You may have noticed that most of the jewellery I make has a matte finish, I do this for a couple of reasons, partly I like the feel of a tumbled bead, it's like sea glass, and partly because a lot of the beads I make have very fine detailed pictures on, and I think the matte finish shows the details more clearly, sometimes reflections on shiny beads can get in the way of the image.
To get this texture I put my beads in a barrel tumbler with little ceramic pellets, silicon carbide grit, water enough to cover the pellets and a dash of washing up liquid to lubricate it all as it trundles round. The quantity of ceramic pellets to put in will vary depending on how many beads you have to tumble, I keep the total amount to about two thirds up the barrel.
You can vary the grade of grit, size and type of pellet, and length of time in the tumbler to achieve different textures, and tumble different sorts of bead. I use two types of ceramic pellet, one is a little like rice in size which is better for more delicate solid glass pieces or big hole beads, the other one is a larger ceramic triangle 3-5mm in diameter, I use this one for standard size beads made on 1-3mm mandrels, I find the smaller pellets get stuck in the bead holes made on those mandrels.
I use 400 grade grit, and leave the barrel rumbling for 24 hours, or until I remember to turn it off!
I find it's much easier to get the beads out as soon as the barrel stops rotating, otherwise the grit and sediment settle to the bottom and your beads stick like stones in a muddy riverbed.
If you happen to have a tumbler like mine, my top tip for getting the lids on and off easily is to pour a little boiling water over them, this softens up the lid plastic enough to stretch it over the barrel. After you've loaded the barrel with beads, make sure the edges are clean and fill the lid with boiling water for a moment, pour the water away and it'll stretch nicely over the barrel, shrinking to a tight sealed fit as it cools down.
Another little tip I've picked up is to write down how many beads you're loading into the tumbler, especially if they're small, it can sometimes be a little tricky to find them when they're all covered in the grey residue and I always forget what I'm looking for, I do this with a white board pen on one of the lids.
I wash them right away too, and if they're hollow beads I'll try and clean up the inside as soon as possible, otherwise it can be fairly impossible to get the marks out, if you don't have time to clean out the hollows instantly it's a good idea to leave them soaking in water so the tumbling sludge doesn't have a chance to dry on.
I'll do a post next week about the different finishes you can apply to a tumbled bead, and one on cleaning hollows in the future.
My listening time this week has been limited to the Archers only, due to reduced shed time!
Tiddly pom.
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