Step by Step - Copper Yosemite Acorn Bead

I picked up a bunch of these Acorns while visiting Yosemite recently.
I actually picked the Acorns up at a rest stop along the road on our way home from Yosemite.

Originally I only considered making a mold of the top portion and making it in Copper,

then I decided why not make the whole bead!

So that's what I did.

I took some pictures along the say to show the process, I'm happy with the result but I'm definitely going to try again and see if I can make it even better!

This shows the original acorn the 2 sided mold and the 2 copper pieces I created with them.

Take each piece and sand it in a circular motion,

test the fit.

Continue to sand and test, sand and test,

 until they fit together snuggly and smoothly.

Slight variations can be taken care of once they are put together.

Moisten both sides and add slip

(slip is clay with water added, very moist and goey working as glue)

Fit 2 moisted sides together and hold.

Even at this early stage you can start smoothing the seem out with your finger.

Continue gently sanding and using your wet finger or a clay shaper to fill in spaces or take away extra clay until you get a smooth finish all around.

(my acorn is a little flat, not chubby and round as the original, practice practice)

Once it was completely dry I chose to make holes on either side for stringing,

I carefully made the holes with an exacto knife.

You do have to be very careful since you're working on a seem,

you dont' want to pop the seem open.

Here is the unfired piece next to the acorn it was molded from.

Here is the fired Copper Acorn next to the original.

They do shrink quite a bit.

My Acorn didn't turn out nice and round but I'm quite pleased with it.

I think I'll start at the beginning again (probably several times)

and perfect the process.

Kristi