- 1). Remove the clay bead from the oven. Place a piece of parchment paper over the tile. Place the newly made bead on the parchment paper. Place another piece of parchment paper over the bead. If you have placed the tile and parchment paper inside the oven along with the bead, make sure to use tongs when moving them and to place them on a hot pad upon removal from the oven.
- 2). Allow the bead to sit and cool for an hour or two. Leaving the parchment paper on top of the bead throughout the process. It is best to cool the bead in a relatively dry place, so that moisture will not prevent the bead from fully cooling and drying.
- 3). Remove the top layer of parchment paper and barely touch the bead to see if it has completely cooled and dried. If not, replace the parchment paper and allow the bead to continue cooling.
- 1). Fire a ceramic kiln, setting it at around 950 degrees F.
- 2). Loop your newly made bead on a bead rod. Wear gloves as well, if desired.
- 3). Place the bead (still on the bead rod) inside the kiln. Some kilns have a separate chamber for the electrical unit of the kiln, while others do not. If your kiln does not, be especially careful in placing your bead inside the kiln. If the rod were to touch the electrical units, you could run the risk of shocking yourself. Take your time inserting the bead into the kiln to prevent this from happening.
- 4). Allow the bead to sit for about an hour inside the kiln. During this time, the bead is cooling slowly, which avoids thermal shock from occurring. The kiln also anneals the bead, meaning that the molecules inside the bead vibrate and work out any stress inside the bead that would cause it to crack or break after the cooling process is over.
- 5). Turn off the kiln, leaving the bead inside of it for at least another hour. This is the last stage of the cooling process. After approximately one hour, you may remove the bead.
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