Roll a log of clay with a tube bead roller.  Hand rolling the clay down to just a little larger than the height of the tube bead roller legs will speed the process and there will be less chance of the clay tearing apart.  Finish the tube out rolling it between your work surface and the tube bead roller top.   In this instance the 7mm side of tube bead roller set 1 top was used.

Press a measuring guide or ruler with 1/16” increments into the clay hard enough to leave the marks.

Cut the rolled tubes of clay into ½” lengths, then hand roll the measured clay into balls.

The length of clay that is cut will determine the finished bead size.  Experiment with each roller top to come up with a size that is pleasing to you. 

Roll two logs of colored clay with the tube bead roller top, place them side-by-side and run them through my pasta machine on the thickest setting.

Run the two logs of clay through a pasta machine a number of times just to blend a bit where the two colors join.  I do this on the thickest setting of my pasta machine, always folding the length of clay in half, and feeding the folded edge into the pasta machine.  Here it is good to use a magnet or unwrapped blocks of clay laid on top of your pasta machine to control the width of the length of colors.  When the clay is blended well enough to suit me, I then run the entire strip through a thin setting (#5 on my pasta machine).  This strip is used to cut circles of color from to lay on a solid colored bead.

Set the roller top over the bead on your work surface; begin moving the roller top in a small circular pattern. The round shaped bead will begin to take the shape of a bicone.  Keep the bead moving in the same direction.  If you were to reverse directions you would ‘un-do’ the swirling of the colors.

This shows the bead under roller top after just a couple of rotations.  The roller top needs to be moved in a circular motion rolling the bead as if the bottom point of the bead is on an axis.  The angle the roller top is held combined with the amount of pressure applied will control how pointed the bead becomes.  I bring the bead up to a point, and continue revolutions until the tightness of the swirled pattern I like is achieved.   If you wish a pointed bicone shape, you are finished.  To achieve a lentil shape, make small circular motions with slight pressure over the top of the point.  The legs of the roller top will control the thickness of  the lentil bead.

Pierced beads ready to be cured.  A couple of these beads had been flattened for a square look.  The bead roller top was used to place pressure from the side while on a work surface after the bead had been pierced.