Thread: Looking to learn how to make skull beads

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I'm thinking about making paracord (parachute cord) lanyards for knives, or key rings. Some people use these skull beads to tighten up the lanyard loops or loose ends. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to duplicate just one bead over and over again instead of buying 50-500 at a time. What material to use when casting them ie; metal, plastics, etc. And how to make a master mold.. I know there's lots of info on here about molding and casting larger items, but again, I'm talking beads.

As I wrote that I was thinking of casting them out of metal that's soft enough to melt and let it fill the mold. Something like solder?

Alot of repitious work no matter how you do it if you need that many beads.
How large would they be?
When a kid, 50 yrs. ago I cast lead soldiers but lead is not highly reguarded anymore, whereas , you know, "Lead Poisoning", sort of thing?
I have made a mold using Bondo, then coated the Bondo with latex, then used more Bondo to make the cast object, with the latex keeping the two Bondos from sticking together, it was time consuming but Bondo is pretty hard in most applications and of course sands well, takes paint, of course.
I don't quite understand what the object that you wish to make has to "Do", maybe Bondo wouldn't be solid enough to take any repeated rubbing across it of torque abuse?

Originally Posted by Gym Whourlfeld

Alot of repitious work no matter how you do it if you need that many beads.
How large would they be?
When a kid, 50 yrs. ago I cast lead soldiers but lead is not highly reguarded anymore, whereas , you know, "Lead Poisoning", sort of thing?
I have made a mold using Bondo, then coated the Bondo with latex, then used more Bondo to make the cast object, with the latex keeping the two Bondos from sticking together, it was time consuming but Bondo is pretty hard in most applications and of course sands well, takes paint, of course.
I don't quite understand what the object that you wish to make has to "Do", maybe Bondo wouldn't be solid enough to take any repeated rubbing across it of torque abuse?

They wouldn't be that large. (see attached picture, lanyard attached to a nice Spyderco endura I believe) I'll probably end up just buying a bunch online. But I thought if I could make a few, I would use them and if I needed more make some more. I'm definitely a more DIY person than buy it somewhere, usually.

I wonder if the stamping technique would work to make my skull beads if I could get a proper mold.

I think I just epiphanated! What about making a two part stamp/mold out of clay, using an existing bead, bake it hard, and that would be my mold! Then take chunks of clay and mash them inside the mold making the clay conform to the shape of the mold and bake that after cutting off any excess. Smooth it after baking and use them. AHA! I'm so happy with myself.. I think it could work. Now just to find the right bead(s) to use as my master to make the stamps and I'll be set >=D Muahahaha. Thank you, YouTube!!!

Polymer clay would be good, it's decently strong if not made into thin shapes, as long as you use Fimo or Premo (Sculpey III tends to be soft and weak). Premo is my favorite, Fimo is too hard to work with and Fimo Soft has some of the same issues as Sculpey III, though not as much. If you want to reinforce it, build it around a small nut or other metal object with a hole in the middle.

Finding something to make a mold with would indeed make the process much faster, you can use the polymer clay itself as the mold, just make sure you dust it with talc or cornstarch and never let the clay sit in the mold or the plasticizers will leech out and resoften it. A novelty skull ring from a party supply store would probably work fine. I bought one of those skull keychains that moans from Spirit last year, that would be a good size to work with.

If you bake in a toaster oven make a shield out of aluminum foil to act as a reflector to keep the clay from burning, unless you're planning on painting it afterward.

I think I would end up painting it some. Either cover it in white, then do eyes, nose and teeth in black. Or make solid black ones, and other colours, etc. I think I would just bake it in our regular full size oven. However, if I found I was starting to make a lot of them I would likely look into a used toaster oven.

Unless of course I can find a place locally that sells them dirt cheap. Then I'd probably just buy them as I needed them. Not like I'd be making 100's of the lanyards that I wouldn't be able to keep up. I just figured why buy 500 off a site if I only need maybe 10 to start off with and find I never use the other 490. Then again I got to get some paracord first and start making some stuff first.. But I just made a trip to Sarcan (drink container recyclers that refund money per container) and made $20 on top of $30 I had laying around. So maybe I'll get some OD cord to start off with. The stuff isn't very expensive.. >$10/100 ft or so. Just gotta muster up the energy to go and get some.

Originally Posted by Crunch

I think I would end up painting it some. Either cover it in white, then do eyes, nose and teeth in black. Or make solid black ones, and other colours, etc. I think I would just bake it in our regular full size oven. However, if I found I was starting to make a lot of them I would likely look into a used toaster oven.

Unless of course I can find a place locally that sells them dirt cheap. Then I'd probably just buy them as I needed them. Not like I'd be making 100's of the lanyards that I wouldn't be able to keep up. I just figured why buy 500 off a site if I only need maybe 10 to start off with and find I never use the other 490. Then again I got to get some paracord first and start making some stuff first.. But I just made a trip to Sarcan (drink container recyclers that refund money per container) and made $20 on top of $30 I had laying around. So maybe I'll get some OD cord to start off with. The stuff isn't very expensive.. >$10/100 ft or so. Just gotta muster up the energy to go and get some.

As far as the mini skulls go right now you can find tiny skull ice cube trays all over the place, if you get two of them coat them in pertrol jelly then pour in some plaster of paris you could make about a dozen at a time for under five bucks a run and then just make em as you need them, I think the party stores are carrying the mini skull ice cube trays now for sure and any hardware store is gonna have plaster.
Just food for thought.