Mokume Gane Beads

Mokume Gane is a Japanese metalworking technique in which thin layers of metal are fused together and manipulated to create beautiful patterns that resemble the grain of wood. In fact, “mokume gane” means “wood-eye metal” in Japanese. Polymer clay artists mimic this process by laminating sheets of polymer clay together, distorting them, and slicing thin sheets from the stack to reveal the resultant patterns.

There are several basic techniques known as “mokume gane” and as many variations as there are people who’ve tried these techniques. The following tutorial demonstrates a variation that uses “a little of this and little of that”. Don’t hesitate to make substitutions—It’s all part of the fun!

• Premo Frost (aka Bleached Translucent)
  • This particular type of clay is thought to be the clearest and least likely to yellow during curing. If you don’t have Premo Frost, you can use any translucent polymer clay.
• Clay in colors that coordinate well with the paints, powders, etc. you choose. I used a rich salmon and a slightly metallic red for my base beads. White is a popular choice for this, too.
• Rubbing alcohol (or Alcohol Blending Solution or Claro Extender for alcohol inks)
• Glitter in coordinating colors (optional)
• Polymer clay-friendly finish (optional)
  • Such as Varathane, Future, Minwax Water-based Polycrylic, Sculpey Glaze, Fimo Lacquer, etc.

You’ll need at least one or two items (possibly in different colors) from the rest of the list, but you don’t need them all. For instance, if you don’t have metal leaf, just choose one more color of metallic acrylic paint to make up the difference.

• Metallic acrylic paints
  • Any brand will do, and you can even use non-metallic paints if you prefer. If you don’t have a wide variety of colors, you may wish to mix your own colors. I wanted color with sparkle, so I used a mixture of metallic red and metallic black (FolkArt brand) to make maroon.
• Mica powders (and Future Floor Wax or another clear acrylic medium)
  • Any brand will do. In this case, I used the red available in the Midnight Pearls line of powders and “Brilliant Gold” from Pearl-Ex.
• Alcohol inks
  • Such as Piñata Inks from Jacquard or Ranger’s Adirondack Alcohol Inks. I used “Cranberry” from the Adirondack line.
• Metal leaf
  • Any brand is fine—just be sure to use the very thin, “fly-away” sheets of real metal—not the plastic-backed rub-on foil. (Actually, you can use the foil, too, but it is applied differently and doesn’t have the same crackled look as the leaf.) I used gold-colored metal leaf.

• Work surface
• Plastic wrap (or wax paper, parchment paper, etc.)
• Latex, vinyl or nitrile gloves (optional, but the cut down on fingerprints)
• Pasta machine or brayer
• Palette, plastic lid, etc. for mixing paints
• Toothpicks
• Paintbrush
• Craft knife
• Drinking straws, bamboo skewers, etc.
• Sharp tissue blade
• Clay shaper or similar tool (optional)
• Piercing tool (optional, for making beads)
• Oven (plus paper-lined cookie sheet/bead rack, thermometer, and timer)
• Bowl of ice water (after baking)
• Wet-dry sandpaper (320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, etc.) (optional)
• Electric buffing wheel or denim or muslin polishing rag (optional)

From your block of translucent clay, cut a piece thin enough to go through the pasta machine on the thickest setting. (If it’s too hard or crumbly, pre-condition as necessary, but remember that over-conditioning bleached translucent clay / “Frost” may introduce more air and increase plaquing in the final product.) Continue putting the clay through the pasta machine on progressively thinner settings until it is as thin as possible (without tearing). If you don’t have a pasta machine, roll the clay very thinly with a brayer.

Place the sheet of clay on your work surface. (I prefer to cover my ceramic tile with a sheet of plastic wrap to prevent the thin sheets of clay from sticking to the tile. This also makes cleaning up easier. Wax paper will work for this purpose, too.)

Cut the clay into small, equal-sized rectangles. When cutting your rectangles, keep the following two things in mind:

1. The size of your rectangles depends on the size you want your finished mokume gane block to be. Even a modestly sized mg (mokume gane) block can yield a lot of “veneer”, so you may want to start small. If you keep a record of the materials and colors you use, you can always follow the recipe and make another, larger mg block, later on.

2. The number of rectangles you need depends on the number of paints and other materials you plan to use. You can use as many as you like, but keep in mind that the more you use, the more variety there will be among the slices you take from the mg block. For instance, a block with only three colors or materials will have those three repeated closer together in the block than in a block with nine different colors or materials. This is neither a good thing nor a bad thing, but you may have a preference, depending on the project you have in mind.

In this instance, I used five separate colors/materials, so I needed six rectangles. You’ll always want one rectangle more than the number of materials you use. Set the extra rectangle of clay aside so you won’t forget to leave it “blank”.

Begin covering your sheets of clay with your chosen materials.

I started with metallic acrylic paint (FolkArt brand). Because I didn’t have the exact shade I wanted, I mixed a tiny dab of red with a tiny dab of black. (A little paint goes a long way on these small rectangles.) Mix the paints in a palette or a plastic lid using a toothpick. When the colors are mixed to your satisfaction, paint one rectangle (or however many you want). Thanks to the plastic wrap, you won’t have to clean up a mess if you go off the edge a little bit.

My next chosen material was mica powder (“Red” Midnight Pearls), which I mixed into Future Floor Finish to make my own mica-infused “paint”. You can just spread the powders on the clay without making them into “paint”, but if you cover the whole sheet with powder, it prevents the layers from sticking together the way they should—so if you use powders by themselves, do so sparingly, leaving lots of the sheet uncovered.

A few drops of Future on the paint palette and a little powder are all it takes to mix enough “mica paint” to cover one small rectangle of clay. Mix with a toothpick and apply with a paintbrush. The “paint” will be thin and will settle between the creases in the sheet of clay. This is fine, but if you’re concerned, you can smooth the sheet of clay down flat before applying the paint. It will probably still settle, but it may not be as pronounced as in the photo. You can also thicken the paint and reduce this wateriness by using less Future and/or more mica powder.

My third chosen material was alcohol ink (“Cranberry” Adirondack). Place a few drops of the ink on the sheet of clay and immediately distribute the color with a paintbrush. They dry so quickly that you may end up with some unpainted bits on your rectangle. If this happens, you can either leave it as is (Part of the beauty of mg is that you never know exactly how it will turn out and you really can’t do it “wrong”!) or go one step further to cover the entire sheet. If you want the whole sheet painted, you can either add more drops of ink (if you want deeply saturated color) or dampen your brush with rubbing alcohol (or alcohol ink extender / blending solution, if you have it) and brush over the dry ink. The alcohol will allow you to move the color around a bit more and cover the entire sheet of clay without adding more ink. The color will be somewhat lighter if you do it this way.

For my fourth rectangle, I went back to the mica powder and Future mixture, this time using “Brilliant Gold” from Pearl-Ex. I mixed and applied it as before. You might wish to use another shade of metallic acrylic paint for your mokume gane, or whatever other product you have on hand. Experiment with different combinations of materials for unique results.

I placed my fifth rectangle on a sheet of gold-colored composition metal leaf. Applying metal leaf to clay can be tricky, because the leaf is so delicate that even a slight puff of air can lift and crumple it. Putting the clay on the leaf (instead of vice versa) helps. Cut the clay-adhered leaf away from the rest of the sheet with a craft knife and use your fingers or a brayer to smooth out any air pockets between the clay and the metal leaf.

When all of your rectangles (except the one you set aside) have been covered, leave them alone long enough to let the paints and inks dry thoroughly. It shouldn’t take long, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.

When you’re sure the paints are all dry, stack the sheets in whatever order you like, finishing with the unpainted sheet of clay on top. Press the sheets together gently to ensure that they are firmly in contact.

Use your tissue blade to cut the stack in half. Place one half on top of the other. Press the stacks together gently but firmly to adhere them to one another. Repeat this process. If you started out with larger or smaller rectangles than I did, you may need to cut your block in half and restack it more or fewer times than I did. Continue cutting and stacking until you get a small block of clay in a size that you like. Neaten up your mg block by trimming away any uneven edges. Set the trimmings aside.

At this point, you have a lovely slab of colors and translucent clay, but if you tried slicing into it, you wouldn’t get very interesting results. You have to manipulate the block of clay somehow—force the different layers of colors to move up or down—to make your slices attractive. Randomly press different sizes of drinking straws, bamboo skewers, and chopsticks (or whatever other “clay-dedicated” tools you find) down into the mg slab.

Next, take the bits of clay you trimmed off the slab, marble them slightly, and pressed them into the holes to refill them as much as possible. (If you’d rather, or if you don’t have enough trimmed clay for this step, you can use untinted translucent clay.)

 

 

Finally, turn the mg block over and dent that side with your fingers or thumbs, creating a slight hills-and-valleys topography.

As you manipulate the clay, your block may start to “spread” and be less of a neat, even block. If/when this happens, just press the sides back in until it returns to a neat rectangular shape. Don’t worry about distorting it—calculated, measured distortion is what mokume gane is all about.

Your mokume gane slab is now complete! However, it’s best to exercise a little restraint and not start slicing into it yet. After all that handling, the clay is warm and it would be difficult to get good, clean, tissue-thin slices from it. Instead, leave it alone for a while—or better yet, pop it into the refrigerator for an hour. If you have a small tile, you can press the mg block onto the tile, cover it with plastic wrap, and put the whole tile into the fridge. If not, just wrap the block with plastic and put it where it doesn’t touch anything edible.

After your mokume gane slab has had sufficient time to chill, you may begin slicing it. Slicing mg blocks takes a little practice, but there are a few tricks that can help you along.

1. Use only the very sharpest of tissue blades and keep a lint-free cloth dampened with alcohol nearby to clean the blade regularly—even as often as after each slice.
2. Get the slab to hold still. If it’s wiggling around, it will be much more difficult to cut cleanly. Try pressing the slab down on a ceramic tile or other work surface. Place your tile on a non-slip surface or mat. If this alone is not enough, you may have to put something between you and the slab. Notice in the photos how I have the mg slab pressed up against another, smaller tile? The other side of the tile is against me, so when I pull the blade toward me, there’s nowhere for the slab to go.
3. Every so often, rotate the mg block (or the tile it’s on, if it’s well adhered to the tile). Cutting from only one edge will soon result in an uneven block. It’s much easier to get even slices if you rotate it every now and then.

Each person seems to have his or her own favorite trick for slicing mg. Some people like putting the mg slab over something rounded while slicing. Others put the slab on its side and slice it like a millefiori cane. Some people hold the blade with one hand and use the other to hold the mg slab still, while others prefer to hold the blade in both hands and bend it slightly while shaving the clay. I sometimes like wiggling the blade back and forth a bit as I pull it, but you might have better luck making a clean, steady sweep. Experiment until you find what works best for you. Just remember to be careful with those sharp blades!

Try to slice as thinly as possible, but don’t worry if you goof up and make a few slices thicker than you wanted, and don’t be surprised to find that you end up mostly with smallish slices. It’s usually very difficult to get a nice, thin slice of the whole block. You’ll be layering the pieces later, anyway, so it won’t matter in the long run.

As you take your slices from the block, lay them down on a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper. Avoid having them touch too much, as they might stick together. You can either slice the whole block all at once or slice as much as you think you’ll need and save the rest for later. However, sometimes mg blocks that have been left too long seem to become more difficult to slice, so don’t delay too much.

 

Once you have your mokume gane shavings, it’s time to decide what you’ll do with them (if you don’t already know). You can lay them down on a sheet of clay until you’re happy with the arrangement, then brayer them smooth. This sheet can then be applied to any number of surfaces. You can also apply them to base beads, which is what I decided to do.

Make your base bead out of whatever color clay you want. Many people prefer white for this because it offers ultimate reflectivity and keeps colors true. However, you’re free to try whatever colors you like. Just remember that at least some of the color of your base bead will probably show through the translucent clay, so it’s best to choose a color that coordinates well with the colors in your mg shavings. Also, consider how the colors will look if they are combined. If you place a semi-translucent yellow over a blue base, a greenish color will appear. This effect can be used to create beautiful beads, but if you aren’t careful, it can also result in ugly, unexpected combinations. I chose colors (red and salmon) that I felt coordinated well with the paints and inks I used.

Form a ball of the base clay. Keep in mind when you determine the size of this ball that you’ll be adding more clay later on, so make it a little smaller than you want the final bead to be.

If you like, you can add extra interest to the base bead at this point. Roll it in a little glitter, for instance. Small glimpses of the glittered base bead will show through the translucent bits of the mg slices.

You’re now ready to start covering the base bead with mokume gane shavings. Each mg shaving will have one side that is prettier than the other. (Well, sometimes they’re both stunning, but usually you can tell right away which side appeals to you more.) As you apply the shavings, be sure to put the prettier side face-up. Place the slices around the bead one at a time, using your fingers or a tool to secure them in place. You can roll the bead in your palms to further secure the shavings, but this is best left until the bead is completely covered in shavings. (Otherwise, the base bead clay may start to “squish out” around and over the mg slices, which you probably don’t want to happen.) Layer the mg shavings slightly so that they overlap. If one area of the bead looks dull, put another shaving over it. Keep an eye out for any tiny gaps in coverage. If necessary, cut an unattractive mg shaving (or just use a bit of translucent clay) to patch over the gap. You can layer your mg slices as much or as little as you like.

Once the bead is covered to your satisfaction, roll it gently between your palms. This should help the seams to meld together, but you may need to do a little extra work on particularly stubborn areas. Use a clay shaper or other tool—or your fingers—to smooth the surface of the clay. You want to remove as many dents and creases as possible, because this will reduce the amount of sanding you’ll have to do later on.

When the bead is smooth, you can gently nudge it into the shape you want. You can leave it round or flatten the ball (as I chose to do). Shape it however you like. I’ve found that some batches of mokume gane are easier to shape than others. Some tend to “crack” at the edges when flattened. This seems to vary depending on the materials used, the age of the mg slices, and the mood swings of the Fates. You can repair small cracks by putting tiny bits of translucent clay into them and smoothing it out, or you can just try until you find a shape that doesn’t make the clay crack.

With the beads in the shape you want them, you can either go ahead and pierce them right away or leave it until after they’re cured. I prefer pre-curing piercing. I start with a tiny pin, then go back with a thicker bead reamer. For even wider holes, try a skewer, knitting needle, or thick needle (such as those used for darning or sewing upholstery.

Place the beads on an accordion-folded piece of cardboard, a bead rack, or a paper-lined cookie sheet to prevent shiny spots from forming.

Cure according to the manufacturer’s directions. Tenting with aluminum foil may prevent yellowing. Dunk the baked beads directly into ice water to increase clarity. Leave them soaking for half an hour or so.

For ultimate shine, wet-sand the beads through a range of grits, starting with 320 or 400 and finishing with 1000 or 1500. Buff to a high sheen on a muslin wheel, if you have one. If not, hand buff with a muslin or denim rag. (White denim is preferable to blue, but either will work.)

For an even glassier shine, apply a couple coats of polymer clay-friendly finish. If you didn’t use composition metal leaf (like I did), liquid finish is optional. If you do use composition metal leaf, it’s advised that you seal your pieces to prevent future tarnishing.