How to make charms out of your Fimo clay and Sculpey projects:
Q: I’m not sure if you can answer this, and I had no clue where to post it on the forums! For some reason, I seem to be unable to find any information to tell this newbie how you affix clasps and things to the string! Silly thing, I know! I have a wonderful cute penguin charm I made from clay and I’d like to wear him! Thanks! ~Michelle
A: Hi Michelle. Since yesterday’s post had a penguin theme to do with polymer clay kids crafts and teacher resources, I just had to respond to your question here today.
Small sculpted clay pieces (especially penguins:) make great charms and pendants. To turn them into something that can hang from a necklace or clip you will first need to add a finding to it.
If your clay item has a hole in it like a bead does, you can use what is called a head pin to convert it into a charm. A head pin is basically a piece of wire that has a head on it, like a straight pin does. It is quite flexible and easy to bend.
What you do is slide the head pin into the hole of the bead with the head on the bottom and the rest of the pin sticking out the top. The part that sticks out is then formed into a loop using round nose pliers. If the loop is big enough you can run your necklace though it, otherwise you will need to add a jump ring or a bail to the loop.
If your charm, does not have a hole in it, you can use a small screw eye like the ones pictured above in the photo.
The smaller one pictured is approximately 5/16″ long and the hole or ring measures about 1/8″. It has a nice silver finish but you can also find them in gold. They are available in the jewelry section of most craft stores.
The larger one which is still tiny at 3/8″, can often be found in the hardware store or the woodworking section of a craft store.
You will first need to drill a tiny ‘pilot’ hole before twisting in the screw eye… or the pendant / charm may crack. Always drill an ‘undersized’ hole so the screw threads still have something to grab onto.
To add the clasps to the ends of a necklace there are a few different ways to do that depending on the material you are using. There are so many techniques in fact, that I will have to make some demo videos in the future to explain them all.
Hopefully these quick tips about polymer clay charm jewelry findings will help point you in the right direction Michelle. Let me know how it works out with your miniature penguin sculpture. And if you have follow up questions or if something wasn’t clear, feel free to use the comments section below to chat further.
Thanks so much for taking the time to answer that. It helped me bunches!
You are very welcome Michelle!!
Cindy,
What great idea to use those small eye screws!! I would be inclined to use a small amount of glue on the threads to prevent it coming loose. What you think?
I agree MJ! A little drop of Krazy glue or its equivalent would be an excellent idea!
I love this article and have a tip for using brass eye screws . They offer a different look and are always available. they also look nice with copper wires on your earrings. Thanks again Beth
Good suggestion Beth! Brass has had a resurgence lately and would make a perfect addition to jewelry charms!
Could you insert the screw eye before baking the bead?
Sure Marsha… that’s a good idea! If it is loose after baking, just glue it in with Krazy Glue.
Hi, me and my daughter made some cute little monster figurines with crystal mouths and Amethyst and Citrine. They’re really cute, and we put hand stamps on them and they’re awesome.
So we baked them and then after the fact I said, Oh Wouldn’t it be cool to put some foil or glitter just for the cheeks or around the hair or something, you know, very minimal. So I tried to do research on what to use after they’re already baked, and it seems like if I use a spray can with glitter in it, it will eat away at the clay. I tried to buy foil which had adhesive on the back end to reheat it in the oven so it melted onto the surface. That fell off… I don’t want to wreck them either, so I don’t want to be putting you know sealant on top, or a glaze, or you know a glue that’s going to discolor over time or chip off.
Is there anything you can suggest that we can use to just add a little bit of color? I was told acrylic paint, but again I don’t want to seal it. I don’t want to have shiny… or… I don’t want to wreck it… is the thing. So part of me feels like I should leave it as is… our little monsters. But I’d like to add some color, but I can’t seem to find anything that will hold up over time and not chip and not fade, without sealing the whole thing and making it look uneven. I’m kind of OCD for perfect.
Anyway, thank you. I hope you’re safe during this time.
Hi Kellie, your little monsters sound adorable! I can see why you don’t want to wreck your pieces.
If it were me, I would use a glazing medium, like the ones made by Golden or Liquitex, and I would mix a touch of PearlEx powder and/or a tiny touch of acrylic paint in it to make a transparent glaze. Then you could just dip your finger or a Q-Tip into the sparkly glaze and rub it where you want it. (Think tinted lip gloss.) You can always wipe it off with a damp paper towel, while it is still wet but it will stay on there pretty good once it is dry.
You could do this trick with an acrylic varnish as well, but I like the glaze a little better since it has a little more “open time” and will blend a little smoother and easier. (It is what glazing liquid is designed to do.) Since glazing liquid is transparent, you can also build up layers of the glaze to get the most even coverage. You can buy the glaze in gloss or satin (maybe matte as well but not positive on that.) Just keep the layers super thin and they shouldn’t chip or flake off or anything. Since they are artist grade and acrylic, you don’t need to worry about yellowing or anything either.
Definitely do not use a spray paint though… that will cause you issues with compatibility and sticky clay down the road.
Let me know if you decide to try it. I would love to see how your little guys turn out!