Bead Frenzy

Beads beads and more beads..... I have a show next week and most likely I will not use these beads for that show, still, I need to make some more. I got an order that I have been putting off long enough that now it's do or die! So, I got into it yesterday and just started cranking them. I am posting some pics for the different shapes, textures and sizes.... nothing new or amazing that you haven't seen before, just good old clay made into something small.



The bottom pictures are beads in different shapes I made these beads in less than one hour....  you can see that the darker the clay the more water it still has,  at this point the beads have dried for a while and it would be hard to change the shape or add texture.  This stage is called leather hard.  The beads that are white are completely dry, and definitely you cannot change anything at this point, their stage is called greenware and they are ready for their first firing called bisque firing.  Greenware is very delicate, if you drop a piece most  likely  will break, with beads they either break or chip.

I am using stoneware for these beads, I hope to fill the kiln with just stoneware pieces and label really well.  I  have several withe clays but they're not all the same, some low fire and high fire,  labeling will help avoiding under or overfiring....   the picture above is of some stuff made earlier this week.  I  have some pendants, beads, and connectors for jewelry.

What is your favorite clay to work with?