I’ve always loved beads. In fact, I’m mildly obsessed with beads after taking a bead making class. So, I tried a little experiment. Could I quickly and easily make a mold to make fused triangle shaped beads?
The answer…YES! And so can you, here’s how:
Mold material
My ceramics kiln came with four half shelves which I’ve never used, so I had a convenient source of materials. A broken kiln shelf is also a great option.
Measuring and Marking out the mold
Since I’m cutting the shelf on a tile saw, I didn’t want it to be too big and unwieldy. I’ve measured out the mold size and marked it.
To make the actual mold, you need a piece of kiln shelf that is approximately 3″ x 5″. You can make your mold larger or smaller, there are no rules. I traced a handy index card.
Cutting the mold
To make an isosceles triangle, you need to cut both sides of the mold at 30 degrees. This was easily done on my tile saw by tipping the table to a 30 degree angle. (there’s a marker on the side of the saw that tells me the angle).
I cut both of the angled faces first, then returned the tile saw table to horizontal and cut down the middle.
Complete Mold
The triangle bead mold is a two part mold with two 30 degree angled faces.
To use it, you put the sides together snugly:
if you love the idea of a triangle bead mold, but don’t really want to make your own, I have kits that include a lovely ceramic mold, mandrels and bead release, ready to go!
