Making Ceramic Beads with Wire Loops

When I find the time to be in the studio and work with my porcelain or chocolate stoneware clay with the intention of making beads, I put on some good music, pull out my tools and sit and hope for no interruptions (which has been quite difficult this summer with kids and a basement room renovation).

Right now I am working on some bead stock for D7 Studio and Thornburg Bead Studio for their bead shows, and Staci Louise for her class at Bead Fest Philly.

I would really love to get some up intop my Etsy shop too...

These are small textured cones I love to make, that are perfect for earrings.

I first roll out my clay, then form a cone shape, which is then textured. 

Once I work through that batch, I insert the small Nichrome wire loop that I have pre-made.

I use memory wire cutters to cut this very hard wire, and my triple step concave jaw pliers to create the "loop".

As I am making these teeny U-shaped loops - which are first cut to 3/4" (19mm) in length, then bent in half, I try to bend the ends of the wire to almost touch itself.

The wire I use is Nichrome Wire, which can withstand the high temperatures (2230 degrees F) that I fire my beads to.

I feel that when you are working with ceramic clay (or polymer clay, paper clay, and other mediums that do not fuse the metal wire to the bead such as silver wire and silver clay fuse to make one piece) it is important to have this bit of wire to cover up - see the gap in the clay where the wire was inserted in the photo below:

That clay is then immediately smoothed over with a rubber tipped detail tool to capture the ends of the wire down into the clay, where it will not wiggle loose or come right out (as it could if it were just a straight U-shape).

It is just one of those teeny extra steps that a bead maker should take to ensure that the bead is of high quality for the jewelry designer and eventual wearer of the bead.

In the photo above you can see some of the shapes of the loops as they are when first formed.

I will make the edges almost touch before putting it into the bead.

And for those people that prefer holes to wire loops, some of the shapes can be skewered by bamboo or other teeny tools.

I make sure to poke it through both sides and tap the edges down to make sure there are no pointy clay pieces that will be annoying later down the line.

They are all put into little bowls, are dried and then fired to Cone 04 or about 2000 degrees F (the bisque firing - they do not fuse together at this stage, so they can be stacked like this) to make them more durable to then paint with ceramic glaze.

The image above is the finished glaze firing load fired to cone 5 or about 2230 degrees F.

Every piece has to suspend individually as to not touch in the firing or else they will fuse together.

And when they are out, I pair them up with their mates (just the way I work - I like to work with the intention of making sets).

If they end up coming out of the glaze firing as a set, that is how I sell them.

Sometimes individuals come out too - but not too often.

One thing I really enjoy about a fresh load of glazed ceramic beads is having them all there so I can pull out other artist beads from my stash and match them up.

I am actually thinking of selling these matched sets - just simply because it is not that easy to color match through online shopping.

This will satisfy my need to shop for artist beads AND allow others to shop with confidence for beads in the same color family...

My Friend Nikki of Thornburg Bead Studio shared this image of her flower beads and my ceramic beads that she quick whipped up with a few jump rings and ear wires!

The design possibilities of using beads with loops is amazing!

Have you tried them yet?

Nichrome Wire In Ceramic Beads

Nichrome Wire and It's Use In Ceramic Bead Making.

Experiments with Cone 5 glaze firings using 

Porcelain and Stoneware clay.

What is Nichrome Wire?

There is a lot of information out there on the web about it, so I'll avoid the boring details. 

I will mention that it is an Alloy. 

It contains nickel and chrome.

It is commercially available in various gauges and lengths and can withstand high temperatures,

which is it why ceramic and fused glass artists that use kilns like using it.

Three major things that I often hear about Nichrome in the jewelry world (and my answers):

1. It's Nickel - a lot of people are allergic.

*Yes - Nickel. Design smart and use it where it will not contact the skin directly*

2. It's not pretty. I like things shiny.

*The firing process oxidizes the metal, which looks green or dull. Sometimes it can be taken off with a green scrubby (see below). Think about how you clean rust off of steel wire used by glass bead makers.*

3. It can be brittle.

*Yes. Depending on the gauge of wire, how hot the kiln firing was, and how much the wire was "work hardened" after the firing may make the wire more susceptible to becoming brittle. Try not to over work it. The larger the wire, the more brittle it seems to become (Thanks Elaine Ray for our conversation about that).*

So here is my process of making 

Porcelain and Stoneware Ceramic Headpins 

with 24 ga Nichrome Wire:

 Measure and cut wire ahead of time.

Insert wire into wet clay.

 After clay is dry, bisque fire to Cone 04 (@1900 degrees F)

Glaze ceramic part, wipe off any glaze that remains on wire.

I like to suspend my beads.

This means figuring out the weight of the work and how much that ga wire can hold without slumping during the firing.
I've been doing this for 10+ years.

After a successful Cone 5 (@2230 Degrees F) Glaze firing,

I can easily bend the 24 ga Nichrome wire to "straight". 

I then use a green scrubbie to clean the wire.

This is where you need to be careful to not overwork the wire as this action of cleaning and straightening is work hardening the wire.

 I am able to make a quick simple wire wrapped bale with the 24 ga Nichrome wire with my normal tools (just like steel wire though, you might want to not use your "really good" tools).

Nichrome wire in my kiln.

The elements which are in the element holders of my L&L Kiln.

The Thermocouple
(green rod sticking out of the kiln wall at 1 o'clock).

The bead tree "rods" that come standard with these
Roselli Bead Racks.

The hooks I make with the 17 ga Kemper Hi Temp Wire to suspend my work.

And now - the 24 ga (and 22 ga) for making Ceramic Head Pins.

Some of the nichrome gets dark green,

while some stays just dull.

I keep noticing this and want to see why.

Maybe it is the ratio of nickel to chrome?

And then the after thought, which probably entered my mind at some point while making these:

Will they ship easily?
Did I waste wire by making them too long?

And as a bead maker there are questions:

1. How long of a wire do jewelry makers prefer? 2" or 3"or 5"?

I guess that depends on the project.

2. Do you prefer to receive your head pins ready to use?
Or should I not take extra time to clean them for you first?
Extra steps means extra time for either of us.
That of course is reflected in the price.
Either yours or mine.
I would tend to think in general people would want to receive them clean,
or at least somewhat clean with the oxidized green scale almost removed and ready to use.

And as a jewelry designer...
Well there are SO many things you could do!

Check out this post on what my "go to" jewelry designer friend Jenny Davies-Reazor quick whipped up for me with some of my head pins (we were discussing ways to "hide" the nichrome for issues #1, 2, and 3 above).

I'm going to experiment further and will post more next month here on LMAJ.
Hope to have lots more examples on use too...

4/23/15 Source update:
For those of you looking for nichrome wire there are a few good places to look.
I have ordered Kemper High Temp wire from my local ceramic supplier in the past.
I now order in larger quantities from Jacobs Online (the Nichrome 60).

Hope this helps!