Tag: bead

Ash Memory Beads

I’ve spent the past few weeks working on the ash versions of these memory beads. This is another new material to get to know, so it has taken some experimenting.

These are from my original rondelle mold. They will be finished with a stainless steel grommet in the hole.
Before demolding the beads – ball beads on top, rondelles on the bottom.
Original rondelle without the grommet
Original rondelle with grommet.
Original rondelle with grommet, on silk necklace.
This is my new rondelle mold. These look great, even without the grommet, and also the center hole is slightly larger than my original rondelle mold. Unfortunately, this mold isn’t as sturdy as my others and one of the molds tore a bit when I was demolding these.
New rondelle.
All the new rondelles demolded.
Ball beads – I tried layering these with clear resin, letting it cure, then adding the ash infused resin on top. Overall, I think the full bead is a better effect, so I don’t plan on layering like this again.
All the ball beads demolded.
Ball beads – varying layers
Ball beads – varying layers.

Something for my sister

My sister has been hanging on to this hair from a friend’s horse for a while now, so I’m trying to make some memory beads with it for her. 🙂

Precious!
The center bead has less hair than the other two.

 

My workspace gets pretty messy

 

Trying out some glitter in the bottom center mold, though I’m pretty sure it will sink to the bottom (I likely will need to pour beads like this in layers). This is a new mold that appears to have a faceted look that I wasn’t expecting. Guess I will soon see how it turns out!

 

I think I like the look of just two or three hairs in a bead rather than a larger amount, but this hair is a light cream color with just a few darker strands, and I thought it might not show up as well as darker colors, so I tried to make a variety.

Memory Bead Projects

I’m getting more comfortable making the horsehair memory beads and even got some new molds. So far my favorite beads are the large ball and the large rondelle. I decided to see what I can make with the memory beads that would be a nice keepsake. The keychains and necklace only work with the large hole rondelle beads; the keepsake clips / keychain charms work with the regular round beads. Which ones do you like? (scroll down & click on the thumbnail image to enlarge the gallery images)

I made a selection of clear beads and a few with horse hair. The green beads with the flowers were purchased.

Just a snapshot to give you an idea of relative sizes
Top bead is large round, the other three are the large rondelles. The clear bead at the bottom is to show what the rondelles look like without the metal ring in the center hole.
Closeup of the necklace with accent beads
One bead necklace

Prices are on my “Available” page. I’m working on adding colors to my plain accent beads so there are some more colorful options to choose from. I’m also thinking that these projects are straying pretty far from my intent for this website, so I’m in the process of moving them to their own domain / website – stay tuned for that!