Super excited to share with you all my latest DIY project! Yep, you’ve guessed it.. Polymer Clay Necklaces! So easy, so stylish, so cheap and so many possibilities!
What you’ll need
❤ Modelling Clay
(I used Steadtler FIMO oven bake modelling clay, at AU$4.75 a 56g block from Lincraft. In my example I bought the primary colours + white so I could mix and match colours)
❤ String/chain/twine
(I used some beige twine thread, just a cheap buy from the dollar store at AU$2.50 for 5m)
❤ Skewer or toothpick
❤ Glass plate or dish
❤ Oven
Now for the fun part..
Step 1. Make sure you have clean hands. Decide on your colours and what shape you would like your beads to be. Work on one bead at a time and play with it in your hands to warm the clay up, once warmed up the colours will mix properly and you can shape it to however you would like. Get creative! Give it texture, slice it, roll it, mix it – you can make great swirls of colour when you mix colours in one bead! Make it round, square.. it’s all up to you.
Step 2. Once you’ve made your desired number of beads and they’re looking great, grab your skewer and create a whole all the way through your beads so that you’ll be able to thread them onto your twine or chain. Just make sure that the holes are large enough for your chain to actually fit through and that you have positioned the holes taking into account how they will sit on the chain at the end.
Step 3. Place all your beads on to your glass dish and pop them in the oven! Stick to the individual baking instructions on your clay packet as some clays vary a little. For my beads I had to bake them at 110ºC (230ºF) for 30 mins. Hopefully your 30mins go quicker for you than what mine did for me – I was just too excited to get out my beads and put the whole necklace together that it seemed to take forrrreverrr in the oven ;). Once done, I turned the oven off, opened the door and let them cool down in the heat of the oven.
Step 4. Once your beads have cooled down you have an opportunity to sand them to create a faceted look or any other last touches to the outside of them. Then use a little bit of olive oil to smooth and shine them. You can paint polymer clay, so alternatively if you don’t have great colours then feel free to paint them, just make sure you read up on what to coat them with over the top of the paint so that it lasts longer and doesn’t chip. Now grab your twine and thread the beads on! It’s really up to you how you want your necklace to connect, you can buy all sorts of different connections but I like to keep my necklace cheap and simple so I just tied a quick sliding adjustment knot. I like this knot because you can add two little beads to the ends, but there is also this knot for a quick simple one to do the job. Waalaa! All done! Now you have a lovely necklace!
I’d love to hear your responses to my tutorial. What colours & shapes were your beads?
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