This is a deceptively easy project you just need 3 coordinating colors of clay and a few tools and you’ve made a showstopping focal pendant!
You need:
- Premo clay: black, gold, and white.
- Pasta Machine to condition the clay (optional)
- Polymer clay blade or sharp knife dedicated to polymer clay
- Acrylic block (like for rubber stamping)
- Swarovski chanton crystal (optional)
Start off by slicing 1/2 inch chunks from your 1 lb blocks of clay. (If you are using individual blocks, use about 3/4 of a block. Condition the clay individually by kneading with your hands or running through the pasta machine 10-15 times. (Read our review of a Pasta Machine for Polymer Clay here.) Next, chop clay into 1 inch chunks. Then, place all three colors in a pile and continue to chop until the pieces are 1/8 inch, or smaller than a pea. Make sure your colors are well mixed. It will look like this:
Take a handful of the mixture and squish it into a ball, making sure you compress the clay well and get all the air pockets out. The ball should be the size of a golf ball or a plum.
Next, we’ll make a tear drop shape by rolling the clay with the acrylic mounting block. Angle the block as shown in the picture, and roll gently to make a big teardrop.
Gently pull the pointy end to draw it out more- we’re going to make it into a bail in a bit!
See how the colors got all swirly?? Don’t you just love it? OK, so now we’re going to actually make it like a pendant- by SMOOSHING it with the acrylic block! You might want to spritz the block with water first to keep it from sticking.
Make sure it’s about the thickness is about 3 nickles’s worth. (Like that precise measurement?)
Take a moment to examine your piece, both sides. Pick the one you like the best- it’s now the front. Using a pencil or knitting needle as a guide, wrap the long end around to the back to make a loop. Press the clay together firmly, using the point of the pencil or knitting needle. The clay will adhere to itself and become permanent during baking.
Place the pendant on a tile, manila folder, or a pie place lined with a paper towel. If you like, press a crystal chanton into the clay. Bake according to directions on the package. (My best tip: make a little “tent” out of aluminum foil and place over- but not touching- your pendant. It will keep it from scorching.
Once it’s cool, you can buff it lightly with some denim (such a rubbing in on the leg of your jeans) to bring up the luster.
I finished my piece by twisting 2 strands of twister beads together, and securing the pendant and the beads with a twister clasp.
SO much fun to make…. what colors would YOU choose?
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