Beads, beads, beads

When does a little ball of clay become a bead? My answer is when someone uses a straw to make a hole through which to thread it. I make a lot of them. I find making beads salves the too busy mind, lets me be productive when I don’t feel particularly creative, and lets me play in the clay when we are on the road. Beads are small, round (thus durable), repetitive, yet fruitful. They use up clay that may be getting dry. With my long history of rolling cookie balls for our favorite molasses treats, clay balls also avoid a lot of calories. 

What does one do with clay beads? About an inch across, they might qualify as weapons of mass destruction if one were to wear them, although it has been done and smaller ones work well for necklaces and as weights for crocheted shawls. I put them in my windchimes, but the clever manager at Lost River Artisans’ Co-op, Doug Gronholm, uses eight of them to make sets of weights for picnic table cloths. I’ve used Doug’s weights many times and they are great. Like making windchimes, Kahoka beads are well worth rolling! 

Gathering a flock

I have a request for a windchime with sheep on it. Others have asked how I make the mobiles, so here’s the process behind their creation. They are challenging to wrap, but there are several hundred Kahoka windchimes scattered across a couple of continents.

I start with a theme and cut out clay figures with cookie cutters or free-hand. The wee forms are cleaned, dried, and bisque fired. Then they are glazed and fired to Cone 6 and the real fun begins. 

My friend Susie collects drift wood for me from the Chesapeake Bay. I clean the wood and drill it, and then thread my strings, using beads for spacers. I usually incorporate smaller figures into the upper parts of the mobiles and larger ones on the ends. Sheep are great, being rounded and without vulnerable projections. I epoxy the knots to keep the wind from untying them if people hang their mobiles outside. Then I spray everything—the rope to keep out moisture and the wood in case of invisible in-dwellers. Indoors, the mobiles last indefinitely. Outside, they will last several years in a protected spot such as a screened porch. They don’t baa, but they sound wonderful!