Custom Polymer Clay Pendants - Hearts & Skulls!

It is always such an honor when customers like my work enough to come back and purchase more in my Etsy shop.   I had a repeat order this week for two more custom pendants!  It is such fun to create unique pieces to match someone's favorite clothing. If you would like something designed just for you, you can order a custom pendant here.

These polymer clay pendants incorporated a number of techniques including silkscreening and rubber stamping.  A wide variety of Makin's® tools made the process a breeze - including their rectangular, square and round clay cutters, mini geo cutters, the Ultimate Clay Machine® and Ultimate Clay Extruder®.

4th of July Polymer Clay Embellished Patriotic Vase DIY Video

In this episode from the Makin's Clay® Design Studio, I create a festive centerpiece for your 4th of July picnic table using a variety of Makin's Clay® products, etchall® etching creme, and more!  The process for creating the clay stars is highlighted in the video, but I also wanted to show you how easy it is to etch glass (mirrors, slate, ceramics.....) with etchall®, so I'm sharing that process in more detail below.

Remove the label from the bottle you wish to repurpose.  I used a steel wool scrubbing pad to remove the residue.  Wash and dry the bottle.     

                                                                                                   

My bottle has a flat front and back, so I chose to only etch those surfaces to give a frosted effect, and left the sides clear.  If your bottle is round, you can either etch certain areas or the entire surface.

Use a squeegee to apply a thick coat of etchall® Creme to the surface of the bottle.   Let set 15

minutes.

Return the creme to the bottle.  etchall® is re-usable!  Wash the bottle to remove remaining cream. 

Repeat on opposite side of bottle. 

You now have a softly frosted bottle that is ready for your decorating! The etched surface is perfect for rubber stamping with permanent ink, decorative painting, or embellishing with dimensional elements like the handmade Makin's Clay® stars used on this Patriotic project.

Try glass etching today - etchall® makes it easy! 

Sea Turtle Polymer Clay Pendant

Today on the Makin's Clay® blog you can find the instructions for creating my imple "sea turtle" pendant.   Hello summer! 

Colorful Succulent Polymer Clay Pendant

One day an ad for this stunning Succulent Melamine Dinner Plate from Pier I Imports appeared on my Facebook feed and I immediately thought - POLYMER CLAY!!!  I saved the image and decided to create my version as a bold pendant.  I pretty pleased with the result!  

Ingredients:

premo! Sculpey® - Wasabi, Spanish Olive 

Makin’s® Circle Cutter 3 piece set and 4 piece set - 16mm circle, 60mm circle 

Makin’s Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®

Makin’s Professional® Professional Clay Tools - Sphere tool 

Acrylic paint - Teal, Chartreuse, Scarlet, Medium Purple, Dark Purple 

Sponge

Clay blade

Clay machine

Clay roller

Tile

Ivory satin cording

Instructions:

To create the green for the succulent, condition and mix 4 oz Wasabi with 1 oz Spanish Olive.  

Roll with clay machine, starting on setting #1 (thickest) and proceeding one setting at time to setting #4.  

Place onto tile (or other nonstick surface). 

Use 60mm cutter to cut disc from rolled clay.

Use 16mm cutter to cut numerous circles from rolled clay. 

Gently pinch together edge of each small circle to create tip of each leaf. 

I based my coloring upon the inspiration photo, but change your colors as desired.  

Pour out a small amount of each color of acrylic paint. 

Cut sponge into small sections.  Dampen sponge pieces. 

Gently dab a sponge section into each color of paint and very gently sponge paint onto leaves in desired combinations of color.  Use 2-3 colors on each for the best blend of shades.  

Begin arranging leaves around the outer edge of the base disc, letting about 1/4” extend beyond the disc.  Use sphere tool to gently impress bottom edge of each leave into the base.  

Repeat with next layer, placing leaves over the spots where the base layer meet as shown. 

Repeat with remaining layers. 

Make a small somewhat triangular shaped piece of clay to fit in center of the succulent.  

Sponge a touch of color on center piece.

Bake according to manufacturer instructions.  Let cool. 

Roll a scrap of the green clay and cut a small circle.  Roll into tube and mount to back top of pendant, using a touch of Bake & Bond to adhere.   Bake according to manufacturer instructions. 

Add ivory satin cording.  I prefer to use sliding knot closures, but add a mechanical closure if desired. 

Custom Polymer Clay Pendant

I was super excited to receive my first official "Custom Order" in my Etsy shop yesterday!  The buyer had purchased this cute dress from another Etsy shop, and wanted something designed to wear with it.  We talked about her style preferences, she shared close up photos of some of the elements of the dress, and my mind began to whirl!   This morning I finished her pendant and I'm happy to say she's very pleased!   Update.... someone asked how I got that floral pattern in the center strip - I used my Makin's® Floral push mold as a "stamp" instead of a mold - a trick I learned from Patricia Roberts-Thompson!  Then colored the flowers and leaves individually with mica powders.  

Beachy Keen Polymer Clay Pendant

Luminous semi-translucent "ocean water" meets polymer clay sand and molded seashells on this pendant which is a perfect accent for your summer outfits!  Products from CreateAlong.com, Makin's Clay® and more were used.  The tutorial for this project is featured in the June issue of Polymer Clay Universe Magazine!   There are several other great tutorials in this issue!

Southwestern Etched Wine Glass Mini Succulent Planter

These mini succulent gardens would be fun little gift for a wine lover, or even great little party favors.  Etch the bride & groom’s names and wedding date, or change the design however you want.  For this one I chose a Southwestern theme. 

Materials:

etchall® Creme

etchall® etchmask™ Stencil ComboPak

etchall® Squeegee 

etchall® pick tool 

Elecronic die cutting machine (or stencil, or clip art to trace) 

Scissors 

Wine glass 

Sand

Succulent (real or faux... you can get great faux ones in the Dollar Tree!) 

Optional:

Polymer clay - premo! Sculpey® Silver, faux “turquoise” 

Suede cording 

Judikins Diamond Glaze™

Southwestern themed stamp 

Clay roller 

Oval clay cutters

Instructions:

To create the lizard images you have a few options.  I used clip art, edited on my computer to remove the background, sized to about 2” across, and cut  with an electronic die cutting machine using etchmask.   But, you could also use a stencil to trace and cut out the images, or even print the clip art and trace it onto the etchmask and then cut them out.   

Once my die cut versions were ready, I used the pick tool to remove the lizards - we are working with the negative space for this project. 

Cut around the lizards leaving about 3/4" space around the images and carefully mount onto the top area of the wine glass, allowing the top of the etchmask to wrap down over the edge of the glass (to the inside).  I put them on opposite sides of the glass.  Be sure they are adhered well and all edges around the image itself are held tight to the glass.

Apply a thick coat of etchall creme.   Carefully rotate glass and apply cream to the image
on the opposite side.  Turn glass over on scrap paper and let set 15 minutes.  (Tip - wrpaping the etchmask over the top edge ensures that any cream that may drip downard does not etch the rim of the glass. )

 

Return creme to bottle, etchall is re-usable! 

Wash glass and remove etchmask.  Let dry. 

Add small succlent to glass and fill around roots with sand.   

I chose to further embellish my little “Southwestern” garden with a faux turqouise wine glass charm.  For instructions on how I first created the faux turquoise center stone - view this awesome tutorial on the Jessama Tutorials YouTube channel.   

For the base, I rolled silver clay, stamped it with an uninked stamp to add a Southwestern pattern, and cut an oval a bit larger than my faux turquoise cabochon.   

Then, this was flipped over and the faux turquoise stone was added to the flat slide.  I rolled a thin strand of silver clay and wrapped it around the cabochon and then used the flat edge of a clay tool to make small indentations around the edge to create a pattern. 

I made a hole at the center top large enough for the suede cording.   I baked it according to manufacturer instructions and let cool.   

Then, I applied a coat of Diamond Glaze to the cabochon itself.  Once it was dry, I strung it onto suede cording and tied it to the stem of the glass.