How to Make Easy Marbled Earrings Using Polymer Clay and Resin

1. Welcome!: I want to make some earrings that look really impressive, but are actually surprisingly easy to make, then you are in the right place. Hi. I'm Ia rafter. I've been a polymer clay sculptor for over 11 years now, and I love creating realistic miniature art. In this quick course, I'm going to teach you exactly what it takes to make this super simple marble design, which looks fancy enough to sell, gift to family and friends or keep all to yourself. And without further ado, let's get started. 2. Materials + Class Project: For this class, you will need a basic understanding of polymer clay and optionally a basic understanding of resin as well. I have intro classes on both of these topics that you can watch before this one. But if you are ready to sculpt, here's what you will need. Polymer clay, liquid polymer clay, or bacon bond, earring hooks or posts, clay cutters, UV resin, and any decorative embellishments, such as acrylic paint, Mica powders, glitter, and gold leaf. For your class project, I want you to create your own pair of marbled earrings, using at least one color of polymerclay, and at least one additive of your choice. In the upcoming demonstration, I'll be making a few earrings using different decorative materials. You'll get an idea of what some combinations can look like. But I'd recommend experimenting with additional polymer clay safe materials and getting creative with your designs. Now, let's start sculpting. 3. Marbling the Clay: First off, I'm going to start extra easy by making a marble design using only one color of clay. Take some conditioned polymer clay in any color of your choice and flatten it slightly using your hands or a roller. With a blade, slice the clay up into chunks. These pieces do not need to be even, and honestly, it's better if they aren't. Then separate the chunks so that they aren't touching one another. Now you can add any clay safe decorative material of your choice. For one of the mixes on screen, I'm using chrome powder and for the other, I'm using black glitter. Roll the bits of clay around in this material and try to cover as much of them up as possible. Then push the pieces together into one block. You can also use some liquid clay or bacon bond to hold the clay together. Then use a blade to cut out some thick slices. And place these slices together. The end pieces will be completely covered and that can mess with your design. Sometimes I like the way that this looks, especially with Mica powders, but you can leave these pieces out for a more clear marble appearance. With a clay roller, flatten these pieces. You could also run this through a pasta machine if you'd like. Just make sure not to roll the sheet out too thin, or else your earrings will be flimsy and they could end up breaking later on. If you're worried about the clay holding together, you can lay your pieces over a sheet of translucent clay before fully rolling them out. Then using some clay cutters or small cookie cutters, cut out some shapes for your earrings. If you want to turn these into dangly earrings, you can use a small dotting tool or needle tool to poke out a hole. If you're using two or more colors of clay, start off by flattening and chopping them up just like we did earlier. Then you can cover these pieces with any additional material of your choice. This time, I used some white acrylic paint. When using paint, you ideally want to coat all sides of the little bits of clay. It helps to wear gloves for this because it gets pretty messy. Afterwards, leave the paint to completely dry. If you combine the pieces while the paint is wet, it will smudge the design and ruin the colors. While drying, you may even want to set the pieces on a different surface than the one you mix them on. Something like waxed paper can also be a good idea so that they can be removed easier. After the paint dries, you can bring all the bits together into one ball. Again, you can use liquid clay to hold everything together. If you used multiple colors of clay, make sure you mix these pieces up well. Then go ahead and slice up your marbled cane. And roll your slabs out into a sheet. If you have small pieces left over after cutting out your shapes, you can squish them together, re roll your clay and cut out some more. Then bake your clay according to your brand's instructions. If you want to make holes in your clay after, let the pieces cool off, then you can use a small handrill to make a hole near the top. 4. Securing Stud Earrings: After baking, you can put your stud earrings together, and to secure the metal posts to the clay, you can use one of two methods. For the first, you can use glue. That being said, the posts are very smooth and shiny, so smooth that if you were to try and glue them to the clay the way that they are, they would easily break off. So to make sure that the glue adheres, I use some rough sandpaper to scratch up the metal. You can also do this with a craft knife. However, it's really easy for the knives to slip on the metal. If you choose to do this, be slow and very careful so that you don't cut yourself. Then if you feel like the back of your clay piece is too smooth, you can gently score some very shallow lines into your clay. I like to do this as a precaution for all of my clay studs. Lastly, glue the two pieces together. I like to use super glue for this, but you can also use e 6,000. If you're still worried that your posts will break off, you can always just use liquid clay to secure them instead. To do this, flip your polymer clay piece over and place the metal post in the center. Then take any liquid clay of your choice. I am using translucent liquid sculpy and coat the circular part of the post and the surrounding clay. Use a small tool or brush to spread the liquid clay out. And do your best to not get any of the liquid clay on the skinny part of the post that goes in the ear. You want this layer to be thick enough to coat everything, but not so thick that it domes. This is the side that will touch skin, so you want it to be as flat as possible so that it isn't uncomfortable to wear. Then bake these according to your liquid clays instructions. After baking, the posts will be embedded into the clay, and it will take intentional effort to break them off. 5. Resin Coating: The pieces a bit sturdier and to make them really pop, I like to coat them with resin. If you don't want to use resin, you can sand and buff your pieces instead. They won't be as shiny as resin, but they can still look really pretty. Before I coat my baked pieces, I like to use some scrap polymer clay to hold them up so that I don't make a mess with the resin. For stud earrings, I like to shove the metal post into the scraps so that the clay side is facing upwards. Then I coat the top and sides with some UV resin, and I spread it out with a silicone brush. Make sure to avoid covering any holes you've made in your pieces. Once the resin is smoothed out, fully cure the side with a UV light. Then you can remove the scrap clay, flip the pieces over and add resin to the back. I only do this for dangly pieces. I like to keep the stud pieces uncoated on the back side because some people's ears can be sensitive to resin. But you can coat the back if you'd like. Then make sure to fully cure this side as well. 6. Assembly + Final Thoughts: All that's left to do is assemble your earrings using some jump rings and hooks. For the studs, I like to use some rubbing alcohol to clean off the posts just in case there's any raw clay left on them. But other than that, they are now ready to be worn. After you make your own marbled earrings, you can show them off to the class by submitting a project. Also, I'd love to hear what you think of this course, and you can let me know by leaving a review. I'm still super new to teaching, and I can use all the help I can get. By leaving feedback, you help shape my future classes and make me a better instructor. And if you have any ideas for what you'd like to learn next, let me know. If you want to see more of my art, you can check me out on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Thank you so much for being here, and I hope you enjoyed.