Round beads with Chinese word in the middle

I bought the Metal stamps with Chinese word on them a while back from somewhere I can't remember (Sorry). They are not as big as I expected but using them this way might work out fine.

So, what you need is some Black Clay, stamps, plastic wrap, texture tool, copper mica powder, clear varnish..

1. Make a sheet of black clay. Run it through the thickest setting on PM.

2. Stamp the words on to the clay. Leave enough space in between words

3. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap over clay. This way when you cut out with the round cutter, the wrap will round up the edge of the cut out pieces.

4.Press the cutter lightly on the wrap, enough to see if the word will be in the center, then press the cutter down.

5. Peel off the wrap, and excess clay.

6. Texture the discs lightly if you want then cover the surface with copper mica powder. Apply it with your finger so it only stick to the surface, not in the words. Baked.

7. Prepare the base clay for beads. Make a round shape clay about the size of your thumb., press down to almost flat. press a disc on both sides, make sure they line up at the middle. This might need a few practice. Press the discs down between your finger, like so.

8. Make texture with a needle tools, then bake. After that, put a few coats of varnish on the disc. Mica powder do rubbed off through time.

I made a few beads and a flat disc with one side. Those I will use to make rings.

Don't forget to check out my project with "Ring a day" group on Flickr. We have to make one ring each day for a year (365 totals) and post the picture on Flickr.