Crafting: polymer clay


I’m currently a bit confused, as I wanted to do this post as a follow up to the last one on polymer clay, but it turns out I didn’t write that one, despite me remembering the post. Well, just imagine that you read the first part of this post 4 weeks ago or so.

Having seen gorgeous shit on social media, I decided to do some polymer clay jewellery. I did a lot of it as a kid/ young teen, but the style back then was pretty different. I saw some tutorial on youtube and decided to go for a calaidoscope cane.

two pairs of earrings. Each earring consists of two square parts with the same pattern: colourful shapes wrapped in black, all symmetrical.

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Now, while I liked the results, I didn’t like two things: One, it’s very material intensive. That was easily 10 bucks worth in polymer clay and if you fuck up that’s it.

Two: You end up with lots of the same. I can understand why there’s a lot of small businesses making polymer clay jewellery: You can actually create things within a reasonable time in a way you can’t do with beads. But I’m just making stuff for myself and friends and family,  so I don’t need 50 pieces with the same pattern.

So I thought: This was nice, but I’m not going to do much more of it. Well, I should have known I was wrong. Of course I did. I learned different techniques (I’m still learning, they aren’t coming out quite as planned yet) where you can use smaller amounts of clay and end up with a couple of pieces, not a whole drawer full.

A pair of earrings. on a brown marbled background are white cala lilies and green and gold leaves

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A pair of earrings. green and old leaves on a brown marbled background.

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Oval earrings, blended yellow purple and blue, with abalone shells.

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U shaped earrings in blue, yellow and purple

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The last two pairs are a bit too bright for my taste, but the kid already stole some, so I guess they came out alright.

Small colourful studs

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The good thing about having may hobbies is that I have many tools, so I used my silicone moulds for the scraps. While I love my big earrings, my ears occasionally appreciate small studs.

Drop shaped earings. white pieces with blue lines

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This is another technique where you cover the clay pieces in mica powder. Again, I’m happily stocked in that particular area and I really like the results. Now to my favourite pieces from that collection:

Round blue and white earrings with a dragonfly charm

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I’m just in love with them. The charms (again, yay for having tons of craft supplies) work just perfect.

The next pieces are from the same batch, only that I had to roll the clay more thinly and it turned into a whole different affair:

Moon shaped earrings, white and blue

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varios small studs in white and blue

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The effect became more like marble, with the colours blending more. Again, lots of nice, light studs. I think I could do with a second pair of ears.

Comments

  1. amts says

    They are all gorgeous but for some reason I’m particularly ford of the last two. Thanks for sharing.

  2. Tethys says

    The set of dangling earrings in photo seven are gorgeous! The kaleidoscope pattern is also quite nice.
    I love greens, and the patterns look like old porcelain painted with abstract roses and foliage. I can’t wear earrings, but I always enjoy seeing your artistic creations.

  3. Jazzlet says

    Wow polymer clay modelling has moved on since I tried it in the 80s. You’ve done lots of lovely!

  4. Ice Swimmer says

    Both the cartoonish ones and the cute and sweet looking ones are gorgeous. And then there are the dragonfly and unreal wood pieces and the dangling earrings with the network of veins, all of which are handsome and extra gorgeous.

  5. says

    If you have big leftovers from some pattern, maybe they could be made into big enough pieces for making knife handle scales or bolsters? I do not know how this actually behaves after it is hardened, but I think some of the patterns shown here would look nice on knives.

    I was wondering why you are posting these only on Instagram and not writing anything here, maybe that is why you got confused about writing an article here. I know that this does happen to me when I am overstressed/overworked.

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