DIY polymer clay jewelry

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

You do not need to have special skills and knowledge of a sculptor to learn how to make jewelry from polymer clay. All you need is a few pieces of this material, a minimal set of tools and creative inspiration. Everything, you can start creating.

Tools and materials

First of all, you will need the polymer clay itself. This is an art material, very similar to children's plasticine. From it you can sculpt various crafts. Its peculiarity is that after heat treatment it hardens and becomes like plastic. Therefore, polymer clay is also called plastic.

Tools come in handy:

• plastic or ceramic board;
• rolling pin or any substitute;
• stationery knife;
• toothpicks;
• foil.

This is the minimum required set. It can be expanded indefinitely depending on the styles and techniques of working with the material.

For additional decoration, acrylic varnish may be useful (you can also use regular colorless nail polish), acrylic paints,pastel.

If you are going to create polymer clay jewelry with your own hands, then be sure to buy accessories for them in a needlework store: chains, rings, pins, hooks for earrings, locks. Get also simple tools for working with wire: wire cutters, round nose pliers, thin nose pliers. This will greatly facilitate the process of creating exclusive jewelry for you.

Later in the article, we will look at a few simple techniques using the example of finished products to show that it is not difficult for beginners to create polymer clay jewelry.

Elementary beads

We learned how to roll ordinary balls in childhood, working with plasticine or ordinary dirt in the yard. But these are, in fact, excellent blanks for beads.

We take polymer clay of any color (you can have several), divide it into equal parts and roll the beads. To make them exactly the same, you can use this trick: first roll out the plastic in an even layer, and then cut circles in it with any mold, for example, deodorant caps. The shape itself is not important to us, since we will turn it into a bead anyway. Here the main trick is to take the same amount of polymer clay for each blank.

When the balls are ready, you need to pierce through holes in them with a toothpick so that you can then string them on a fishing line.

The central element of the decoration shown in the photo above is made of several shades of material. To do this, break a few piecesmulti-colored plastic into small and not very crumbs and then blind them all together. Don't stir too hard to avoid smearing the colors. Then roll out the resulting piece with a thick layer and cut out the desired element from it with a mold.

To ensure that the edges of the workpiece are without sharp edges, first put a cling film on the plastic. In the process of extrusion, it will create semicircular edges on the product. Do the same with the center hole, but use a much smaller diameter mold for this.

After baking polymer clay, you can collect the original necklace.

Simple earrings

If you love original jewelry, then make a wide variety of earrings for yourself. All you need is a little imagination for this.

The photo above shows quite playful pepper-shaped earrings. They are done in minutes. Polymer clay jewelry is interesting because it does not require a lot of time and effort to make it.

These earrings are extremely easy to make. Blind what you like best - pepper, carrot, orange, strawberry, raspberry - and hook them on an earring hook (after baking, of course). Don't try to make them exactly the same. The beauty of handmade lies precisely in the fact that some discrepancies are allowed in two identical elements.

Necklace of cakes

This decoration looks unusual and rich, and it can be done quite quickly, although it will have to do a lot of monotonous work.

The process looks like this: you need to create a lot of cakes from polymer clay. To do this, the plastic is divided into pieces, balls are made and rolled into "pancakes". Here you do not need to ensure that the edges are even and the layer is uniform. It is in this negligence that the charm of the entire product lies.

The polymer clay decoration presented above in the photo consists not only of cakes, but also of one central bead. You can also do it, but you can do without it. If you want, you can insert several of these beads. It just depends on your preference.

Make a set

And when creating this polymer clay jewelry, you can add it with earrings and a bracelet. The latter is no problem at all. String the finished cakes on the elastic band and tie it. Everything, the decoration is ready.

Earrings are also quite easy to make. Take a long jewelry pin with a head, put a small bead on it, like on a necklace, and on top - a few cakes (choose the height yourself). Make a loop on the free end of the pin and connect it to the earring hook. Just like that, you made yourself an unusual set of jewelry for a new dress.

Summer bracelets

In the summer you always want something bright, juicy and colorful. Why not treat yourself to a variety of bracelets for different sundresses. The first of them is made from the same blanks for beads, only their diameter should be 5-7 mm. Insert a short jewelry pin with an eye into one part of the workpiece (you can cut a long one). From the oppositeUse a toothpick to shape blueberry spouts.

Citrus Mood

Small leaves are oblong cakes with holes, on which a contour of veins is applied with a toothpick. Such an ornament is assembled from polymer clay on a chain with a clasp.

Such bright lemons and limes are made using a slightly different technique called sausage (or kane). Roll out a yellow sausage with a diameter of about 5 mm. Wrap it with a thin layer of white polymer clay. Roll a little more so that the two layers stick together.

Cut the workpiece into 6-8 identical parts and blind, creating a cylinder, which must also be covered with a layer, but already with yellow polymer clay. Now start rolling it into a long sausage, trying to stretch it evenly along its entire length. When you cut the workpiece, you will see a citrus pattern on the cut. Cool the sausage a little so that it becomes firm and cuts well.

Now it can be cut into citrus blanks to create such an unusual bracelet, earrings and even a summer necklace.

Macaroon Masterclass

In recent years, this French dessert has won the hearts of most of the inhabitants of our planet. So why not decorate with these cookies too?

The photo above shows a detailed master class on how to quickly and easily create a "sweet" bracelet. The basis of this decoration is polymer clay. With their own hands, novice craftswomen will repeat this work without much difficulty. Time ittakes a little, but the result will surprise everyone around.

Coffee decorations

Think it's unrealistic? But after all, every house has mugs with unusual patterns. So why not make yourself a unique cup that no one else will have? And you can also make an unusual spoon with decor for it.

To do this, you need to purchase a mug without a picture and a teaspoon in the store. You will also need a special type of plastic - in liquid form. It will help to make an application from polymer clay.

It's easy to make an imitation of crochet, as in the photo above. The master class in the video below will help you cope with this. You can cut out a heart with a cookie cutter. And the hat is made on the basis of the same bead, only in the form of a cone.

The peculiarity of decorating mugs with polymer clay is that the picture that has not yet been baked must be glued using liquid plastic. It lends itself to heat treatment along with dishes. Nothing will happen to the mug, since the baking temperature does not exceed 130 ° C. But in the end, you get beautiful dishes that no one else will have a copy of if you so desire.

Decorating spoons with polymer clay is a great way to create a special atmosphere both in everyday life and on holidays. You can make them themed. For example, on Halloween, New Year, Easter, birthdays (especially for children), you can set the table with beautiful cutlery with elements appropriate for the celebration.

Conclusion

Polymer clay is a fertile material for realizing your creative imagination. You can make anything out of it, the main thing is to master new techniques and come up with your own. You can also engage in such creativity with children, because sculpting it is no more difficult than plasticine.