Harry Potter Jewelry, Owl Beads and Book Charms from Polymer Clay

I am! I made a Sorting Hat pendant last week, just before I saw the new HP movie. I made also a EVE pendant(from WALL-E), Tranformers pendants(Autobots and Decepticons logos), an Hedwig and a R2-D2 bookmarks, an elven brooch from LOTR…

Your little owl looks very cute! :)

Cindy your owl and HP book are adorable. Yes, I am a huge HP fan. Unfortunately, I have not been to see the newest movie. Hoping someone will be going and give me a ride to the movie theater. I enjoy hand sculpting, although I am not great at it. I think movies very much so inspire us to create. I recently made pendants for all my nieces that love Twilight. Also each had to have their own pair of fangs. (Made with dental acrylic). They are a scary bunch…lol….

I am! I've made a loomed Ravenclaw necklace, Ravenclaw themed earrings, and I used an image transfer technique to make PC Ravenclaw house badges for my and my friends when we went to see HBP at the midnight showing =D (Do we see a theme here?)

I share your passion. Have read the books but not fan enough to see all the films.
Never thought to use it as inspiration.
I have used other children's books as inspiration though.
Your owl is very nice!

Cindy, if you are "silly" and I am not then I want to be. Love your idea with HP. The girls would find this inspiration "to die for". They love HP and have read all the books and seen most of the movies. Becca and Linda are the summer visitors from Texas and have been making their own jewelry, pendants and earrings, their own designs since their arrival in June. I would love to have more instruction on the book and owl. Thanks, Cindy for all your sharing and teaching.

Cindy:

How cute are these! I am not really a Harry Potter fan but I still love and appreciate these adorable little charms. What a fun idea to make for the HP fans we all know and love.

Love to see many of you make Movie Themed stuff as well! Means I'm not the only one to have a playful side! :-)

@Joyce: Probably won't get to making any owl bead or book charm tutorials before your Granddaughters are gone, but I do have a suggestion. Why don't you take photos of Becca and Linda's jewelry and get them to write about their summer polymer clay vacation with grandma. (They are your Granddaughters, right?) This would make for a great Spotlight feature. Just think how proud they would be to be featured on the Net! They could send all their friends to see it when they got back home.

Hi Cindy,
Thanks for the invitation for the girls. They were excited to think they would be on the Net. It may not happen until they are finished with their swimming lessons this week but we will give it a try. Great experience for them. Gotta run…

Sounds great Joyce! Can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

Cindy, have another video request based on those delightful charms. Would love to see how you create a fabric clay sheet to cover altoid tins, pens, etc., to mimic the appearance and feel of real Corinthian leather (goodbye Ricado) as a manly themed gift.

Had some good luck using the rust/copper/brown/gold families together, and the metallics can create shadows that look like well handled leather objects. Also added a good dose of translucent into the mix. At the end I wrinkled the sheets and put them through the pasta machine to imitate the striations and wear.

Antiqued them by kicking the finished laminated boxes and stuff around on the floor just a bit…perfect dings and dents (LOL!!!), then threw on a sepia wash, wiped that down, baked again, then rubbed with Dutch floox canuba wax and buffed buffed buffed.

I am sorry to say that I GAVE these away and they went like hotcakes. Had a dark green leather series, a gold tan, a coppery red, a brown gold, and a blue series. The most popular was a round CD case.

My favorite site for small glass bottles and tins to cover is: specialtybottle.com. They have a great selection of tins and other neat stuff.

Hope you enjoy the site.

Your technique sounds extremely cool Jocelyn! Will have to play around with your ideas. As far as the way I did the leather on the book, I will put that on the list of possible technique videos. Faux leather beads and such do make excellent gifts for men!

If I make an item (dangle) out of very thin clay, will it last or will it break? How thin can I go and at what temperature can I bake it? What can I use to write a message on clay?

Hi Cheryl, good question!

How thin you can go depends on what kind of clay you use and how well you cure it. I would recommend you make a sample at the thickness you want and bake it for an hour. Then wear it around in the manner you plan to use it. ie on a bracelet, necklace, purse, etc. Then see how it does. There are too many variables to give you exact advice. Experimentation is your best bet!

Click the baking Beads link by my name on more info on baking beads for a longer time than what it says on the package. You'll find your clay cures much stronger if you do.

Thanks Cindy. How do I write a message on clay?

Hi Cheryl. You can scratch it into the clay with a needle tool and then antique later with antiquing medium.