Heart Beads For Valentines Jewelry Made Using a Polymer Clay Mold
7 Easy Steps For Making A Molded Polymer Clay Heart Bead:
This molded heart shape bead was made in several steps. The process started by first using a metal heart pendant I had on hand, to make a polymer clay mold. The polymer clay mold was then used as the form to create the final polymer clay bead.
Now I'll Go Into More Detail For Each Of The 7 Steps:
1) Start by dusting one side of the metal heart pendant with cornstarch to act as a release agent. Then push that heart shaped metal side into a piece of soft, scrap polymer clay. Be sure the depression in the clay is deep enough to make a full impression of one full half of the metal pendant shape.
2) Don't remove the metal heart from the clay at this stage. Just put the clay with the metal heart still embedded, right into the oven and bake for 1 hour at 265 F. Leaving the metal in the clay during the baking process helps to preserve all the fine details that you want transferred into the clay.
3) After the baking process is finished, but while the clay is still warm, remove the metal heart to see how your mold turned out. Let the clay cool properly before moving onto the next step.
4) Now you will have a hard baked polymer clay mold in which you can make your polymer clay beads. Dust the mold with cornstarch and push in a fresh ball of good clay. Press the clay in carefully with your fingers to make sure it has reached all the crevices of the mold.
5) Pop out the molded half of your heart bead from the mold and bake it. Don't bake the raw clay in the polymer clay mold for this step. The heat would bond them together.
6) Repeat Step 4 again to create the other half-side of your heart bead. But before popping this one out of the mold, press the back side of the first (already-baked) heart shape, against the back side of this new half. Smooth out the edges and then remove the mold. You will now have a two sided heart-shaped bead with one side fully baked and the other side not. Bake the entire bead in the oven… it's OK that the first half gets re-baked a second time [Related Article: Re-Baking Polymer Clay Will Not Harm Your Beads]. I bake the bead in two stages like that because it is easier to avoid distortion and fingerprints that way.
7) After baking and lightly sanding, I like to rub paint into the crevices of this type of bead to make the design stand out.
This molded heart pendant would make a lovely Valentine Jewelry piece. But you can also wear it year round, whenever you need a little love around your neck!
Here are some links to a few of other posts about heart beads… enjoy!
Filed Under: 05: Techniques, 06: Bead Shapes by Comment. 
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Comments on Heart Beads For Valentines Jewelry Made Using a Polymer Clay Mold
6:44 am
What a great idea. Thanks so much!!!!
9:23 am
This was such great information. I tried imprinting objects into clay and the image ended up, well so-so. I am sure the problem was that I accidently decreased the sharpness when the clay was pulled away. Baking in the clay will solve that problem. I had never considered baking one half and then attaching the raw half. I always wondered how people got both sides to look so good. I used the juggling technique, trying not to make distortions by handling either side too much.
Once again Cindy, the close up pictures are much better. Thanks for making that change.
5:45 pm
@Tinuke: You're welcome!
@Anna: I'm not really sure if other people do it this way, but like you I couldn't help squashing them the other way! Some people make molds of both sides but I find it tricky to get a clean edge with them, and then I still have trouble getting the piece out of the mold without wrecking it! One side at a time seems to work way better for me.
3:50 am
I like your work, and I want to learn it.
I make peactures and other prodacts from pressed flowers and leaves.
Hello from Belgrade.
11:18 am
Thank you Nena! Pressed flowers and leaves are wonderful to work with, you can even combine them with polymer clay!
If you would like to learn how to work with polymer clay, I have a beginners course in video that would be perfect for you. Click the link by my name for more information.
Love to see you here, all the way from Belgrade! Welcome!
2:41 am
Can you use a PC mold for PMC?
5:56 pm
Yes you can Ken. If you do make a mold for your PMC (Precious Metal Clay) from polymer clay, use olive oil as a mold release so your PMC clay doesn't get stuck in it. If you use your mold for polymer clay, use water or cornstarch instead.
Hope that helps!
4:09 am
It sure does. I found a website that sells molds and was just curious. If anybody is interested, the name is Madaboutmolds (one word). They have some beautiful Cameo molds that I am looking forward to trying once I get a few more projects under my belt. Doing a search with that name should get you to the link
6:26 pm
Holy cow Ken they have some great molds! Just when I think I've seen everything to do with polymer clay, someone like you introduces me to something more! Thank you!
9:42 am
I know one of the reasons you like Premo for canes is that it's firmer. Would Premo's firmness help in molding as well?
I made a mold of an old crucifix to make a Rosary for someone, but when I go to unmold the peice, one of the "arms" of the cross keeps breaking off in the mold. I've tried the cornstarch, talcum powder, water. Chilling it in the freezer a few mins..
This was a test to see if the mold works, I'm using scrap clay of a brand which I won't mention. :)
11:36 am
Yes you are probably right Ken! I'm assuming you were trying to mold Sculpey III and it kept breaking?
(It's OK to mention the brand. It's not like you are just slamming it to be mean. What you're saying is totally true. Hopefully one day Polyform will read some of the negative blog posts out there and do something about Sculpey III.)
If you are going to be making a lot of molds, you may find that Sculpey Mold Maker to be a better product to use. (Polyform does make some good products too. ) It is more flexible when baked, than any of the regular polymer clays.
With a more flexible mold, you could probably get even unmold Sculpey III without breaking it. (But then again it would probably break after its baked, so what's the point?) :-)
Hope that helps!
8:18 pm
thank you, it helps alot, the molds were made with premo though, I'm slowly using up the Sculpey III, and replacing it with premo and fimo so I can try your color recipies.
The molds I made are fine, I even left them in longer like you mentioned in one of your articles, it is the positive that comes out of the mold that keeps breaking as I unmold it, I'm only experimenting with the sculpey III to check how the positive looks and to experiment on finishes before I use the "good" clay. If the positive is acceptable I may actually try it later in the PMC's (silver, gold and bronze)
11:15 am
I have just written a new article on different materials that you can use for making molds that will be posted in a few days. You may find it helpful so watch for that.
Hopefully something will get you the results you want. Thanks for your comment!