Hello.  I am new to the forum, just a hobbyist with assembling jewelry, and new to working with polymer clay (and just experimenting on my own).  I guess I just wondered if you could successfully place glass beads, like delicas, into your polymer clay piece before baking.  I assume single beads would fall right back out, but if you used wire at all....would this work?

  If I ever move on to PMC, can I use glass beads in a kiln?  At that high a temperature, what would happen to the bead?

 Thanks for any advice or comments.

 Beryl

Hi Beryl,

Baking beads with polymer generally shouldn't be a problem since the temperature is relatively low. Anchoring them with wire will help keep them in place. Christi Friesen is one designer who does this successfully in many of her pieces. 

Firing glass with metal clay can be a little iffy, but it can be done. With regular metal clay, some glass beads will melt, some will discolor, and others come out looking OK. Cubic zirconia and some gemstones and other materials work fine. There are low-fire varieties of the clays that are fine with any glass. Check out the FAQs for Art Clay and PMC to find out what the manufacturers say about combining their products with glass.

Furthermore, there are lots of good books available on these topics. For starters, check out the books published by Kalmbach Publishing.

Good luck!

Julia Gerlach

Hi, I work with polymer clay all the time.  I often bake holeless glass beads in for texture and also attach findings and beads as part of a design.  Since the clay is fired at such a low temperature, I've never had a problem.  I would be concerned if the things you are incorporating are large, like those glass pieces used in vases but as for seed beads, as long as they are color fast, you shouldn't have a problem.

 Do as they advise anyone trying something new:  do a test piece and see how it goes.  You can also lower the baking temp recommended on the clay by 10 degrees but then bake it longer.  If the beads you are incorporating "pop out" after baking, you can secure them with a tiny drop of any glue compatible with pc --- just make sure it's the dry clear variety.

 Probably more than you wanted to know but hope it helps.

Barbara