Create Polymer Clay Corner Bookmarks

1. Welcome: Hi, and welcome. I'm Nina Lauder, a polymer clay artist and jewelry maker. I mostly create handmade earrings, but in this class, I wanted to explore something a little different, a simple and functional polymer clay corner bookmark. In this class, we'll create a bookmark that slides neatly onto the corner of your book page. It's a beginner friendly project that focuses on clean shaping, cutting, baking and finishing techniques. This class is structured in a simple and practical way. First, we'll go through the materials you'll need, and then we'll shape and cut the bookmark, bake it properly, and finish it so it's smooth and durable. This class is perfect for beginners, book lovers, and anyone who enjoys small creative polymer clay projects without complicated techniques. If you are ready, let's start creating. 2. Materials: Now we will talk about the materials that you need for this class. First, you need polymer clay. I have a little box of scraps here, but, of course, you can use new clay, but for me is just, you know, when using scraps and you put them together and you just pick the colors, and then you don't know what you're going to get, and it's so thrilling because you are surprised at the end, usually you like it. It's because it just mixes together so well. So you can take really small pieces, leftovers that you have, and this is the way to use the clay, like, all the clay. There are different brands of clay like femo or cernt. You just pick what you like. Um I use many of them, so it's not I don't have a preferred brand of clay because they really work really well. You can also mix different brands and works great. Okay. The next thing that you are going to need is, um, pasta machine, you have to condition your clay so that it's soft and smooth, and then you can also choose how thick your clay is going to be, you know, how thick this part is going to be. And when you put it over your pasta machine, it's even, so it's perfect for that. And it also mixes the colors really well. Now, a very important thing that you need is tile. This is a white, glossy tile. It's not so important that it's white. I love it's white because I can see other colors very well because of that. But the point is that it is glossy. And then when you work with your clay and you use your acrylic roller and then you roll it on, so it doesn't when we are baking, it's going to get such a smooth, you know, surface, and you help yourself with a roller, roll it on, and then it sticks, but you can get the cutter out. If you are using, like, just a normal paper or just do it on the table, you won't get the cutter out. You will actually have your bookmark in the cutter. So I really recommend you have a glossy tile. Okay, so I have mentioned acrylic roller. Really good to roll it on. And this is my cutter. So this is the bottom part square, and this is a triangle that comes on top. Okay. Um, you can buy this. You are going to search it. Actually, my son made this for me. Three D printed, draw printed, and that's why I have it. You could potentially also use maybe just a knife to cut it out so that fits perfectly. Okay. You also need liquid scope or liquid polymer clay. I use liquid scope just because I bought that you special reason. But this is crucial because this is something that will help us stick this together. Um, you also need an oven so that you bake it. And you can just use the regular one. You don't have to buy special polymer clay oven. You just use your in the kitchen. Um, and you need wipes and cloths and things like that all the time. So this is, um, just something that goes with that. Okay, that pretty much covers the materials. So prepare yourself, and let's get started. 3. Process: These are the clay scraps that I'm going to use some greens and some of the purple, but mainly green color. And you should roll it with acrylic roller so that you begin to soften it, condition it. And then we are going to use pasta machine. Okay, here, I'm choosing something for the upper part, so that it's going to be a little bit different but still green. And here is my pasta machine, and I'm rolling the clay through it so that it becomes conditioned softer and the colors mix the way I want. Then you put it on a glossy tile, roll it with a crylic roller and use cutters. This is the lower, and this is the upper part. Triangle is upper. And now I'm going to use cornstarch so it doesn't so that the cutter doesn't stick to the clay. Choose the right color part that you want. Push it in a bit. And then you have your shape. Now I'm going to clean the corn starch a bit with my brush, and then I take away the excess clay. And again, I'm going to put it through the pasta machine. Little bit of purple. I'm thinking here, and then it will get a different color or not, I will see I will see what I like. So I put it in the pasta machine a few times. And the purple actually mixed in it quite a lot, so I won't be using much of purple clay, but I like this part. So again, acrylic roller, so it sticks on the tile. Put your cutter into cornstarch so that it doesn't stick to the clay, push it in, choose right place on the clay that you want to and remove the excess clay. Now I'm using my Opa blade so that I get the lower part away from the tile, and now I'm smoothing the edges so that I won't have to do it when it's baked. And now, the upper part. And now I can test how I'm going to put it. 4. Baking: Now, baking instructions. First, we will cut out the clay, put it on the tile. It's going to be cut on the tile, and then we bake separately the lower and upper piece. Okay. How I do it, of course, read the instructions that are written on the clay, you know, the written like that on the back of the clay, so you can read it and you can follow them precisely what I do because it says that bake your pieces 30-45 minutes. What I do is I don't preheat the oven. I just put it on 130 degrees and I just put the tile in, and then I leave it for 45 minutes. Then turn the oven off and I leave it over the night so that everything cools down slowly and naturally in the oven, and then in the morning, I take it out. So this is my procedure and it works. But with the bookmark, we are going to have to repeat the process because first, we bake lower and upper part, and then we put liquid clay to stick it together. Then we bake it one more time, but this time, this period can be shorter. It can be 30 minutes. It works really fast. And that's it. This is my procedure, and you are going to see what works for you. 5. Process 2nd Part: Now I use liquids copy, put it on a piece of paper, just a little bit. Now my clay is baked already. And now I'll see how to turn the upper part. You just see the side, check a bit. And here I'm using a small piece of paper, and I'm putting liquid clay on the edge and be careful so that it does not touch the paper, otherwise it will glue together. So just put liquid clay on the edge, put on the upper part. Leave the paper inside, but make sure it doesn't touch the edges so that it doesn't stick. And now we are going to bake it again for 30 minutes. 6. Class Project: Now, it's your turn to create your own polymer clay corner bookmark. Start by shaping and cutting a piece that fits comfortably onto the corner of a book page. Keep the structure simple and make sure it slices on smoothly without being too tight. From there, you can personalize the design, choose colors you love, experiment with soft color blends or keep it clean and minimal. You can also add little textures or small decorative details if you like. After baking and finishing your bookmark, test it inside a book to see how it fits. Once you are happy with the result, take a photo and upload it to the project gallery. I'd love to see your design and the colors you have chosen. 7. Thank you: That brings us to the end of this class. I hope you enjoyed creating your polymer clay corner bookmark and exploring how simple shapes can turn into something both beautiful and functional. Small projects like this are a great way to experiment with color, surface design, and finishing techniques. If you created a bookmark, don't forget to share it in the project gallery. I always love to see your work and the creative choices you make. Thank you for creating with me, and I'll see you in the next class, maybe.