Making of a Bead Box |  |
| Stage 1 First you should prepare the clay mixture for the bead box. Here follows the recipe that we are using: 60% Kaolin (China clay) 40% Silicon Carbide SiC (black crystals that you can find in the lapidary store, they sell it like abrasive for tumbling. You should use 2 different grits of it, half of the total quantity should be 60 grit, other half - 200 grit) Then using prepared mixture you should make slabs of the desired shape and size. |  |
| Stage 2 On the next stage you should assemble your box. I'm using a plaster mold for this, but if you don't want to mess with a mold, a cardboard box covered with plastic probably will do the job too. I'm starting with the bottom slab, then I'm adding long sides. |  |
| Stage 3 Don't forget to water all the edges of the slabs good before joining them together. |  |
| Stage 4 Here the box is almost shaped. |  |
| Stage 5 Here you see the completed box and the mold. |  |
| Stage 6 Now is the time to mark the places for the holes. I'm doing this by using printed template, and a needle end tool. |  |
| Stage 7 I did the main drilling of the holes with piece of steel tube. You should be very careful when doing this, the box is very fragile at this stage. I'm pressing the tube from the outside, at the same time I'm pressing my finger against the tube from the inside . |  |
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