Polymer Clay Earring Making - Essentials

1. INTRODUCTION: Hi guys, I'm thrilled to welcome you to this clay Earring making tutorial where we will embark on a creative adventure together. I'm Anna, your instructor throughout this fascinating journey on how to create beautiful earrings made from polymer clay. If you're an absolute beginner, this class is for you. Throughout this tutorial, I will walk you through the essential tools, materials, and techniques from conditioning your clay to cutting, baking, sealing, and assembling your earrings. This versatile material allows us to shape, mold, and craft beautiful earrings that reflect our unique style and personalities. You have the freedom to experiment, get creative, and infuse your personality into each piece you make. Join me now and watch a growing number of earring tutorials to get inspired. Just be careful. It's addictive. Are you excited? I know I am. Let's get started. 2. Tools & Materials: Hi guys and welcome. In this video, we will be talking about the tools and materials that you need in order to get started. Don't worry, you don't have to write them down. As I have created a PDF with all tools and materials that you can find in the download section. What I want to say right away, not all tools and materials that you will see are mandatory, therefore, some are marked as optional. Obviously, you can get super creative with your earring design journey. I would recommend you start with the essential tools and add onto your collection with time. Also, feel free to explore substitutes from items you may already have at home. Okay, now let's get started. Polymer clay is the heart of your earring creations. It's a versatile oven baked material that comes in a spectrum of colors and brands. These are the common colors I bought when I started, and I haven't purchased more actually. As you can mix your own colors using recipes, don't get scared once you order, let's say, one of those small bags, It looks tiny, but you can really make a lot of earrings from this small bag, especially if you start mixing it with white to get a lighter color. My main colors are any white, any translucent brand black. If you want to mix your own colors, get those four. Then you can also have clay with effects. I don't really use those that much, they're optional. I would definitely recommend to get liquid polymer clay in white which is the bacon bond from scalp and the translucion version, I'm actually using them a lot to combine small pieces of clay or glue baked pieces together within the baking process. Next up to the essential tools are gloves, acrylic roller, which I consider essential. They're not expensive. Then I would recommend a glossy surface, which can be a glass or a ceramic tile, which you can get for free in many stores that sell tiles. A tissue blade ideal for precise cuts and detailing. Actually a knife might work, but I wecommend to get those tissue blades. I would recommend to get the small version of it, not the big one that you can see here. As the small one will apply more pressure to your clay then if you can't invest in a pasta machine yet, you can use those step guides or something similar. Maybe even two pieces of wood and a similar size to even out your clay when using an acrylic roller. If you can afford a pasta machine, I would recommend the Mercado Atlas for beginners. It's great. And I actually found mine for 20 years in the classified ads. And it was brand new as the name stated. It's an actual pasta machine and it's perfect for getting a consistent thickness for your clay. I have just wrote down the pasta machine settings along with their respective thicknesses, allowing you to double check them. Then obviously, you need something where you can bake your clay earrings to some people, just use their oven. Well, that was not for me. While baking, there are a lot of fumes, so preferably get yourself a mini oven that you can place somewhere in the ventilated area. I found mine for ten aros and the classified ads as well, and it was brand new then something you already have at home baking or printing paper. I do not recommend to bake on your glossy tiles. You will get a shiny surface on your earrings at the end, please use baking paper or printing paper. Then we have a baking tray, which usually comes with a mini oven, aluminium foil, to ensure a steady temperature and prevents your earrings to change colors, especially for white clay. Please get yourself an oven tamer meter. They're not expensive, and believe me, all ovens are different, and this way you can control your temperature while baking to prevent mistakes. Next up are some optional tools. I have actually bought some of those textures. Texture rollers or the cheaper versions are those embossing folders. They are to create a certain texture onto your designs. I'm sure you can use many things at home. Maybe a vase, a toothpaste, or anything that you can find that has an interesting texture to it. Then of course, you most likely want to purchase some clay cutters, you don't have to. You can also cut your own shapes from paper and use them to cut up shapes from the polymer, but it takes longer. I would strongly recommend to get some cornstarch if you're going to purchase some clay cutters so your clay won't stick to your cutters. Next up, we have materials that we need after baking your pieces. Some sending tool, this can be a Dremel tool which comes with a drill and sending bits. You can also use a toothpick to create holes and simply use sending paper you found in your garage. But that's your choice. If you want to make that investment, I do consider it essential if you're planning on creating many earrings or starting a small business from that, please always wear protective gear at all times to protect your eyes and lungs from small particles lying around The nail polish acetone is to clean your pieces after baking. It can easily remove small dust from your earrings. Then we also need two pliers to later assemble our earring pieces. We'll talk about those jumpings and findings later on. The next materials and tools are mostly optional. I still haven't actually used all of them to be honest, but I'm planning to, if you want to try out Sal screens, get yourself an old credit card or something to be able to apply the paint to your surface. Have a dedicated video for that. Then optional are some gold markers. Some crafters like to apply that to the edges of their earrings. Then you have some basic brushes. Yes, you can actually paint on top of your raw clay and then bake it. It will turn out just like a painting. I'm actually planning on adding a video for a creative acrylic painting technique at some point in the future. Speaking of acrylic, if you want to draw into your clay, most likely you will also need some basic plate, or mixing palette from your kids that can help in mixing acrylic colors. Then we have a rotary tool for the very creative designs. If you wish to start making canes. I think I have used mine once or twice yet. Then I also have some sculpting and cutting tools. Really, those are optional. Someone actually gave me a tip to ask my dentist if he had some old tools. Apparently, every dentist has this drawer of old tools. I'm sure they can give them to you for free. Then a needle tool is very helpful though. You can also use a toothpick to grab something tiny or improve small imperfections with it. Then of course, glitter magic. I love to use gold leaves or flakes or some nail art accessories for my designs, But that's up to you. Maybe you have something at home already. As I mentioned earlier, acrylic paint is optional to draw into your raw clay. You want to create a certain color. I don't recommend to use acrylic paint to mix your clay with, rather use liquid ink or alcohol ink to do that. Even mica powders can be used to create a certain color when mixing it with polymer clay. The next tools materials are also optional. If you do want to create a glossy finish for your earrings, I recommend to get this UV sin. I'm sure you will find this specific brand on Amazon. It's widely used. I also use a cheap UV lamp to cure my pieces, but you can also use the sunlight. If you live in a sunny country, just make sure to cover your pieces with a glass bowl or something to prevent dust sticking to it. I actually use rubbing alcohol for cleaning my tools and also before applying the UVasin, it helps to prevent your reason to move to the inside of your pieces. Then I also got myself a small precision bottle to be able to apply my UVasin with more precision. Lastly, let's jump into Jef findings, jumpings, posts and starts. No one would tell you which size you need when you start watching tutorials. Well, I will I recommend three sizes as seen here for your jump rings. Those are more or less the sizes you need to combine different designs. I never use different sizes then. Personally, I like to use earring pins and those flat posts. And four or 6 millimeters, mostly I use the six millimeter as the 4 millimeters is really small. Lastly, you can get some other earring findings that you can decide yourself. I like to buy the gold plated versions, but just because I have sensitive ears, you can certainly find cheaper versions made from alloy or some other material available. Yeah, with those, you should be pretty much covered and start creating many earrings from that, especially if you get those flat posts and the earring pens. All right everyone. Now that we have gone through the tools of materials, let's dive into the basics of working with clay. And the upcoming videos, By the end of this course, you will discover optional inspirational earring tutorials. Feel free to watch them for inspiration and perhaps kick, start your journey in creating your very unique designs. I'm excited for you to share your creations with me as well see in the next classes. 3. How to condition Polymer Clay: To ensure optimal results with your polymer clay projects is essential to understand the process of conditioning. Contrary to common misconceptions, conditioning polymer clay has nothing to do with the trend. Instead, it's all about making the clay more workable. Let's dive into the reasons why conditioning clay is vital, how to do it, and some myth associated with the process. Polymeric clay can be quite firm when using it straight out of the package. Different brands can feel different when conditioning the clay. While Fimo tends to be super hard to work with, which I personally find kern, it can feel super smooth and even sometimes too smooth. Polymeric clay has been very popular and has been even sold out in many countries for some time, where in some countries may have not been too popular. Meaning the product laid on the shelves for some time, which made them a little brittle. Let's call it old clay. Clay needs some oil component in order to stay workable. There are some tips when it comes to conditioning your clay and getting the right consistency of it. While I could explain the whole Chemkan components and reasons of problems, just let's stick to the basics and keep it simple. First, let's have a look at clay which has a good consistency. Even though this bag has obviously been open for some time, it's not like it's been two years old. It's still firm. But also when I press down on it, it slightly bends. That's how you want your clay to be. Before we start conditioning our clay, we make sure we have a clean surface and clean tools. The last thing that we want is to transfer any dust and ins. Let's now cut out a piece and start kneading it with our fingers. We can also use our acrylic roller to roll it out a couple of times. How do you know your clay is conditioned? Well, if the clay sticks to itself, if it can be blended without seams, and if you bend it, it doesn't have cracks. It is conditioned well enough. Some brands may need less conditioning, while others may need a cable runs of knitting or running it through the pasta machine. Can you keep your clay laying on the surface for some time? Yes, you can keep your clay open. It won't air dry, but what will happen if you keep it open for too long is that it will get unconditioned and depending on the surface you keep it on, it may lose its oils and will get harder. What I like to do is I like to keep my clay in a plastic container even though it is not 100% necessary. I still sure to keep as much moist as possible. If you have some older bars of clay that have been sitting on your shelf for some time and it got too hard, try the following. You can add some liquid clay. Adding some liquid clay can help soften your old clay. Just don't use too much. Start little by little and bear in mind to use the liquid, translucent translucent clay and the solid solid clays. Adding specific clay softeners, there's some specific clay softeners available for purchase as well. You can use those to make sure to also use little drops of them heat. Applying gentle heat to the clay can also help soften it. You can warm the clay with your hands by needing it for an extended period. Alternatively, you can place the clay in a warm spot, like near the heater. Just be careful to not overheat the clay as excessive heat can lead to premature curing. Conditioning. Sometimes all the clay need is proper conditioning, net and manipulate the clay thoroughly by hand or with a pasta machine. This will help redistribute the plasticizer and make the clay softer and more pliable plastic wrap or bag method, wrap the crumbly clay in a plastic or place it inside a sealed plastic bag, leave it overnight, or for a few days. The plastic will trap moisture and help soften the clay. Baby oil. Baby oil is a common household item that can be used as a clay softener as well. Simply apply a tiny drop of it and start conditioning your clay until it gets easier to work with. What about if I feel that my clay is too soft or too fresh? Some brands, such as Kerned, tend to feel very soft. If you feel your clay is too soft, when working, you can try to leach it. Leaching clay, get some plain unprinted copy or printed paper. Roll your piece of clay out into a thin sheet. Lay the sheet of clay between two sheets of paper. Place a book on top and wait for a few minutes open to see if some of the oil has been released into the paper. If not, try a few more minutes or use more paper on top. Start kneading your clay if necessary, if it feels still too sticky. Repeat the process. Let's talk about some misconceptions regarding polymer clay conditioning. Number one, unconditioned polymerclay is weak when troubleshooting a broken polymericlay project after baking. There is a common misconception that insufficient conditioning might be the cause, however, is essential to debunk this myth. The strength of polymerclay is not determined by its conditioning. If you directly slice a block of polymer clay straight from its plastic and start baking it, it will still remain strong even though you have not conditioned the clay at all. Conditioning is primarily focused on making the clay more workable and easier to handle rather than affecting its final strength. After baking, you could perfectly baked the unconditioned clay. It will turn out the exact same as unconditioned clay. Second, conditioning polymer clay for a long time always improves its quality over conditioning clay can make it too soft and difficult to work with. Conditioning should be done until the clay is smooth, pliable, and free of lumps. But excessive conditioning is not necessary and certainly won't improve the quality. Third myth. Only a paster machine can effectively condition polymerclay. While the paster machine is a useful tool for conditioning is not the only option. Hand kneading and rolling with an acrylic roller can also effectively condition polymerclayth. All brands and types of polymerclay require the same amount of conditioning. That's not true. Different brands and formulations of polymeric clay have varying degrees of firmness and require different amounts of conditioning. Some clays may need more work to reach the right consistency, while others require minimal conditioning. You have to try out the brand you're working with and see how much conditioning you will need to be able to work with your clay comfortably. Now that you know how to condition your clay, how to fix crumbly or too soft clay, it's time to move on to the next video. See you there. 4. How to use Depth Guides: Let's talk about earring thickness and how you can use app guides instead of a pasta machine to achieve a certain clay thickness. The thickness of polymer clay earrings depend on the design and style you want to achieve. There is no one size fits all answer. Usually I provide you with my pastor settings in my tutorials, but feel free to adjust the thickness to your personal preference. Lightweight earrings range between 1.5 millimeters to 2.5 millimeters, which equals 116 to one tenth of an inch. Standard earrings could be around 3 millimeters or one eighth of an inch. Here I have some depth guides in 3 millimeters. You will find multiple variations of those guides. They might be sold in one, a 2 millimeters, 3 millimeters, or even five. To use them, simply place the guides on top of your work surface like a tile and your clay in between. Roll out your conditioned clay with an acrylic roller. The gap in between will make sure to roll out your clay consistently into 3 millimeters if you prefer not to invest in depth guides. You can also use thick pieces of wood or even inexpensive plywood from a hardware store. While using deb guides are helpful, I highly recommend getting a pasta machine. If you can, it will save you a lot of time and effort. You can often find affordable options. Once you have one, you won't regret the purchase. Instead of purchasing several different sizes of de, guides. The pasta machine can serve multiple purposes in your polymer clay projects. Speaking of pasta machines, let's talk about those in the next video. 5. How to use a Pasta Machine: Using a poster machine for polymer clay earrings can be a game changer as it allows you to condition and roll out the clay evenly and consistently. As I have mentioned within my tools and materials section, there are many poster machine brands. My favorite is and stays so far, the Meat 150. It's absolutely cute and doesn't take away much space. Here's a step by step guide on how to use a paster machine for your polymer clay earring projects. First, prepare your work space. Make sure your work area is clean and free from any Apris. It's best to work on a smooth surface like a ceramic tile. I prefer to work on a mat tile, but some like to work on glossy tiles. You would have to try which one you prefer before using a paster machine. Condition your polymericlay by hand and an acrylic roller. First set up your pasta machine on your work surface. Most pester machines have adjustable thickness settings, typically ranging 9-0 Start with the thickest setting, that is usually marked as a zero, and gradually work your way to the desired thickness. Start placing your clay into the pasta machine and use the handle. While grabbing the clay from the bottom. Fold your clay in half to avoid trapping bubbles into your clay, it's best to place the closed side to the bottom. This way the air can be kept out. When we start to get our clay through, repeat the process until you reach a desired shape. Another tip to avoid old clay that has been stuck inside the machine or unproper cleaning. It helps to lay your clay in between a sheet of baking paper. Make sure to place your clay somewhere in the middle so you can actually grab your paper from the bottom. Look how nicely and smooth my surface is. I don't have any lines that may have been caused by the pasta machines or some dried dirt that got stuck inside the machine. Takes a little longer to always place it inside the baking paper, but it's worth it as you get clean and smooth results. Okay, that's it for now, see in the next video. 6. How to use texture Rollers, Mats or Embossing Folders: Using texture rollers, or mats in polymeric clay. Earring making is a great way to add interesting pattern and designs to your creations. Here's a step by step guide on how to use them. After conditioning your clay, you have to choose a suitable thickness. I have used the setting number one on my polymer clay machine, which is roughly 3.7 millimeters. Don't go too thin here. As with pressing down your texture roller or texture mat, it will decrease slightly in its thickness. Let's try out the texture roller first. Make sure that your tools are clean and completely dry. If you sink rubbing alcohol, this should evaporate within a few seconds. It helps to apply some corn starch on your roller and dust it off with a basic brush before using. This way, the clay won't stick to my roller. Then I simply apply light pressure to it and start rolling it up. It helps to do this a couple of times on some test clay to see how it feels and how much pressure you need to apply. You can always just remix your piece and try it again until you feel comfortable using those rollers. Let's try another texture like this, sandpaper. It looks beautiful, don't you think? I love this texture? Now let's move on to the texture mats. If you live in the US, lucky you. Cool tools have really beautiful texture mats. I think they do ship international as far as I know. But you may need to pay some shipping fees and maybe some taxes if you live outside the US. I got mine from a store in the Netherlands. They might have already imported them directly from the US. There are also plenty of texture mats on Etsy. I'm pretty sure you'll find something nice. Let's clean my mat before using it, then I just lay it on top of my clay. Then I can use my acrylic roller to go over the texture mad. A couple of times, you can practice this as well. In some videos you will also see that I have used another thin layer of clay on the back sides of my earrings. This will add some more interest to the back side if you're planning on starting your own polymer clay business for sure, your clients will appreciate this little tea tall. When placing a thin layer on my clay behind my baked earrings, I can just press my piece on top of my texture mat and Tedda, I have added a beautiful texture to it. Another tool I like to use are embossing folders. They're usually used to emboss paper, but they work for our purpose just fine compared to texture mats or rollers. They can be very affordable. You can use them by just pressing them down on your clay, like texture mats. Only that you don't have your acrylic ruler. Just use your hands to press it down slightly. You can be very creative. Just have a look around your house and see what you could use to create textures. See in the next video. 7. How to use silk screens: Using silk screens with acrylic paint on polymericley earrings is a fun and creative way to add some interest to the surface. Let me quickly show you how to use them. There are different kinds of silk screens available. There might be some that are just a fine fabric mesh like this. There might be some others that look like stickers where you have a sticky back by the way, you can wash both after using them. Then we need an old credit card or a similar tool like this. I got this tool laying around from an ipad screen protector I ordered some time ago. It works great to apply some paint with it, but certainly you can also use an old credit card of yours. Let's see now how we use silk screens. I already have some condition clay here. This color is number 92 and is called Sandstorm. It's from my master clay recipe collection. Now I lay my silk screen down on my clay and use my acrylic roller to roll over the surface a couple of times. Let's use some acrylic paint and start moving the paint down with my tool or credit card, we switch directions to apply the acrylic paint evenly. You could only fill a small area or cover the whole match, depending on how much space you need to use for your clay cutters. Then we can start slowly pulling our screen up and see our final result. I usually place my sill screen immediately into warm water and wash the paint off so I can use it another time. When it comes to my polymer clay surface, I'll have to wait until the top is completely dry in order to use my clay cutters. You could also cover your piece so no dust sits on it. Just leave a small gap on the sides for ventilation. Now it's your turn to experiment with different colors, patterns, and combinations to achieve the desired look for your earrings. Have fun and enjoy this creative technique. 8. How to use clay cutters: Using clay cutters is a simple yet effective way to create uniform shapes and designs in polymeric clay earring. Making these small tools come in various shapes and sizes, allowing you to easily cut out consistent pieces for your earrings. Here's how to use clay cutters and some tips to get the best results. I already place condition clay on my tile. I added some texture to my clay using a texture roller I used setting number one on my pasta machine, which is about 3.7 millimeters or 0.15 ". Choose the clay cutter that matches the shape you want for your earrings. Ensure the cutter is clean and free from any prius residue. Use some corn starch to cover your cutter or tilativey. Use an invisible layer directly onto your clay. Place the clay cutter firmly onto the clay sheet into the location where you want to create the shape. Make sure the cutter is centered and aligned correctly. You think even pressure press the clay cutter down into the clay sheet. You can rock the cutter slightly to ensure a clean cut. Carefully lift the cutter and you will have a perfectly shaped piece of clay. If your clay tends to stick to your cutter, your clay could be too fresh, you could try leaching it as sin. And the video on how to condition your clay. You can also try using a soft brush to press it out of this as long as it won't damage the surface. You can also try changing the surface you're working on or add some more costas to your cutter. Now gently lift the excess clay, surrending the cut out shape, and set it aside for future use. We call those scraps. You can do many earrings from those. Okay, now it's your turn to try out clay cutters. See you in the next video. 9. How to use printed shapes instead of clay cutters: While clay cutters will save you a lot of time cutting out your earrings, you may not have the budget for those or simply want to create your own shape. Whenever I could, I have included PDF printable cutter shapes for you under the earring tutorials. If you can't find the clay cutter, which is similar to the one I use in the earring tutorials, you can use my printable PDF to print out the shape using your home printer. Let's now see how we use them. First, let's cut out the shape using scissors. After you have cut out the shape, you can then press them lightly on your conditioned clay and use a hand knife cutter to go around the shape. I have to admit, this might take a little longer and might require a calm hand, but certainly is a super cheap alternative if you don't have the budget or simply can't find the shape you're looking for. If by any chance you have a canva pro count, there are plenty of shapes you can get created with. Simply place them on an four document in the size you would like and print them out and use them in the exact same way. I hope you like this little trick and I will appreciate all the shapes I have included for you in the tutorials. Simply print them out and get started. See in the next video. 10. How to lift Polymer Clay from your Work Surface: Learning to work with polymer clay can be frustrating at times, especially when we rely on short videos or social media comments for guidance. One crucial skill is the ability to lift polymer clay from a work surface without distortion. That's why I made this video for you. Here's how you do it. The first important thing is to choose a glossy or a light mat tile. Working on a smooth surface like glass or Glas ceramic tile helps the clay stick to the surface rather than the tools, making it easier to lift it up. Use the tissue blade to release the clay from the work surface. Don't use your fingers to lift it up. Use the tissue blade instead. Hold down the blade with two fingers on each side. Slide the blade behind the clay and hold it in a 45 degree angle with one movement slide underneath it. Finding the right angle takes some practice. Try that a couple of times and check if your back looks great as well. Does your back look cut? Then your angle of the blade was too close to the tile Cutting pieces of the clay while sliding. Does your back look distorted or your general piece then your angle was too wide, you pushed your clay forward. Instead, finding the right clay consistency is essential as well. Clay that's too crumbly won't stick together, while overly soft clay is challenging to handle without distorting its shape. Aim for a consistency that allows to cut pieces that hold their shape when lifted. If you don't have the right consistency, try conditioning all the clay longer or add some tiny drops of softener to make it more workable. If on the other hand, you feel that your clay is too soft, try leaching it. As soon as in the video on how to condition clay by lifting up your clay properly, you will enhance your polymeric clay crafting experience and create nature more professional looking pieces. Happy practicing. 11. How to mix a Polymer Clay Color using Clay Recipes: When aiming for a specific clay color, understanding color mixing is crucial. Clay offers the advantage of requiring only a few primary colors to achieve various shades. To get started, consider obtaining clay color recipes. If you have no idea on how to mix colors, I have created a master collection of 102 beautiful color recipes, all utilizing just five ingredients. Sculp, premium cardium yellow, cadmium red, fuxia, cobalt blue, and white. If you're interested, you can purchase the master collection PDF through the link provided in this video. Let's take a closer look at the color serene seaweed. Using my recipe for this clay color, you need a round cutter. The size will determine the amount of clay you will get out of it from one round of mixing. Choose a consistent thickness on your clay machine like number one. Now condition the colors needed for your recipe, which includes blue, yellow, and Foxia. Use a round cutter to cut out two circles of blue, 1.5 circles of yellow and one fourth of Fuxia. Lay them together. Recheck if anything is missing, you can mix the color by hand or use the pasta machine. There you have it, our beautiful, serene seaweed. These recipes work every time. No matter the size of your circle, that's the best part of it. If you want more clay, you can use a bigger circle. If you want less clay, you can use a smaller circle. Just make sure to have a consistent thickness during each round of mixing for all colors. I hope you enjoyed this quick video. Happy creating. 12. How to Bake Polymer Clay Part 1 – Polymer Clay Oven: Choosing the right polymericleoven depends on a few factors. Here are some considerations to help you make the best choice. Any oven that can maintain the correct temperature is suitable for baking polymer clay. While it may be safe to use your home oven, you need to know that polymer clay is not food graded. I recommend getting a small mini oven. But if you do want to use your home oven, you can do that too. Just make sure to give it a quick rinse before baking any food in there. The disadvantages that mini ovens may have is that some may not bake at a consistent temperature and start getting too hot with time. But if you apply some tips, they can work just fine. Me personally, I'm only using mini oven. For me, it works fine. I don't have any problems. Please don't try to use your microwave and try to bake your clay. Now, what is essential to get, in my opinion, is an oven thermometer. Believe me, many ovens don't actually have the temperature that's stated under control. Getting to know your oven and which setting to use to achieve the right temperature is essential. I recommend making some tests on your oven to get a better understanding of its performance. For my testers, I used all the cutters I have and cut them out and test bake them later. You can use those blanks to design the shape and combinations of your earrings. This way you can see which colors to use for your next project. It also helps to determine the proportions and overlook. Returning to the baking process, place your raw clay pieces on printing paper, baking paper, or even cardboard. I do not recommend placing your clay right onto your tile, as this will result in shiny sides on the back, preheat your oven until you have reached the correct temperature. And place the baking tray into the middle of the oven. Cover it with a hood made from aluminum to protect your clay from turning brown, and it helps to keep a more consistent temperature. Let's now have a look at setting the right temperature and getting to know how long you have to bake your clay. See in the next video. 13. How to Bake Polymer Clay Part 2 – Times & Temperatures: Polymylay manufacture provide clear instructions on recommended baking times for their products. I do find some a little too short. The reason I think is that these guides were set up this way is because they need to cater various oven types. As many ovens have inaccurate temperature settings, manufacturers strike a balance between achieving proper curing and preventing potential burnings in ovens that run too hot. However, experienced polymer clay artists who frequently bake clay know that longer baking times than recommended often yield stronger results. What is the best temperature and baking time? I can't really give you 100% general rule on that. That will apply to all clay brands as every brand is slightly different or behaves different. Also the thickness of your clay plays a part as thin layers, big faster than thicker ones. What I can do is I can give you my experience in baking using Sculpi, Primu, and Cernetclays. I might do some more tests in the future for other brands and upload those tests for you. For scalpion, kerned, I recommend opting for a temperature of around 130, 240 degrees Celsius or 265 to 285 Fahrenheit. I don't feel a big difference if it was baked 130 or at 140 degrees. Everything in between works good, in my opinion. Let's talk about baking times now. These are some mixed colors from my master recipes. I baked three pieces at different times. The thickness was number one on the claim machine, around 3.7 millimeters or 1.15 ". I baked this piece for 50 minutes. Only after cooling, I tried to bend it and it broke in half. The same happened for the 20 minute piece. Only the 30 minute piece didn't break because it's a small surface. Let's have a look at this piece, which was also baked at 30 minutes. But because this piece has an embossed design, I tried to bend it and it broke as well. 30 minutes might always be enough. If it's a small piece, it could work though. Then I did the even crazier test. Baking a piece for 45 minutes, 60 minutes, and 90 minutes. All those pieces look absolutely fine to me, as I have not gone over the hundred 40 degree while baking. While you could bake your clay for 60 to 90 minutes, I usually go for 45 minutes. This will make sure the clay is hard enough but also won't start getting dark. As the longer you bake your piece, the colors might turn darker. It's hard to imagine that some brands suggest baking only for 15 minutes. I don't think that this is long enough. Clay does need a certain temperature and also baking length, The components melt together. If your clay breaks, it's not because you baked it for too long, it's the opposite, you under baked it. As long as you keep the maximum temperature, your clay won't burn. And I'm sure you could even bake it for several hours. In summary, while manufacturers instruction ensure a decent outcome for most users, baking polymer clay for longer than recommended can yield stronger and more durable results. I recommend baking some test pieces using the brand of your choice. And see for yourself how your results came out. Please watch the next video on some more tips before diving into baking some test pieces. See you there. 14. How to Bake Polymer Clay Part 3 – Tips: Let me share a couple more tips when it comes to baking. And especially if you're using mini ovens like me. The position in the oven to ensure even heating position, your polymeric clay tray in the center of the oven as far away from any heating elements as possible. Good air circulation around the pieces is essential for a uniform curing, protecting your work from the heat. Heating elements in the oven can get extremely hot and may cause scorching if your clay is too close. To shield your creations, I use a folded aluminum hood. An aluminum cake tray works as well. The cover not only protects your work from the heat, but also helps maintain a steady temperature, resulting in more reliable cure. Maintaining a constant temperature. If you feel your mini oven gets too hot, like mine, I'm using the lowest setting and halfway of baking I see it sometimes jumps up to 150. I just open my door for a few minutes until I get back to like 130. Placing a ceramic tile inside or on top of your oven helps also to distribute and retain the heat more evenly. I would recommend keeping your oven out of drafts as well materials to bake on. To avoid shiny spots on your polymeric clay, simply use printing paper, cardboard, or baking paper as a barrier between the clay and the glazed ceramic tile while baking. Watch for leaching before baking. Avoid leaving your art pieces on paper for an extended period before baking. As liquid plasticizer might leach out of the clay and create holy spots on the paper. Meaning, don't keep them too long on the paper, as it can result in unintended leaching. If you want to continue to work on a project the next day, you can do so. But make sure to place your clays on a ceramic tile and cover it so no dust will set on it. Experimenting with time and temperature when dealing with browning issues and polymer clay, adjusting the baking time and temperature can be a potential solution. However, it's crucial to be cautious as higher temperatures and longer baked times can lead to browning. The key is to find a healthy balance between reducing browning and ensuring your projects are fully cured and strong. I recommend conducting careful experiments. Start with the recommended baking time and temperature, and monitor your temperature while baking. If you experience browning on top of your clay, reduce the temperature the next time you bake. As long as you stay within my suggested range, you should not experience this issue if only you may experience cracking, but that would only mean that you have to bake them longer the next time. Preventing plaques and cracks. Plaques are whitish areas that can appear in the middle of a polymer clay piece after curing. While they may resemble air bubbles, they often occu without any obvious trapped air in the rock clay before baking. This issue is more noticeable in translucent and light colored clay. Some believe that plaques may be caused by water vapor or air collecting in the clay during curing, especially when there are sharp temperatures contrasts during baking or cooling. To reduce plaques, avoid baking too close to the heating element and try avoiding any usage of water when handling your row clay. Can you bake polymericlay more than once? Absolutely, you can bake polymericlay as many times as needed. It's a common practice to bake complex pieces and separate parts and then assemble and attach them after baking. Additionally, you can safely attach raw clay to already baked clay and bake them together. This technique is often used to achieve specific effects that may not be possible within a single baking. Don't hesitate to bake your polymericlay creations in multiple times if necessary, as it won't cause any harm as long as you stick to the advised temperature. By following these tips, you can improve your polymeric clay baking process and create beautiful, well cured pieces for your artistic projects. Remember that experimenting and finding what works best for you may lead to even better results. Now it's your time to get to know your oven performance and test bake some pieces using the brand of your choice. 15. How to make a baking bending test: After the recommended baking time has elapsed, carefully remove one of your test pieces from the oven for better accuracy. It's advisable to create two to three additional pieces along with your finished earring pieces. Allow the test piece to cool down to room temperature before proceeding. Now let's perform what I call a baking bending test. Gently try to bend the clay piece. If you notice that the clay is breaking in half or into pieces, it indicates that your oven temperature was not sufficient during baking or the baking duration was inadequate. Keep in mind that different clay brands can yield different outcomes. Testing a few paces is essential to understand your vin's behavior. Ideally, clay should be somewhat bendable. Thinner pieces will naturally bend more than thicker ones. If your clay doesn't bend at all, it means either your oven temperature wasn't high enough or you didn't bake it for a sufficient duration as well. First check if your oven temperature was within the recommended range. If it was, then adjust your baking time accordingly. You can continue baking your clay in additional 15 minutes periods. This is why I create two or three extra test pieces. As I may need to recheck the baking process. As mentioned earlier, you can't over bake clay if you maintain the correct temperature. Over baking only occurs when you see bubbles or browning on the clay surfaces, indicating that the temperature was too high. If bubbles appear, your temperature definitely was too high. That's why using a thermometer is crucial. If your clay bends without breaking, let's bake correctly. All right, see you in the next video. 16. How to drill holes into your earring pieces : Once your earrings are baked and cool, it's time to drill some holes for your jump rings. This way you can assemble your earrings later on. There's some tools that you can use to create holes. Some crafters even like to make the holes before baking using mini hole cutters. I like to create mine afterwards. What can help though is to just mark the area with a needle tool to help your Dremel tool to stay in place later if you want to make your holes afterwards. Like me, you can get one of those hand drills. They are very affordable or an electric drama. They come as cable free and with cable versions, the ones with cables are a bit more precise and stronger. If you bake a lot of earrings, they can be useful if you're just starting out. Just get the cheap or option that will work just fine. The whole size need to be around one millimeters or 0.04 ". If my jump rings have a gag of about 0.7 millimeters or 0.027 ", If your jump rings are thicker than that, consider a slightly bigger hole as well, so your earrings move comfortably and won't be stuck in one position. When drilling your holes, consider the jumpering size you got. It would be frustrating if you drilled your holes and your jumping won't reach your drilled holes and you have a gap between for my six or seven millimeter jump rings, I can drill my holes just a few millimeters from the edge. You can mark this area also afterwards by pressing down with a needle tool. Then you start drilling your holes with slight pressure. Try to not get distracted while doing this. A couple of times I noticed that I started drilling holes and then my design was upside down when I actually wanted these lines to go with my bottom design. Yeah, this can easily happen. Make sure to be focused when deciding where to drill your holes. There's no way back from that. The next video, we will talk about sending down arrow pieces there. 17. How to sand down your baked earring pieces : Once you have completed drilling your holes, you might notice small imperfections or rough edges on the surface To achieve a smooth and professional finish. Standing is an essential step in the ear making process. Sending will not only improve the appearance, but also ensure the earrings are comfortable to wear. In this tutorial, I will guide you through the simple and effective process of sending down your freshly baked earring piece. Let's prepare our workstation, Ensure you have a well lit workspace. Lay down a soft cloth, a flat container, or a silicon match like I have to protect your surface and collect debris and dust. Let's choose a rougher grid. When using basic sandpaper, choose the first grid of around 120 to 220. This will remove larger imperfections and smooth out rough edges. If you work with the Dramml tool, just choose the one that has the biggest grain optics. Let's start sending hold your earring piece firmly but gently, and begin sending the edges in one direction using even pressure. Avoid using circular motions as they can create uneven surfaces. Continue sending until you chose achieve a smoother texture. Usually, I don't send the top surface only if there are some bombs. But since I make sure to keep the surface clean even before baking, I don't have much to send down there. Let's increase the grid switch to a medium to soft sand paper around 320 to 400 or even smoother. Then start smoothing it down for a couple of rounds. Repeat the process as before, sending in one direction with a consistent pressure. This step will further refine the surface and remove any remaining course of scratches. If you don't have many imperfections in your clay from the beginning on, it may be enough to start with a fine grid right away and skip the rougher one. What I like about using a drama tool is that you can send down areas which are more difficult to access using sandpaper. As Dramml tools come with many different sized bits, Let's clean and dry. Once you're satisfied with the smoothness of your earring pieces, wipe off any sanding dust with a wet cloth, or just give them a quick rinse with water. Let the pieces dry completely before proceeding to the next steps. Sending down your freshly baked polymericle earring piece is a crucial step in achieving polished and professional look. With the right grit sandpaper or a good drama tool, you can easily smooth out imperfections and create a comfortable finish for your wearable art. If you have baked some of the blanks I suggested, you could now start and try to send them down to practice this technique. Happy sending, and see you in the next video. 18. How to design the shape of your earrings using blanks: Designing the shape of your polymer clay earrings. Using blanks is a fun and creative process. Whenever I buy new clay cutters, I always bake some blanks from them. These blanks I can use later to design my shapes. Usually you either have earrings that are made of metal earring finding that will then be combined with a piece of polymer clay. Or you have studs which use those flat earring pins where you can attach one or more polymer clay pieces underneath those blanks really come in handy as they help me determine which combinations of cutters I could use. This way I can exchange and try out different combinations before I start cutting into my clay. Okay, I hope you enjoyed this quick video. Feel free to start baking some blanks if you haven't done that yet. See you in another tutorial video. 19. How to glaze your earrings using UV Resin: Glazing your polymer clay. Using UV raisin is a straightforward process that gives you creations, a beautiful, shiny, durable finish. You don't have to glaze your earrings using UV sin. You could just leave them unfinished, or you can try other alternatives. Like I explained in the next video, I like to use UV sin as it gives a beautiful shine. It's fairly easy to apply if you have the right tools. Okay, let's get started. Prepare your polymer clay creations. After you've finished baking your polymer clay pieces, remove all the imperfections. You can use a fabric cloth to wipe it off with rubbing alcohol. Why using rubbing alcohol? Well, sin tends to move to the center in some occasions and leave the outside of your earring a little more empty. Even though you may have applied it straight to the edges, it still seems to run more to the center. Rubbing alcohol can help to keep your sin in place. Set up your workspace. Lay down a glossy tile to protect your work surface from any spills or drips. Also, glossy tiles can be easier cleaned in case of spilling some of the UV raisin. Wear protective gear. Please always wear protective glasses, a mask and gloves. When handling UV raisin, it may not be considered toxic. But some people can get allergic like reactions or slight eye burn When experimenting coming in touch with UVasin, make sure to work in a ventilated area as well. Fill up your UV raisin in small precision bottles to help applying UV raisin. I like to use those mini precision bottles as they have a smaller neck. Just refill it carefully with UV raisin. After each use, I just clean the neck so it doesn't dry up and close the bottle. Now let's apply the Uerasin. Using a toothpick or a needle tool, you can press down your clay earring piece. Another trick is to just use some raw clay underneath your piece that will hold down your piece in place. Carefully apply a thin and even layer of uerasin around the edges and then move on to the center of your polymeric clay creations. You can also cover the outside edges, remove air bubbles. If you notice any air bubbles on the raisin coated surface, you can use a long neck lighter and apply the flame for just a few seconds. This will make the bubbles pop. Be careful to not leave the flame on the surface for too long as it can make the rasin more yellow or brown. Let's cure the raisin. Once your piece is coated with the UV basin, it's time to cure it. The best and fastest way is to place your creation under a UV light lamp for three to four rounds. It usually takes a few minutes to cure the raisin completely. That's why I like to make three to four rounds after the recommended curing time. Check your creations with a toothpick on the edges to ensure that the raisin got fully cured and hardened. If you notice still some sticky or tachy areas, just place it back under the UV lamp and let it on for a little longer. If you don't have a UV lamp, you can also leave your pieces out in strong sunlight, but this technique will take longer to cure and you run at risk to collecting dust on top of your pieces. Those UV lamps are usually not expensive and you don't have to get the ultra fancy one. I like to use specifically this shape as it allows me to place my pieces with comfort underneath. If by accident you closed down your hole with your sin, you can always drill it again. Please be informed that once you use sin on top of your pieces, please do not bake your earrings again. If you're planning on baking your earrings for another step, apply the sin at the very last end. Okay, let's discuss in another video alternatives that you could use as well. 20. What other materials can be used for sealing or glazing : A general questions I get asked all the time is if you actually have to glaze or seal your clay. No, it is not necessary to do that. Many crafters also leave their creations unfinished with result in a more natural look. If you don't want to use sin or any other kinds of seal or glaciers, you could just leave it natural. If you do want to Gal and don't want to use UV sin. Let's talk about some other options that you have by showing the actual products. I do not do any advertising and I do not get any financial benefits from showing you those products. I simply want to showcase alternative ceiling or glacy materials that you can use. Polyurethane varnish. Polyurethane varnish is a popular alternative to sin it rise to a glossy finish and provides a durable protective coating on polymer clay. Make sure to use the water based version as oil based may react with the clay over time. Liquid polymer clay. Liquid polymer clay can be used as a glaze or achieve a slightly glossy semi finish. It is specifically designed to be compatible with solid polymer clay and can be baked together. Some crafters even cure the thin layer of clay using a heat gun. Acrylic medium. Acrylic gloss medium is the thick water based acrylic product that dries to a glossy finish. It can be brushed on the polymerclear surface and baked to achieve a shiny look. Epoxyasin. Epoxyasin is another option. If you're open to other types of raisins, It is considered to be nontoxic and provides a clear high gloss finish. When applied correctly, it may take a day to be fully cured, so don't expect the same cure time as you would with UVasin Hel Maar Crystal Cot Met. This spray varnish works well with polymer clay and dries to an almost invisible Met finish. It can give your pieces a supple shine without being sticky. Rust, oleum, crystal clear enamel. While this is not specifically designed for polymer clay, some crafters have had success using it to seal their clay projects. It dries to a clear and glossy finish as well. Before applying any of these alternatives, it's essential to do a small test on a baked test piece of polymer clay to ensure compatibility and decide results. Different brands and types of materials can behaved differently with polymer clay. Testing beforehand will help you avoid any unwanted surprises on your finished pieces. Uv son is and stays my personal preference, but you don't have to feel obligated to use it. Feel free to investigate about those alternative materials and use other coatings and the projects if that works better for you. 21. How to add flat earring pins to your studs: Hey there. In this video tutorial, I'm going to walk you through two quick methods for attaching flat earring pins to your studs. We will cover the EC one and then move on to something a bit fancier. Before we dive in, make sure your earrings have been baked already. Let's kick it off with the easy way. Grab the upper part of the earrings, you know the stud. If your design has a particular direction, keep that in mind as well. Now get your hands on a Dremel tool or some sandpaper, and give the spot where you're attaching the flat pins a roughened up surface. This helps the glue and the metal stick together. Decide where you want your earring holder to sit. The center works if it's just a stud, but if you're planning to add more big pieces underneath by drilling holes later, aim for the upper part to leave enough space. Place a little of instant glue on your flat earring pin. Press it onto the baked stud. And use a teeth pick or a needle tool to hold it in place until it dries. Some crafters stop here, but over time the stud could get loose. To avoid this, I suggest using some BV Asin on the back and curing it under UV lamp. Now into the more advanced technique to hide those rounded pins, grab some conditioned translucent clay. I use number seven on the clay machine or the pasta machine to make it as thin as paper. Use the same size cutter you use for the studs. And cut out thin pieces, create small holes where the pin will go. This helps the piece slide down smoothly. So now let's take one piece, slide it into the pin, and gently press to position it. Now for some extra texture, I take my piece and press it to the edge of my texture mad. Now, this back won't look so boring any longer. Time to trim the edges that popped out while pressing it down Me getting in the effort now means less sending later, which is a win. I make sure to create clean pieces before baking. You don't have to add another layer to the back of your earrings. But if you're thinking of turning this into a small business, this extra touch could totally impress your customers. Once your pieces are all set, bake them for another 30 minutes and they are ready for the next steps. I hope you enjoyed this quick trick for attaching your earring posts, catch in the next torial. 22. How to assemble your earrings using findings & jump rings: We have journeyed through the creative process and now the time has come to bring our earrings to life by assembling them. This point you should have already chosen your preferred findings or possibly have attached flat posts to your earrings. If you have applied a protective glaze such as UV sin, ensure that this step is also accomplished. Let's gather our tools and prepare the jump erings and findings that will bring our earrings to life. As I mentioned in the tool and material section, the choice of jumpering depends on the distance of your drilled holes. Should you find that a six millimeter jumping doesn't span the distance up for the seven millimeter alternative, In scenarios where your earring findings boost a sideway sloop, the petit four millimeter jumping comes into play. Since these earrings are a little thicker, I have chosen to utilize the seven millimeter jumping. I'm using my sharp plier in my left hand and the bended plier in my right. What is up to you, how you hold them? Then we simply open our jumping and slide our earring pieces through it and close the loop. Let's do the same for the earrings with the findings which have the four millimeter jumpering attached. Here we have our beautiful finished earring pieces. At this point, you should be ready to start creating your first earrings. Feel free to re watch any video you have seen so far. Happy crafting and enjoy the wide range of earring tutorials. 23. EARRING TUTORIAL - ALANA: Hi guys. In this video we will make the Alana earrings. The first thing is to cut a wide piece of polymer clay. You can always add more if you feel that you don't have enough. Then we condition the clay using a acrylic roller or a pasta machine I used in the thickness number two on my pasta machine, you can cut the rectangle of about six by seven sandi meters, or 2.4 by 2.8 ". Doesn't have to be exact. Just a example. I'm going to cut the corners to create a clean rectangle. Then I start dividing my clay piece in four. Now I'm using the translucent polymer clay and basically do the same condition. First with my acrylic roller and later with my pasta machine. Here I used the thickness number six or seven, which is way thinner. Then I adjust the size so it matches actually with my other rectangle and create four equal pieces again. Now comes the stack. I stack the translucent clay on top of the white. Okay, now that we have a stacked little rectangle, we can cut it in half and stack it again. Then I slightly press on each side. Just don't apply too much pressure. Just a bit. Can also use your acrylic roller. Now on a clean surface, I need to condition more translucent clay. This translucent clay will serve as my base. I used the pasta machine setting six or seven here as well. Now you can use just some baking paper for a smoother surface and cut the corners. And now comes the fun part. Carefully cut slices from the cube Terra. Doesn't this look beautiful? Now comes the fun part. Place the little rectangles on top of your conditioned clay and make sure you actually align them with the correct size. You will notice later here I did a little mistake as I have aligned basically the top on top of the top there. You see it a little bit. It's okay. It happens, yeah. Make sure that that doesn't happen to you. Then I can use my guides or use a pasta machine number zero. Those guys are 3 millimeters. Then we can remove the scraps. Don't forget to save them, you can reuse those. Now we apply some corn starch to our cutters, and a little bit on top of our clay, and we start cutting out our shapes. Here you can see I have created small pieces for the top and bigger pieces for the bottom. Don't forget to save those scraps. You can always create further designs using them. Now my fingers and rubbing alcohol optional, but to smoothen the edges so you have less work. Later you prepare your pieces, the less sending will be required afterwards. Now we need to bake those for 45 minutes. Here are the baked pieces. We immediately move them onto a cool tile to prevent any deformation. Here are our baked pieces. You can't keep them like that or add another textured layer behind. Okay guys, I hope you enjoyed this quick video. Happy crafting. 24. EARRING TUTORIAL - MAHINA: Welcome. In this tutorial we will create our machina earrings. I have provided you with a recipe. Please proceed accordingly and mix some clay. I have used the pasta machine thickness number four. Now let's use an oval cutter or cut the oval shape yourself as provided in my PDF. This oval cutter has a height of two on a 2 centimeters, which is approximately 1 " for each earring. We need five leaves, so ten oval pieces per earring, per P, sorry, and two small circles. Now we remove the scrapes and we condition this again if we want to make more pieces. Now you can use any texture mat or even real leaves to press on two to create some leaf texture. Just don't press too hard. What I like to do is I like to press the middle slightly and a little bit under sides a little stronger, just so it looks like a leaf shape. Now we slightly push together the lower part, and at the same time we pull the top part to make it a little sharper, cute leaf, isn't it? Then I place the leaf sideways and push down slightly. Okay, four more to go. As you can see, I start to aligning them in one direction and slightly press into the middle. Just not too strong. Just a bit. Now comes the fun part. We take one of the circle and place it behind and start shaping our flower. I make a tiny little ball, press down and use some bacon bond liquid, polymer clay. Place a tiny drop in there and carefully lift my small piece and place it into the middle later. Once we start baking, it's going to be fixated with a bacon bond. You could keep it like that if you prefer a more natural look. Since I'm a huge fan of gold, I'm going to add those three millimeter tiny gold plated beads for that. I'm using liquid scalpy. It's up to you how many you would like to place. You can do three or four. I think three works fine. Isn't this cute? I love it. Now let's bake them for 45 minutes. And here we have our baked pieces. Now we can drill some holes to attach our jump rings. After drilling our holes, we can start assembling. I'm using a six millimeter jump ring and an earring pin which is 5 millimeters. And here we have one of our earrings assembled. Doesn't this look beautiful? I just love this design. I hope you enjoyed this video. Happy crafting. 25. EARRING TUTORIAL - KALEA: Hi and welcome. In this tutorial we will create our Kalia earrings. We start by chopping white polymer clay. Then we start chopping translucent polymer clay. So as you can see, we need more translucent than white. Then we combine and chop again. Now it's time to form a bar. Now we slice into little squares and start stacking them on top of each other. Yeah, this should work. Now we can use an acrylic roller and slightly press down the next step. I'm using a paster machine number one and also condition more white clay and also use the paster machine number one. Then I have this nice color that I'm going to use. But you can surely just use a knife and cut thin lines instead. Obviously this way they are equal, but the tissue blade should work just fine. But removing the scraps, this looks clean. And now do the same for the white. Okay, now it's time to start stacking translucent and white interns. Almost done here. Okay, those a leftover. Then I use my acrylic roller and obviously rotated and start cutting stripes again. But this time, be careful. You have to align them. Shift it with one cube. You get the checkered press down, so they combine. Okay, now I can just put the leftover pieces to the other side. Can I use my acrylic roller again? Just be careful. Don't press too hard. And now we use cornstarch and cut our pieces. I love this design, has a nice texture to it and some small pieces. Since I have some space left, I'm just going to create some studs. And now be careful, remove the scraps. And here we have the pieces that we can then smoothen and place onto our baking sheet. Let's bake those for 40 minutes. Here we have our baked pieces. Do you see how the translucent now is more visible after baking? I love it. Okay guys. Now what's left to do is to assemble them. But you already know how to do that. I hope you like this tutorial. Happy Crafting. 26. EARRING TUTORIAL - MOANA: Let's start off with conditioning some white anti black polymer clay. I used pester machine setting four and created some small rectangles which are similar in size. We can now divide our rectangle into eight equal stripes and start stacking them on top of each other. We need another piece of black clay and form it into a snake. Let's cut our rectangle in half and cut the snake in half to combine. Now we start placing two pieces in the middle and start pressing our rectangles into a rounder shape. Let's condition some more white clay for our base. I use thickness number five on the pasta machine. Now it's time to cut small slabs and start placing them overlapping and randomly onto our base. We finalize with our acrylic roller and use guides or the pasta machine. Setting number zero. Let's save the scraps as usual. Next, we start cutting small studs from our slab. Carefully remove the scraps it's baking time, make these for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, I have already conditioned more white clay and used the texture to nice texture. Then I used those half round cutters to cut out my shape. Carefully use some white liquid clay and press down your baked peace onto the white raw piece. Bake again for 40 minutes. Here we have our baked pieces. What's left to do is to attach our blanks using superglue or for better results. You could even place some on top and use your UV lamp to fix. Okay guys, let's now it's your turn. Happy crafting. 27. EARRING TUTORIAL - AROHA: Hi guys. For these earrings, you can use any scraps that you have left from previous clay crafting and add some translucent clay, which I'm already chopping into small pieces. Yeah, pick the colors you prefer and start shopping them as well. At the end, add some liquid polymer clay. This will help the pieces stick together. Now we can form a small cube, and here comes the fun part. We start cutting small slabs from our cube and we start placing them overlapping on top of each other. You can then use your acrylic roller to achieve your desired thickness. I like to place some paper on top and roll over a couple of times for a smoother surface. Now it's time to cut out our circles. And don't forget to repurpose your scraps for more earrings or save them for another project. Finally, we can cut our inner circles out, which you could use to create additional studs and bake them for 45 minutes. Add some flat earring pins and cover your earrings with era for a smooth finish. Okay guys, I hope you enjoy this tutorial. Happy crafting. 28. EARRING TUTORIAL - PAHOA: Hi guys. In today's class, we will create those layered palm two earrings. First step is to condition some white clay. I use the setting zero on my pasta machine. Then we can predefine our shape using a cutter or a printed shape just to mark the area where our design will be placed. I don't press all the way down yet. Then I have already prepared some beach polymercletnes. You can mix them yourself or use my master color recipe for those. Basically, I have a darker beach, one that is more yellowish and a neutral beach tone. Next, I use a round cutter to cut out my mountain shapes. You can of course, just use your cutter knife and create a shape of your choice. Then I start placing the neutral beach first and the darker beach on top. Then I use a small tiny round cutter for the moon. Now we need to make some small snakes from black polymer clay and start creating the trunk for our palm trees. Before we continue with our leaves, I would recommend to not press too strong. Just lay it slightly on top so you can still move your shape around to correct it. Using my needle tool, I can now finally create some texture before we cut out our shape. Now I'm using the neutral beach tone and form another snake. I actually pressed it through the pasta machine on setting five and placed it around my shape. The last step is to use your fingers and soften the edges. Before we start baking, I actually cut out small studs from the neutral beach as well. Now it's time to assemble and place some flat earring pins behind. I always seal my pins with UV Son afterwards so they don't come off, which can happen sometimes. But you can certainly use translucent polymer clay and make them again for 15 to 20 minutes. Happy crafting. 29. EARRING TUTORIAL WAIMEA: Hi guys. In today's class, we will create those abstract earrings. I'm using a tiny beige toned ball from my master color recipe collection, but you can also mix that yourself. Then I need some white polymer clay as well to mix them together. The plan is to create some sort of white. It's not so extremely wide. I roll it out with a standard pasta setting, zero. I'm actually using some canvas paper to create some texture, but you can certainly use whatever you can find at home or some texture mat to create some texture on top or just leave it smooth. Now let's redefine the shape by gently pressing down with our cutter or printed template, marking the areas for our design. Take some black polymerclay and shape thin snakes to create abstract plant and flower designs. Use a needle tool to refine your shapes. Taking inspiration from abstract shapes on Pinterest can fuel your creativity. I personally like incorporating small loops for the leaves to bring some balance. Apologies for the reflective light as it was already dark when I continued this shape. When taking a break, I would suggest to cover your design with a small glass ball to prevent dust and lint from setting. Don't worry, it won't dry out. As you have noticed, I decided to create a different design for the second earring. It still has the same style, but they kind of still match together, don't you think? Finally we can cut out our shape. The next step is to create a thin snake that you can then place around your shape. I feel this kind of frames the whole design into small piece of art. I'm also cutting out some small studs in black. And together we bake them for 45 minutes. After baking, we finalize with the steps, creating holes, assembling and mating with UV rays. And tunes loosen polymer clay on the back so the pins don't fall off. I hope you enjoy this tutorial and feel inspired to recreate or design your own version. Happy crafting. 30. EARRING TUTORIAL OAHU: Hi everyone. Today let's craft some beautiful Hawaiian inspired earrings. I have prepared and conditioned three colors using my master color recipe. But feel free to mix your own cut out one circle each from the red and purple clay, then blend them together. I have added a white circle to enhance the vibrancy. Keeping in mind that baking colors tend to darken, I start by conditioning the tone with the pasta setting five, making them quite thin. The same process applies to the green color. And I'm using a piece of paper that can help avoid strong lines from the pasta machine. Moving on, conditioning black clay pasta setting number two, this will serve as our base. I have also incorporated an olive tone from the master color recipe, forming a snake and creating branches. Randomly, lay down pieces to form branches where you can place your flowers using a small stud cutter, cut out circles, press them through their rubber texture and shape them into small flowers. Now let's repeat the process with even smaller circles creating a mix of bigger and smaller flowers for our. Time to craft some leaves. I'm using a small leaf shaped cutter, but you can certainly just cut a leaf shape yourself as the rubber texture will alter the shape anyway, for added detail, create a small white clay snake cut small pieces, press them down, and use the rubber texture again to form even smaller white flowers. I have actually forgot to create some texture on my branches. You could certainly do this step right after placing the, the olive clay for the branches. Finally, we can cut our shapes. I suggest you use a round cutter. Not like me, I used an organic shape and it didn't turn out as I wanted just use a round cutter. Instead, it's easier for you to later rotate the shape and see where you can actually drill your host. Before baking, I decided to add a little flower nectary to make it look even more tropical. As you can see, I have also cut some small studs as well. If you feel like this is too much texture and flowers for you, you can certainly just create small black studs instead. Now we bake for 45 minutes and finalize with the steps we already know. Happy crafting.