Hi all!
For Christmas this past year, my grandma bought me a polymer clay jewelry kit. I had been looking at them and although I didn’t request it, she totally bought it for me anyway, which was very sweet. I didn’t take it to school with me for spring semester, but I’ve started playing around with it ever since being home for the summer, and it is so so so fun. It’s really rewarding too, because you get these nice jewelry pieces after like 45 minutes in the oven, unlike resin where I have to wait 48 hours to put it all together (and I am not the best at waiting).
So anyway, I was playing around with the kit, and after a few tries I got a handle on a nice way to make flowers that are a bit more interesting than just a cut out of one, and I thought I’d make a tutorial! Side note, if you like the look of the earring but aren’t interested in making it yourself, check out the shop, I sell different colors of this design there.
If polymer clay jewelry is something you plan to get into, I’d recommend just getting a kit on Amazon. They’re about 30 bucks, which isn’t terrible (I don’t know about you, but I definitely have more expensive hobbies than that lol). This is the one my grandma bought me: Caydo Clay Kit I really like it, the containers stack so it comes with it’s own organization which is nice. My only complaint is that the clay comes in plastic that is not resealable, so I’ve been digging up old tiny (like jewelry size) plastic bags I have laying around as I open the clay so that it doesn’t dry out. But the cutters are nice and there’s tons of colors and again, it’s literally organizing itself, which is something I really love. Anyway, onto supplies!
Supplies:
Polymer clay, minimum of one color and off-white or some dark color (black or gray), although you can use a different color than white or the black/gray for the center if you like that better
Thing to roll out the clay, like a small rolling pin (the kit comes with a plastic roll thingy)
Flower shaped cutter (not a giant one, this is going to be an earring)
Tiny circle cutter (These came in the cut, again I have no idea what else to call them)
Studs with loops to hook a jump ring and the flower (I use these and they’ve mostly worked fine, although I have broken the little piece to attach the jump ring off once on accident)
Jump rings
Jewelry pliers (any small pliers will do, it’s for the jump ring attachment part)
Plastic tools for clay – I used the one with the ball on the end and a sorta pointy but not that pointy one (it’s in a picture further down, I’m sorry I have no idea what to call it)
Steak knife
Needle
Silicone mat*
Baking tray
Note: I recommend the silicone mat because I’ve found it’s easiest to work with the clay on and peel it off later, the one time I didn’t use a silicone mat the pieces got stuck to the glass in the oven and prying them off was a heck of a time. Plus then it’s really easy to transfer your work to a baking sheet because you just slide the mat off the table onto the sheet. However, you definitely do not need this, and the kit did not come with one.
Instructions:
Step 1: Play with the polymer clay and get it warmed up, then roll it out onto the silicone mat to approx 1/8 inch thick and cut it with a flower cutter, you need two flowers. I used the smallest one the kit provided. This silicone mat is made for macarons (my sister’s been trying to get the hang of them but is very nice and lets me borrow it) so use that for a size reference.
Step 2: Pull out your white and roll it out into a snake about 1/8 inch thick, maybe a little thicker. Cut two chunks off the end of it, about half the length of a pinky nail. Roll these into little balls and set them in the center of the flower, and press down gently until it is nearly flat with the ball-ended tool.
Step 3: Now you need to make the petal clay. I took 1 part off-white and 2 parts pink and mixed them together, but that wasn’t enough; it was way too pink so I added another off-white section so it was 1 part off-white/1 part pink. You can make the petals however much lighter you want, you could even make them darker if you’d rather. But the more different in color they are than the flower the more they’ll stand out, so keep that in mind. Roll and play with it until it’s a congruous color.
Step 4: Roll that new shade of pink (or whatever color you chose to use) out into an even snake approx 1/8 inch thick. Then cut the same size little bits of it out for petals, you need 6 lil chunks for one flower and 12 for a pair. The chunks were about half as long as my finger nail. I used the little plastic knife thing that came in the kit but any straight edge will do it. For whatever reason (the reason is I forgot oops) I didn’t take pictures of the cut out pieces, but you want them to be just slightly smaller than the pieces you cut for the center. Once they’re all cut, roll them into little balls.
Step 5: Line up all the little pink balls onto each of the petals. You want it to be just a little distanced from the center. Now is the trickiest part: That tool I have no name for, you use it to gently push the balls down and out towards the end of the flower petal. I use the bottom of the tool, and try to center the pressure on the top of the ball, and simultaneously push down and pull back. Don’t push or pull too hard, you can go as slow as you need, the clay moves as you do. The good news is, it’s clay. If one of the petals looks a little wonky, you can use the tip of the tool to nudge it into place.
Step 6: Now for the funnest part! (In my opinion, anyway). Use the eye end of the needle to poke holes in the center piece, and use the steak knife to draw lines on the petals. I go from the outside of the petal towards the center as I make the lines, but you could probably do it either way. Also, and in this picture it isn’t done yet, you need to take the tiny circle cutting tool and cut a circle in the tip of the flower for the jump ring. I do it about 50/50 on the dark pink and the light pink, so it’s not too thin at the top.
Step 7: Bake it! The kit I used says to bake at 275 for 30 minutes to an hour, and I usually do 45 minutes since a half hour isn’t enough. Definitely check your clay’s baking instructions though, I have no clue if they’re all the same.
Step 8: Once it’s baked, you need to attach it to the stud. It’s fairly simple, you open the jump ring and slide the flower and the stud onto it, and then you close it. Add a backing and you’re finished! You’ve just made your own flower earrings!
If you make them and want to show me (which I would love, I’m unapologetically the mom friend) I’m on Instagram @kikiforthedays, send me the pictures!
Thank you so much for reading this and I hope your crafting goes splendidly!
-Kiki