09 Nov 21:38

take a pair of jeans from your rag bad, or your husbands closet... if it's not the same thing ;) jk :P I took a pair of his old worn out work jeans, but just any good sturdy material will work. you could even take a towel and fold it over a few times so it's nice and thick, but use something old you don't mind putting holes in. I crushed enough to wear a hole through 4 layers of jenim. beads get kinda sharp and jaggedy after they're broken. anyway... if you use pony beads, you have to make sure they're not laying hole side up/down - they have to be on their sides or you'll just smack away until you have a nice bead imprint in your fabric and possibly floor if you do this on linoleum :P but yeah, so do this on cement or something and make sure you have the top and bottom of the bead covered when you mash it with the hammer cuz they'll fly! and if you need halves you'll really only need to hit each bead once 'cause it'll split on the same that's there, but if you need to go further, lift up the top layer of material and reposition so the halves are flat side down with the curve up, recover, and hit again. this is the best way to get it broken down without getting all that crushed dust for some pieces and hardly broken down for the rest.

16 Nov 21:45

I don't think the foil was special, just whatever was in my pantry. I don't know if the shiney size vs. the dull side matters... it pretty much all stuck to the foil so you have to make sure it doesn't have any folds sticking up because they'll get trapped in the melted beads - usually happens around the edges - but otherwise it peeled right up. definitely sticks to everything else, so be careful to keep it on the foil!

18 Apr 13:59

I used a small cardboard gift box - like something jewlery would be put in. I think I moved one of the the sides closer in and taped it down (this will make it smell bad when it's in the oven, btw) but remember to lay foil down inside the cardboard before you melt it. you can even just make a form out of foil itself. maybe take something the size you're wanting to make and press it down in a compact ball of foil and mash all around it until it's how ya want it. good luck with yours, Alyx!