Here is a fun little necklace I just finished. The polymer beads are simple circles, with a design on one side, solid color on the other, then gently folded so they don't quite meet. This allows the colors from both sides to show and keeps open a channel for beading wire.
One experiment I tried for the patterned side was to shave slices off an extruded tube, place the strips side-by-side on a backing sheet, and then compress them in the pasta machine. I really liked the resulting inconsistent striped look.
Here is a closeup of one bead.
I love extrusions. I think my favorite part is the fact that while the outside of the extrusion looks so plain as it leaves the extruder, the inside hides wonderful surprises. I have recently been playing with some thin extruded snakes, using them to create some fun and colorful round beads. Of course, I couldn't stop at one bead or one color-way, so here are photos of a couple of necklaces I made. There is also a bracelet also out of extruded snakes, but with a bit more dimension. The orange and purple necklaces have been rolled by hand and smoothed. Separating the beads with spacer beads or pearls helps highlight the dot design.
