Polymer Clay Project: Meditation Beads

Here's a good polymer clay project for beginners or those who have a lot of scrap clay to use up. While you can make these meditation beads with new, fresh polymer clay, it isn't necessary. This article will show you how to make a string of beads for meditation, using scrap clay, cordage and a focal bead.

Materials Needed for Polymer Clay Meditation Beads

Long cord, about 2 to 2.5 feet in length

Lots of polymer clay, enough for 108 quarter inch beads

Needle tool

Your oven

These beads are intended for a form of meditation called Japa meditation. Japa mediation can be done without beads, but a string of beads,sometimes called mala beads, is often used during mediation as a way to help focus. During Japa meditation, a mantra is thought or spoken, and the beads are pulled along the string, one at a time, in time to your breathing and mantra.

108 beads are needed for your meditation bead string. There will be 107 regular beads, and one called the summit bead, or "sumaru". The focal, or sumaru bead, can be any shape you like, as long as it's larger that the other beads.

How to Make the Meditation Beads

First, gather up all of your stray pieces of polymer clay scraps. I usually just throw all of my scraps into a large, wide mouthed jar. If you don't think you have enough scrap clay, add some new clay to the pile to make enough for all of he beads. If you are using new clay, you can just chop it up with a blade tool in small quarter inch pieces.

If you are using scrap, you will need to condition the clay until you have a somewhat uniform color over all of the clay. Kneed the clay in small sections at a time with your fingers. Another way to get a more uniform color with this much scrap clay is to squish it all into a big mass, and then roll it with a rolling pin like dough, flipping it over and over.

You will most likely end up with some sort of brownish color, loaded with swirls and smears of different colors. This is ok. Swirly beads are fine for meditation beads. You will mostly be using them with your eyes closed anyway.

When the clay is conditioned to your liking, start forming small quarter inch beads, rolling them into balls in the palms of your hands. Try to make them all as close to the same size as possible.

The sumaru bead should be noticeably larger than the others. I would suggest just rolling a ball twice the size as the other beads.

Next, poke holes through the middle of each bead with your needle tool. Make the hole large enough so that when they are strung, the beads will slide smoothly along the cord. Your cord should be thin, strong, and made of a smooth material.

Now you can cure your polymer clay beads in the oven. Since you will most likely be using scraps from different types and brands of clay, a good rule of thumb, when curing, is to to set your oven's temperature at 275 degrees, for 15 minutes for each quarter inch of thickness. I would set all of the smaller beads on one cookie sheet in the oven, with the larger bead on a separate tray, so the small beads can be taken out after 15 minutes, letting the large bead go another 15.

When the beads are cooled, you can sand any rough edges around the holes.

To string the meditation beads, tie a knot in your cord at one end, and string the large bead first, then the rest of the beads (so they don't fall off while your stringing). Lastly, when your beads are strung, clip your first knot, and tie the loose ends of the cord together.