notice that some colors are harder to smooth out when baking (the deep red - 2nd row in the 1st pic above).

For some I added a bead in the flower center when starting, and they melted and created a nice flower.
For others I pulled the tray out of the oven and placed a half pearl in the center (the vintage ones - see pic above for end result) then put it back in the oven for a few minutes more. For another one I added a  rhinestone and pressed it down into the center while the flower was hot - I did not re-bake those.

When I pulled them out of the oven I squished the shape with my fingers to make sure everything was touching and the right shape. PS you can put it back in the oven if it starts to harden before you're done.

The recommended temp was 275º F for 40 minutes. I did them at 300ºF for 10 minutes. Some took a bit longer and some took more fiddling, so just keep heating and playing with them till you're happy. Make sure your oven is holding the right temperature - toaster ovens are notorious for being inaccurate...

Click on any image to enlarge. Have fun and enjoy.



3 comments:

Joanne Scott said...

Yogi, thanks so much for the wonderful tutorial. You are a great teacher and innovator!

Lorraine Webster said...

I agree with Joanne. You are a wonderful teacher and always share your info with us. Thank You, Yogi.

Leslie Miller said...

I'm definitely going to try melting beads someday when I have more time to fool around (relatively soon). I do have quite a few beads. In fact, I should get them out and use them, anyway, melted or not! Thanks for all the good information, Yogi!