Quick & Easy Interchangeable Leaf Earrings

Interchangeable Autumn Leaf Earrings by Cindi McGee

Creating eye-catching autumn earrings couldn't be easier - just a few steps and you've got an interchangeable set!  

Materials:

Makin's Clay®  - Persimmon 

Makin's® Leaves Push Mold 

Makin's Professional® 

Cutting Mat

Professional Clay Tools®

CreateAlong.com Mica Powders - Copper, Gold, Golden Green 

Paintbrush 

Goldtone hoop earring wires 

Instructions:

Use Persimmon clay to make two larger sized leaves, two medium sized leaves, and two small leaves.  

Apply copper mica powder to two matching leaves, gold to another set, and the golden green to the third set of leaves. 

Use clay tool to make a small hole in the top center of each leaf.  Let dry 24 hours. 

That's it!  Simply add the leaves to the goldstone hoop earring wires as desired.  All 3, any 2, or one set at a time - it's your choice!

 

Geometric Metallic Effect Earrings

Geometric Metallic Effect Earrings by Cindi McGee

Metallics never go out of style.  They coordinate with almost any style or color of clothing, making them a very versatile accessory.  These earrings are simple to make and would make a great gift.  Prefer gold to silver?  Simply change the color of the mica powders and change the color of the jump rings and earring wires to customize them as you’d like. 

Materials:

Makin’s Clay® - Black

Makin’s® -

• Clay Roller 
• Texture Sheets - Set H - Connectors, Set B - Dots 
• Cutters - Rectangles, Mini Geo 

Makin’s Professional® 

• Cutting Mat 
• Professional Clay Tools 

Silver & copper mica powder 

Paintbrush 

Silver earring wires, jump rings

Jewelry pliers 

Plastic wrap 

Beacon 527 Adhesive™

Instructions:

Roll black clay to a little less than 1/4” thick.   

Place connectors texture sheet over rolled clay.  Apply light pressure to transfer texture to clay. 

Place plastic wrap over the clay, use rectangular cutter (in size of choice - I used the medium in the 3 piece set) to cut 2 rectangles. 

Roll more clay to a little less than 1/4” thick.   

Place dots texture sheet over rolled clay.  Apply light pressure to transfer texture to clay.

Place plastic wrap over the clay, use the diamond cutter from the Mini Geo set to cut two diamonds. 

Use paintbrush to apply silver mica powder to the rectangles and copper to the diamonds.  

Use tool to make hole top center of in each rectangle.   

Apply a small amount of adhesive to back of diamonds, mount to center of rectangles.  

Let clay and adhesive dry 24 hours. 

Add silver jump rings to each recetangle, then add silver earring wires.  

Steampunk Collar Necklace

This month Makin's Clay® challenged it's Design Team members to select a Pin from our Tutorials & Techniques Board or our Polymer Clay Inspiration Projects Board and create a project using Makin's Clay® based upon the chosen pin.  Our goal was not to have our designers simply copy of the projects, yet be inspired to perhaps try a new technique, or create a project style they might not normally have considered.  My project was inspired by two pins - 

This collar necklace, and this metallic mosaic necklace from our Inspiration Projects board 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/501588477234081932/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/501588477234081932/

Materials:

Makin’s Clay® - 2 120g Black 

Makin’s® 

• Clay Roller
• Texture Sheets - Sets A, D, F, G, H

Makin’s Professional® 

• Cutting Mat
• Ultimate Clay Extruder® - Disc #31 

Beacon 527 Adhesive™

Craft knife 

Oversized closure, jump rings 

Jewelry pliers 

Lunch sized plate, pen/pencil, paper 

Scissors 

Hole punch 

Instructions:

Trace lunch size (or desired size) plate onto paper.  

Determine desired width of finished collar necklace, and draw inside line.

Divide up the collar into pieces in assorted sizes as shown.  

Cut out pattern.  Reassemble. 

For this project, I used rolled and textured & colored pieces of clay leftover from another project.  To create sheets, roll black clay to about 1/8” thick, texture with assorted texture sheets, creating some with embossed pattern and some with debossed pattern.   Let sheets dry. 

Note:  At this point, you can choose to color the sheets with DecoArt® Metallic Lustres™.  Or, you can cut the pattern pieces from the textured clay and then add the metallic color as you arrange them.  

Use pattern to cut out pieces from the sheets of clay.

Roll enough black clay (to about 1/8”) to create base for necklace in a single piece.  I used a 120g package.  If the sheet is not perfectly smooth, it will not effect finished piece.  

Reassemble cut pieces on rolled clay.

Apply Beacon 527 Adhesive™ to back of each piece and mount to black clay base.    Use craft knife to cut away clay around necklace.  Place clay you remove into zipper bag with damp paper  towel for later use.   

To help give the desired curve, I placed my necklace onto the back of the plate to dry for 24 hours.

Use curved shape disc # 31 with Ultimate Clay Extruder® to extrude enough black clay to encircle necklace on inside and outside edges. 

Apply 527 Adhesive to inside of curved extruded clay, carefully apply to inside and outside of necklace to cover edges on front and back of necklace. 

Let dry 24 hours.  

Apply desired shades of Metallic Lustre to back of necklace and to extruded clay borders.  (If any colors overlap, they can be easily covered with a second coat of the desired color). 

Punch hole in back edges and add oversized closure. 

Faux Aged Copper Bracelet by Cindi McGee

FAUX AGED COPPER BRACELET

Designed By Cindi McGee - Behind These Eyes™

Makin's Clay® challenged our creative Design Team this month to select a tutorial or technique from our Tutorials & Techniques for Makin's Clay® Pinterest Board and try it with Makin's Clay®.  There are so many options to choose from, it's hard to choose just one!  The first one I decided to try was a technique inspired by this pin for faux vintage keys & more.  I made some minor revisions to the technique they used, and I'm happy with the result. 

Materials:

Makin’s Clay® - Terra Cotta 

Makin’s® Clay Roller & Piercing Tool

Makin’s® Cutting Mat 

Makin’s® Square Clay Cutter Set 

DecoArt® Americana® Multi-Surface Satin™ - Woodland Green, Deep Turquoise 

DecoArt® Dazzling Metallics® - Copper 

Rubber stamp

Paintbrush, paper towels

Copper jump rings - large and small, round copper charms, copper jewelry closure, jewelry pliers 

Instructions:

Use hand roller to roll Terra Cotta Makin’s Clay® to  about 1/8” thick. 

Impress texture onto rolled clay with un-inked rubber stamp. 

Use middle sized square clay cutter (or desired shape) to cut out 4 pieces.  (This stamp had a design that was exactly the size of the medium shaped square cutter - adjust your shape/size accordingly).   Place any unused clay in zipper bag with damp paper towel.   

Use pointed end of piercing tool to make a hole in two corners of each square.  Let dry 24 hours.   

Paint each piece front and back with Dazzling Metallics® copper paint.  Let dry. 

Apply small amount of Deep Turquoise Multi-Surface Satin™ paint to front of each piece.   While paint is still wet, use paper towel to gently wipe away paint, allowing some to remain in stamped areas, etc.  Apply to back and gently wipe to remove some paint while wet.   Let dry. 

Apply small amount of Woodland Green Multi-Surface Satin™ paint to front of each piece.   While paint is still wet, use paper towel to gently wipe away paint, allowing some to remain in stamped areas, etc.  Apply to back and gently wipe to remove some paint while wet.   Let dry.

Add copper jump rings to connect each square.  Add round copper charm on small jump ring between each set of squares.  Add copper closure.