Need Something Pretty to Make For Your Mom?
Handcrafted jewelry like the pair of polymer clay bead earrings in today’s photo, are not only quick to make, but they are also perfect for gift giving on mothers day. These special earrings were created with lentil beads, glass beads and gunmetal chain.
If you look carefully at the photo, you’ll see that the two earrings are not identical in size. This difference is balanced by adding an extra glass bead to the earring with the smaller lentil. It gives the set character and artistic charm. Something unique to handmade goods.
The great thing about giving earrings as gifts, is a woman can never have too many of them. You need a pair for every outfit!
So they’re perfect for the mom who already has everything. Plus they are small and won’t take up a lot of space should you have mother who is at the stage of downsizing their life (like mine is).
Another great gift idea for mom’s on Mothers day is a beaded bookmark. If you want to learn more about this gift idea topic, then check out the this post: Beaded Book Thongs Made With Polymer Clay Dangle Beads
So whether you are a mother yourself, or will be spending a special day with your mom this weekend, have a very Happy Mother’s Day!
Great idea! Not for my mom as she doesn’t wear them…but…I have a craft show this weekend, and I know I have some lentil beads that I didn’t now what to do with…thanks so much! Now I know exactly what to do with them!!!!
That’s great Deborah! Earrings are a perfect thing to sell at craft fairs! They are an easy purchase to make, no matter the economy. Good luck on your sales!
Cindy,
I want to make a large chain link necklace completely out of polymer clay. Is there a way to do that? I do not want to add jewelry findings to connect the polymer clay links together. I really want to find a way to connect one polymer clay link directly to the next polymer clay link. If I put them together in the raw form then bake them, they will fuse together during the baking process and will not “move” when around the neck. Any suggestions?
Natalie
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Sure Natalie! You will have to make sure the links are made with a strong enough clay like Premo, Fimo or Kato and not Sculpey III.
To keep the links from sticking together either put cornstarch where the links touch or slip a piece of paper between them.
I would recommend backing on a bed of cornstarch since it would support the ‘wonky’ shape of the chain. Make sure to bake for at least an hour so it is strong.
(Learn more about baking on cornstarch by typing ‘cornstarch’ in the search box at the top of the page.)
You could possibly put wire inside the links if they weren’t strong enough. I would test it with just a couple of links first. You can then add more links if it works, since the clay can be baked an unlimited number of times.
Let us know how it turns out!
Thanks for the info Cindy! Before I can start that project, I have another one that I am attempting to complete & ran across an issue that pertained to the question you just answered for me. I was creating some round beads & strung them along a wire. I was trying to pack a lot on the wire so I strung a piece of card stock paper between each bead (to prevent them from touching each other). When I finished the hour long baking, allowed them to cool, then tried to slide them off the wire, the card stock was stuck to the bead. When I separated the paper from the bead, a portion of the paper remained on the bead. Obviously, I can correct this problem in the future with the beads by simply separating them by space so that they do not touch & not even use the card stock. However, this brought up the issue with the link necklace I want to start next. How do I prevent the card stock from sticking to my links if I use it to separate the links? Please note that I used a “recycled” card stock. It was printed (I think it was a coupon for Pampers Diapers). Would this have made a difference? Should I only use plain white card stock (with no writing on it) from now on? It was not just the ink portion of the card stock that came off on my beads; it was the paper itself that just tore away from itself & attached to my bead. Also, you should know I was using Sculpey III clay for this project since it was my first one to start out with (saw no reason to spend any more than I need to for what will probably be just a practice piece of jewelry). I will be switching to one of the other polymer clay brands that you recommended when I begin work on the link necklace. Any idea what went wrong on this one? Also, any suggestions on how to fix it? Is sanding the paper off the best option?
That fact that your card stock stuck to your clay Natalie, leads me to believe that there was a coating on your card stock and that is what stuck to your project.
Try using plain office paper instead and you will find it won’t stick at all.You will be able to scrub off the stuck paper with water and sandpaper and should be able to salvage your piece.
I have been subscribing to Cindy Lietz Tutor since about October ’08. Her daily blogs are free to all and I find them very informative. Cindy does not try to cram in too much information and is excellent in presenting in a concise, organized and informative way. Her video tutorials are very well done; picture quality and content are excellent. Cindy and husband Doug do photo editing before posting a tutorial and do a lot of close up shots in a variety of angles of a bead or project; I am sure a lot of footage “ends up on the cutting room floor.” As in her daily blogs, she does not repeat what others have already covered but does does research and tries techniques before posting a video showing what she has found to be most successful.
As a paid subscriber, I love the color pallet recipes and don’t know where else to get anything like them. I am confident she has tried out recipes before posting them on her site.
The $9.95 for three months is an excellent value because of the above stated reasons. I have been following this site on a daily basis long enough to know the blogs, recipes and videos have saved me a lot of frustration, discouragement and money through techniques that save time and materials.