String handmade polymer clay beads onto felt cords to form Ellen Kharade's sweet treats!

What you need...

• BEADS Glass, orange, round, matt, 8mm (8940) x 13
  
  FINDINGS Fibres, merino, wooltop: ginger x 50g; terracotta x 50g; amber x 50g, Clay, polymer: sun yellow; tangerine; apple green; cocoa, Cones, silver, 7mm hole x 2, Clasp, caribiner, sterling silver, Head pins, sterling silver, Jump rings, sterling silver, 5mm, Earwires, fish hook, silver, Cord, elastic, clear
  
  TOOLS Pliers, round-nosed, Cutters, wire, Mat, bamboo, Soap, Water, hand hot, Thread, beading, strong, Needle: knitting; darning
  

instructions

1. Necklace - 1. To form a felted cord, pull off a long length of ginger wool top, roughly 2cm x 50cm. Wet the fleece with hand hot water and rub up and down the length for a few minutes until the fibres lock together and no longer move. Gently roll the length of wool by hand over a bamboo mat until it becomes more sausage-shaped and holds its form.
   
   2. Continue rolling until the felt has thickened and shrunk slightly, then rinse in hot water until it runs clear. Roll the cord a few more times to regain the sausage shape and put in a warm place to dry out overnight. Make two other cords from amber and terracotta wool top in the same way.
   
   3. Roll out a ball of tangerine polymer clay, roughly 2cm in diameter and make a hole in the centre with a knitting needle. Spin the ball on the needle to widen the hole, making sure that it is big enough to thread onto a felt cord. Leave the bead on the needle and roll out a long thin sausage of green clay.
   
   4. Lay one end of the green clay length near the hole and spin the needle between your fingers so that it wraps around the bead. Press gently onto the ball to make sure it adheres well. Repeat to make 13 beads in total, varying the size and colour combinations and bake in an oven following the manufacturer's instructions.
   
   5. Trim the amber cord to 42cm and thread on five clay beads. Cut the ginger cord to 49cm and add three beads, then snip the terracotta cord to 56cm and decorate with five beads. Hold the ends of all three cords and stitch them tightly together with strong thread.
   
   6. Take the thread through the widest end of a silver cone end and out the other, pulling the felt cords inside at the same time. Pass the needle through a jump ring and back through the cone and cord several times until it becomes secure. Repeat for the other side then add a caribiner clasp to one of the jump rings to complete.