Stamped Leaf Demo

  I had a "Stamped Leaf Demo" on my old website 'design' for many many years, and it had a lot of views. I noticed when I went 'the WordPress' route that I had somehow neglected to tack on those demos and after a bit of consideration, I'm redoing them here, randomly.

These barrel beads are rolled over a stamp and allowed to dry.  Next I glazed them with a light light green glaze from Mayco ... I think it was the Stroke and Coat "Celery Green" glaze.

I have sold a lot of beads like this over the years, and these types of beads are a lot of fun and satisfying to make.  I start out by rolling a ball of clay and then simply roll that ball onto the stamp. Usually I begin at one diagonal corner and roll to the other. This gives a randomness to each bead I couldn't have achieved otherwise.

The next step is to put a hole in the bead. I use an aluminum knitting needle for hole piercing. I try to center the hole exactly in the middle so that when the bead is on the necklace that each bead will hang nicely.

Note the translucence of the glaze which allows the leaf pattern to show through. I like how this particular glaze allows the pattern to pop out from the bead. The darkness of the clay gives the appearance of a light white-pink.

Have a great day!  -- Natalie