Making Curing Racks

Hi Everyone it's -
Technique/tools day today.
Today, I've chosen to share my home made curing rack for polymer clay beads. I've been using this design of rack for some time. Initially, I tried to find something I could buy but failed to find exactly what I needed. The only thing to do was to create my own. There are curing/baking racks out there but they tend to be expensive and don't have the flexibility I want. Here is a photo collage of how I create my racks :



I take a tin foil container - this particular container measures 20x14cms (before I got to work on it). I removed a section from the middle and joined the container back together to form a much thinner item. I flattened out the rim - to act as a mini shelf. This rack is designed to fit the specific skewer in the photo.


The beads are threaded onto a skewer of some kind, in this example, Im using a knitting tool but I often use wooden BBQ skewers or toothpicks. The size of the bead and the hole will determine the type of skewer I need.
This is a very simple tool but works well, it's cheap to make and the size can change to suit the project (although I tend to make a new one if a new skewer is used).
Occasionally, the skewers roll into each other on the rack when I'm taking them to the oven. I've tried making holes into the foil (along one edge) to anchor one end of the skewer. Although this is an easy thing to do, I find it unnecessary- I just rearrange when I place the rack in the oven.
The beads are cured without being damaged and have an even surface when finished. All in all its a great tool.

Thanks for reading.