Intentional, instead of haphazard...

Usually (okay, mostly), I just slap scrap clay and cane ends together, roll it out, twist it, then cut it apart and make my bead.  It's possible, though, to be more intentional about creating your Natasha bead.  I'm going to try several different things the rest of the month to play with the idea of getting results you try for, rather than being totally surprised.

I started off with a cane that didn't turn out (d'oh--I didn't take a picture; it's a tumbling blocks quilt pattern)--not enough contrast, but strangely enough, too much contrast.  Anyway, I rolled it out into a long log and cut in several pieces for experimenting purposes.

Today, I took one of the pieces and didn't re-roll it or fold it or do anything more to it beyond rolling it into a log:

I gave it rather a quick twist, not too tight or too much:

And here's the result:

The resulting pattern is larger and more graphic than what I usually wind up with (I'm more of a twist-the-snot-out-of-it type).  Interesting.