Good morning! When I was little, I loved to play with clay. My mother would make me and my brother some home-made clay (don’t even ask me what it was made of) and let us play with it on the kitchen table.
I would squish it through my fingers and make whatever came to mind. Me being the silly girl that i was, would divide it into small pieces, roll it, and shape it to cover my fingernails! I remember getting yelled at when I used my mom’s fingernail polish to paint them!
Anyhow, once discovered jewelry making I rediscovered my love of sculpting with clay!
Polymer clay is not clay. However, it is a Polymer Polyvinyl Chloride which is moldable. This is an amazing medium as you can sculpt the clay into any shape you like, bake it in the oven according to the instructions, and you have a hot little peice of art!
I began making small beads with polymer clay with a bead roller. This is a great little contraption used to make uniform beads in three shapes; round, bicone, and oval. Once I became comfortable enough, I began hand-rolling my beads.
Polymer Clay comes in a variety of colors, including metallics. I think the best value is the multi packs which you can get at any Walmart ranging from $9.00- to $30.00. Of course, the more blocks of clay contained in the package, the more it costs. I love to take two to three colors and perform what is known as “marbling”. I also buy a block of the plain white clay, as you can make your beads, then paint the finished product, or mix it with the other colors.
When I first started to research making jewelry with Polymer Clay, I wasn’t sure which brand to use. There are many, but I think the most popular are Kato, Sculpey, Primo, and Femo.
Most crafters like Premo,Kato, and Fimo because they are not as soft as Sculpey, but I like working with Scupey III, which is a bit firmer than the original Sculpey.
When I make a set of chunky beads, I like using Sculpey Light. It is very lightweight, and won’t add weight to the beads, which you can then hand paint with an acrylic based paint.
Here are a couple of examples of the amazing things I have done with my Polymer Clay….
my first attempt at handrolling my own beads, this is the "marbling" technique
These beads are an example of “marbling”. I mixed powder blue Sculpey III with silver metallic, and dark green. I combined pieces of all three and mixed them until they were intergrated. Be very careful when doing this, unless you want the colors completely mixed to make one other color. I then used unmarked latex gloves to roll the beads into a large oval pillow. I then pierced the beads through the middle very gently as not to disturb their shape with a metal skewer, and suspended them on a bead backing rack which I bought at Michael’s craft store. After about fifteen minutes at 215 degrees, the beads were placed in ice water to set their shape. Be careful, the clay and metal are very hot. (I would also recommend using a dedicated toaster oven for baking the clay, and anyting else you use that comes in contact with Polymer Clay should not come in contact with food!)
After the beads wer cooled, I used my Dremel Pro to sand and buff the beads. Sanding and buffing give them a smooth surface, but be careful because if you sand them too much you will wear grooves in them. You could also use sandpaper, but that takes too long!
After the beads are sanded and buffed, I place them on wooden skewers, dip the beads in a floor wax with acrylic, and stick the skewer in a block of styrofoam to dry. If the weather is good, and there’s no rain in the forecast, I will let them sit outside. If they get wet at this point, they will develop an opaque film on their surface. I usually dip mine a minimum of ten times, which can take an entire day, but the end result is absolutely stunning.
My "Goddess" pendant
I also made this out of red SculpeyIII. ”Goddess” is basically modeled after myself when I was pregnant. It took about a week to get the proportions just the way I wanted, and countless dippings in the floor wax. I used all purpose sand paper to sand in between and under the breasts, and between the legs. This particular pendant is pierced across the top where the shoulders are, and I attached a piece of 20 gauge silver wire, wrapped loops on both ends and attached it to a length of silver chain to wear as a necklace.
This is my absolute favorite pendant to make. This is one of those instances where I used the regular white Sclupey to make the base of the pendant. I then rolled out the brownish-orange color and laid it over the base, carving it on the back of the pendant which is white. I then rolled out a thin sheet of black clay, and used an xacto knife to cut out the stripes, which I then placed on the orange surface. I also attached a loop on the top to make a bail, and baked it on a stone tile in the oven. Here is the finished product.
Tiger Pendant made with SculpeyIII
As you can see, when working with clay, you are only limited by your own imagination. Happy sculpting!!!!
