Buckeye Beads

What if you drilled a hole through a buckeye nut? and painted something scarlet and gray on it. Go Ohio State!!!

Ones like these? These would be super easy, its just the brown clay rolled into a ball, then stick on a small tan ball of clay and roll it around in you hand a few times, then poke a hole in them and bake

Ones like these are the same idea, except dont poke a hole, squish it into a oval/disk shape and then push in a grommet on both sides. You can get grommets in the fancy scrap book section of most craft stores.

check out my website i make alot out of clay and would love to sell you any of mine in bulk if you need
http://www.facebook.com/GnotJustGnomes

It is so hard to get an answer on this one... but I am going to disclose the secret that everyone seems to avoid... There is no reason to buy these as they are super easy to make!
1. Take a pasta machine and roll out the clay so that it is soft and easy to work with as well as the same thickness all the way across.
2. Use a round cookie or biscuit cutter to cut out sections of the clay and then roll into a ball. This ensures that each of the buckeyes are the same size.
3. Take a pen and remove the insides. Use the large opening as another cutter to make the dots. It can be helpful to use a toothpick to remove the clay as it can get lodged inside the barrel of the pen.
4. Put the tan dot on the brown ball and roll into the clay.
5. Bake in oven on parchment paper that has been folded up like an accordion and sit the buckeyes in the folds.
6. Use a dremel and drill out the holes after they are baked and hard. This prevents them from getting squished before they are baked.
Wash your hands often as the brown will start rolling into the tan and it won't look as good.
If you are unsure about how to roll a nice even round bead, check out some of the tutorials on utube as they are really good!
Best of Luck!
Kevin
The Buckeye Bead

How long do you bake them? In a regular oven? What temp? I'm just now getting started. Thanks!