How To Add Colour to Ash Beads Tutorial for making large hole charm beads with colour. Making bereavement and cremation jewellery using a mould technique. This technique is ideal for our bead cores here which are solid sterling silver and fit on European bracelets such as Chamilia and Pandora style bracelets for large hole beads. Clients send in photos of our beads on their well-known brand bracelets.
The bead cores are really easy to fit, you don’t need glue, and they cover a wide sanding area making your bead look more professional than using glue-in bead inserts (also known as grommets or charm bead findings). The ashes/hair kit option for the bead core comes with a bead mould, so you can make a couple of beads then choose your favourite to add a bead core to.
How To Add Colour to Ash Beads Tutorial Video
@keepsakersupplies
@keepsakersuppliesHow To Add Colour to Ash Beads Tutorial for making large hole charm beads with colour. Making bereavement and cremation jewellery using a mould technique. This technique is ideal for our bead cores here which are solid sterling silver and fit on European bracelets such as Chamilia and Pandora style bracelets for large hole beads. Clients send in photos of our beads on their well-known brand bracelets.
Here’s the transcript. After your first order you’ll receive a reasonable 15%* off future purchases. We have several courses here including some free to help you learn more about making bereavement and cremation jewelry such as a cremation ring.
You’ll need the following supplies
one of our DIY ashes bead kits
the ashes/hair version of the kits contain:
- a bead setting – this is one of Forever In My Heart cores
- medium bead mould
- vinyl gloves
- resin sparkle mix (you can use eyeshadow for a custom colour!)
- a dust mask
- label backing paper
- some sandpaper
- 3 cocktail sticks
- 10g UV resin – you can also use epoxy resin instead of UV resin and a UV lamp for these pieces but you will need to wait for the resin to cure which can take days
You’ll also need your client’s cremation ashes and/or fur for this piece. We ask them to only send half a teaspoonful of ashes or a small pinch of fur! That way, if it’s lost in the post they can send a little more.
Tools and Equipment (optional)
-
- pearlescent sparkle mixes
- crushed glass for resin
- Padico UV Resin Jewel Colour Set
- LED UV torch** or a good UV lamp for professionals
- a tiny measuring spoon
- 200g bottle of Padico Star Drop
- side cutting pliers
- carbide burr bit
- a wooden doming block or a folded cloth
- a doming punch set or you can use the ball bearing included with the bead core and
- small hammer, both methods are shown in depth in this video:
Hi, I’m Nikki Lovegrove from Tree of Opals and Keepsaker Supplies. Clients often bring their loved ones’ ashes to me in my studio in Newport, South Wales. You can also post me ash, hair or breastmilk or you can order a DIY kit.
All my links are above and I want to give a special thank you to my client for giving permission for me to film the process with her husband Steve’s ashes.
The first bead I’m making is pearlescent purple with amethyst coloured crushed glass. This is the February birthstone. Carefully fill the bead mould with clear resin. Mix a little of the pearlescent purple sparkle mix with some clear resin on label backing paper to make a paste then transfer this on top of the bead mould. Add a tiny spoonful of cremation ashes and some of the crushed glass. Pick up the mould and use a cocktail stick to poke the colour down round the centre of the bead. I have videos showing in depth how to achieve a swirled effect of colour in a bead whilst still having enough clear resin to cure.
How To Add Colour to Ash Beads
Remove the excess resin from the top of the mould before you cure it and this will make finishing the bead so much easier later! For the second bead fill the mould again with clear resin. This time I’m adding ashes first with a little pearlescent green. I’m not mixing the sparkle with resin first and sometimes this can be faster but you might find it more difficult. Try both ways. I’m also adding some opalescent coloured crushed glass glass. This is the October birthstone. I sell a few different kinds of opal and opalescent inclusions, so please let me know if you’d like a tutorial on using them all and the differences in price and the effects they have in resin! The excess resin you remove from the beads can be put in a mould and cured alongside the beads in layers. You will give this to your client free of charge as a pocket stone or offer to set it in silver as a necklace or dangle charm for an extra charge. I prefer to do this than return a blob of resin and you should never, ever, throw a client’s loved one’s ashes in the bin!
The third bead I made using purple and white alcohol inks. I wish I’d used more because the pastel colour was disappointing. I’ll be doing a video soon with bright alcohol inks so please make sure you subscribe! Be cautious not to poke the mould or it will leave dents in your finished pieces. Cure each bead straight away under the UV lamp after you remove the excess resin. I cure for 99 seconds on a low heat then allow them to cool before repeating again twice to make sure they’re completely cured. 60 second cures under a regular UV lamp will work fine too but I find they get a little hot and need longer to cool down in between.
The fourth bead I’m just adding some mermaid teal resin sparkle mix with the ashes. It’s pre-mixed with resin and stored in opaque black pots to stop it curing. Always be careful to keep the lid on. To remove the bead, remove the excess resin from around the pouring spout and pop it out. This bit just takes a little practice then it’s super easy, but if you struggle you can use some washing up liquid (dish soap), but I’ve never needed to. The fifth bead is mermaid teal and aegean blue resin sparkle mixes swirled together. I think this was my favourite bead of all of them.
Please remember to return all the excess resin with ashes in to your client. To finish the beads, snip off the excess resin with side cutting pliers. I then like to use a carbide burr bit in a rotary tool like a Dremel, to remove excess resin from the top. There’s a link to the one I used in the description, for sale on KeepsakerSupplies.com along with everything else I’m using in this tutorial. Give them a rinse and dry them before sending a proof photo to your client. Once you know they’re happy with the bead you can add a bead core. Today I’m using a wooden doming block to stabilise the bead and using a doming punch set to flare the core.
My client asked to have one of the spare beads set or finished with a core so I’m adding cores to two of them here. I have other tutorials showing this in depth. Thank you so much for watching my video, please subscribe and turn on notifications so you know when I post something new. Of all of my bead cores, which is your favourite? Let me know in the comments!
Now relax and do some crafting.
Beachball Resin Technique for Beads
Finishing a Memorial Bead
