This technique works for ornaments, stitch markers etc.
Hello! Welcome to Miniezshops how-to-sculpt series with myself Elizabeth. Today's blog walks you through how to turn your unbaked sculptures into charms. This technique also works for ornaments, necklaces, stitch markers etc. Here’s what you’ll need:
A work mat to protect your table top. You don’t need anything fancy, this can be a piece of paper.
Your unbaked sculpture. If you need inspiration check out my Youtube channel.
Eye pins or hooks. Here a link to the ones I use.
Lobster clasps. Here's what I use.
A silicone dowel tool. This is the one I use and here's another option. However, you can also use a pen tip or the tip of a pencil covered in saran wrap, so the graphite doesn’t mark the clay.
A potter's needle is helpful but you can also use a toothpick.
Pliers. Needle nose pliers work best.
Wire cutters. You can also use non fancy scissors, nail trimmers, or very carefully an x-acto knife.
A baking sheet & an oven.
I might earn a commission if you purchase from any of those links but you can definitely use what you have and get creative with the tools.
A photo of the tools.
Once you have your materials gathered it’s time to get sculpting:
Step 1: With clean hands, locate your unbaked sculpture. It needs to be unbaked because we will insert the eye pin into it while it’s still soft.
Step 2: Take an eye pin and hold it up to your sculpture. Line up the eye pin hook with the top of your sculpture and mark the metal where it will be halfway into your sculpture. You don’t need to physically mark the metal but you can hold the metal where that mental mark is.
Step 3: At that mark, bend the metal ninety degrees.
Step 4: Grab your wire cutters and snip the metal after the bend, leaving about a 1/16th of an inch or less of that ninety degree bend.
Step 5: Find the center of the top of your sculpture, and line up the bend portion of the metal with that center.
Step 6: Press the metal into the sculpture until just the loop of the eye hook is visible.
Step 7: Hold your sculpture steady and twist the eye pin ninety degrees. This locks the pin into place inside the sculpture.
* When you first insert the eye pin into the sculpture, make sure the loop is facing the opposite way you would like it to. This is because the twist will face it the other direction.
Step 8: Take your smoothing tool and smooth the little hole around the eye pin shut. Don’t bury the eye hook in the clay because we will need to open up that loop later but make sure the clay is snug against the base so the eye pin won’t wiggle around.
Step 9: Heat up your oven and bake the sculpture according to the clay's specifications. Generally this is 275 F or 135 C for thirty minutes but clay varies from brand to brand.
Step 10: When your sculpture is done baking, let it cool for about 30 minutes, until it’s cold to the touch.
* For ornaments just add string after this. For others, continue to the next steps.
Step 11: Then, take your pliers and open that eye pin loop.
Step 12: Insert your lobster clasp, necklace/bracelet chain etc. into the eye pin loop.
Step 13: Close the loop with your pliers and tug a smidge at the clasp or chain to make sure it won’t break free of the loop.
Step 14: If you'd like a visual tutorial here's my corresponding Youtube video.
Step 15: Wear, share or decorate with your awesome new sculpture.
I hope you have fun and make lots of cute little charms! If you have any questions let me know in the comments below. I always enjoy hearing what you’d like to know about the sculpting process.
Ps. if you feel like sending a photo of your creations, I'd love to see what you make and can feature it at the end of my Youtube videos if you’d like. Here's some of the charms I've made:
Thanks for reading, hugs - Elizabeth (miniezshop)