How to make cabochons from polymer clay. Decorating a box with polymer clay - step-by-step master class

Polymer clay is a magical material that allows you to create jewelry and dolls, decorative items for the home and for gifts with your own hands at home. There are many master classes for beginners on the KalinkaPolinka website. In order not to repeat the same basic principles of sculpting over and over again, I wrote this article with the main questions for beginners:

Which polymer clay to buy for beginners?

Currently, you can buy polymer clay from different manufacturers in stores. I will talk about baked clays, since I don’t work with self-hardening clays.

What tools and materials are needed for sculpting?

You definitely need a knife, a very sharp one. A special one is best, but a stationery one will do. Moreover, I noticed that you need to buy not the most expensive and not the cheapest. Cheap ones are blunt, and expensive ones are usually very dense with a thick blade (I once bought Japanese ones at the construction market, they definitely don’t fit). The knife should not smear the design when cutting. Do not use a kitchen knife or, in general, utensils from which you will later eat. This is dangerous to your health.

In second place is the rolling pin. A pasta machine or noodle cutter in Russian is also indispensable. But at first, a rolling pin can replace it. The rolling pin should not be made of plastic (not all types of plastic tolerate contact with PG; PG often dissolves them). A special acrylic roller can be replaced with a metal tube (a can of hairspray, a rod from a clothes closet), a glass object (a narrow bottle, a smooth, even glass, etc.)

Toothpicks will come in handy; you can use them to roll up sausage slices like miniature stacks, make holes in the beads (although I recommend drilling holes after baking with a 1-2 mm drill, but in some cases you can use a toothpick), you can dry varnished beads on them and bake in the oven raw, in general they will come in handy.

If you want to do sculptural modeling, you need stacks (not plastic).

Then you'll probably want to buy metal cutting molds (similar to the ones you use to make cookies) and texture sheets made of rubber or silicone, and in general there's a whole heap of other stuff that you can buy later. In the meantime, you can look in the bins for beautiful buttons, metal pendants (with which you can squeeze out designs), and instead of molds, you can have a cap or a glass with sharp edges, or make a tin mold of your own design from a metal can or plastic bottle.

In addition to tools, everything that needlewomen have in stock can be useful in their work: glitter, sprinkles, sequins, shadows, pastels, skeletonized leaves, beautiful pieces of glass, beads, decorative elements, acrylic paints, in general, everything with which you can decorate your work.

For the insides of beads (especially large ones), you can use wooden varnished beads or well-crumpled foil. Foil is also used when sculpting dolls to save material and lighten the weight of the structure.

If you want to make jewelry, then you will need accessories for jewelry: bases for earrings, pins, bases for rings, clasps, chains, cords, etc. I will write a separate article about this a little later.

How to make sure that white is white when sculpting?

When sculpting, keep it clean, it is better to wear gloves on your hands, sculpt on a white piece of paper, clean glass. If you sculpt from white, then wear light-colored clothes so that there are no lints around you. Keep wet wipes on hand to wipe your hands and tools. In addition, damp wipes can be used to smooth out uneven areas.

How to make plastic softer or harder? What to do if polymer clay has dried out?

To soften the plastic, they come up with many folk methods using cream, Vaseline, heating, etc. Each method has pros and cons:

With Vaseline, already dry clay becomes brittle and may not bake at all. We get the same effect when adding water or paint to clay.

Softeners are an easy way, but you need to buy them separately. My favorite softener is Moldmaker. This is a plasticizer for making molds, enough peas for a pack. polymer clay. The only downside is the price and availability on the market. Not available in all stores.

Soft polymer clay. Sometimes I even like clays better in mixtures. Can be diluted, for example, with Chinese clay.

And, conversely, if the plastic “flows in your hands”, sticks to your fingers (this happens with fresh clay), then you need to mix it with drier clay, or put it on a sheet of white paper for a couple of hours until the sheet becomes greasy, made of polymer clay will release excess plasticizer.

Additionally, clay can become very sticky when you add paint to it that it has reacted with. There's nothing you can do about it.

How to make cream for cakes from polymer clay?

There are several ways:

1. using Fimo gel (more transparent) or Scalpi gel (whitens all colors). This is liquid plastic, it needs to be mixed with polymer clay. Do not use too much gel, otherwise the cream will not be appetizing, but transparent, similar to fondant. The gel must be baked.

2. Use Vaseline, also not too much. After baking, the effect is almost the same as that of the gel, only a little thicker. There should not be too much Vaseline and other additives, otherwise the clay will not bake or will be too brittle.

3. There is another option - make a cake from polymer clay, and make a voluminous cream on top; it requires accuracy and the ability to sculpt well)

4. You can draw cream acrylic paint, and jam stained glass paints. Fantasy is not limited)

How to bake polymer clay and at what temperature?

Baking is an important moment for creating a quality product. The temperature is indicated on the clay package. You can bake on a regular baking sheet covered with paper folded like an accordion; you can put the beads on a toothpick and stick them into foil; flat beads are best baked on glass or ceramic tiles. When baking, there should be no odor, the product should not turn black or char. If this happens, ventilate the room as soon as possible. After baking, wash the stove if you plan to cook food in it later. If you bake it in the oven in which you will cook food, then you can put a piece of glass or an accordion with beads into the baking sleeve, and then open it outside.

IMPORTANT: During the first baking, do not put all the molded beauty into the oven at once, practice on a sample. After baking, the clay should be dense, thin flat parts should bend a little and not break at the slightest pressure, the chips when drilling should be long and not scatter with sand. The color of the clay should not darken too much, char or spread over the base.

COOKING PLASTICS: I am categorically against boiling plastic in water. Boiling point 100 degrees, suitable only for Polish plastic. All other baking temperatures are higher. In addition, the clay changes color when cooked, the top layer dissolves slightly and becomes whitish.

Personally, I myself have now started baking polymer clay in an air fryer. It is not expensive, does not take up much space, and holds the temperature well. The disadvantages are that thick layers of clay can crack; it is not possible to bake tall products, since if the clay is too close to the heating element, it also becomes covered with cracks. If the beads are light and can fly away from the air flow, then simply press the sheet with something heavy.

What varnish should I use to coat polymer clay?

Do not use regular nail polish or acrylic varnish for creativity, some varnishes can dissolve plastic, even if it seems that it is dry at first, over time it can begin to stick and collect all the dust; there is no way to remove it from the product, which will be irretrievably damaged . There are special branded varnishes (for example, Fimo varnish), in as a last resort you can use not special, but experience-tested varnishes for construction work: Tikkurila parquetti-yassya varnish (in a green can, dries for a couple of hours, shines well, water-based, with a slight odor, the brush is easy to clean with water), Tikkurila Unika-super (this is a yacht varnish, the coating is simply eternal, there are a couple of disadvantages - it turns yellow light-colored products, takes a long time to dry and has a strong smell), synteco pro 90 (pro 90 glossy, pro 45 semi-gloss, pro-20 semi-matte, properties like ash, but more stable, gives a more durable coating). I varnish flat beads on each side in turn. Round beads on toothpicks stuck into plasticine. You can dip the beads in varnish or apply the coating with a synthetic brush.

Glue for polymer clay, which one to use?

To glue parts onto bases (for example, for a ring), I use epoxy glue; in extreme cases, Contact-gel glue can be used. It is better to degrease the base and scratch it a little to improve adhesion. If you want to glue a pin, then drill the hole a little oversized so that there is room for the glue and it can fasten the pin to the base.

If you need to fasten parts made of polymer clay to each other or a piece of unbaked plastic to a baked one, then use a special baked gel, liquid plastic, for example, FIMO liquid. It definitely needs to be baked.

How to store uncut polymer clay sausages and started packs?

It is necessary to wrap them in film or put them in a zip bag. By themselves, they, of course, do not dry out in air, but over time they can lose their plasticity and become brittle due to the evaporation of the plasticizer. Do not wrap sausages in paper! You can store sausages in the refrigerator, this way they retain their plastic properties longer.

How to polish polymer clay beads?

Sanding is done after baking, before varnishing. You need waterproof paper-based sandpaper (fabric-based sandpaper is too rough), I buy it at car stores: the largest number is 400, then 600, then 800, 1000-1200 is polishing. After sanding with sandpaper, I rub the beads with a linen towel, which makes them pleasant and velvety). You can also rub the top with wax, including beeswax (you can use transparent shoe wax)

To sand or not is your decision. If you touch the beads after polishing, they feel completely different to the touch; the varnish does not hide the defects, but only emphasizes them even more.

Is polymer clay toxic?

In a sense, yes. This is still not a completely natural product, which is not recommended for use by children under 8 years old; bake under parental supervision. If the plastic burns, ventilate the room. Bake with a hood, after baking, wash the stove or use a separate one for clay. Dishes, noodle cutters, knives, plates that have been in contact with clay should not be used for food in the future! Once baked, it is considered non-toxic. Not suitable for babywearing beads; children can bite off a piece of the bead, because their composition is softer than plastic.

Malachite is one of the most amazing and beautiful natural stones. We look at it, admire it and create jewelry imitating malachite from polymer clay. In this master class I will show you how.

Materials and tools.

polymer clay - 8 shades of green and 1 piece of brown;
caps from pens and felt-tip pens of different diameters;
rolling pin (any non-plastic bottle, for example, hairspray);
sharp long blade;
varnish for polymer clay;
universal glue, thin drill.
ring base; Stud studs for earrings.

For the brooch:

a piece of black suede,
acrylic beads,
thin chain,
waxed thread,
needle, fastener, scissors, chalk.

For bracelet:

elastic thread,
acrylic beads.

Description of work.

Let's prepare the clay of the required colors.

Let's form them into flat cakes and stack them on top of each other, alternating dark and light shades.

Using a rolling pin, roll out a stack of clay to remove excess air between the layers and make each layer thinner.

We cut the stack in half, fold one part on top of the other and roll it out a little again.

Using caps from pens and felt-tip pens, we make indentations in random order and of different depths.

Squeeze the edges a little and use a sharp blade to make thin cuts.

It is necessary to make several such sections from the entire layer. We select the fragments we like the most and set them aside for further work with decorations.

Ring.

From the leftovers and scraps we form a ball, the size corresponding to the diameter of the base for the ring. Cut it in half and insert it into the base.

We take a fragment of a cut from the layer that we like, preferably one that imitates the “eye” of malachite as much as possible, and carefully place it on the half of the ball that is in the ring. We cut off excess clay with a sharp blade.

Let's bake. After the ring has cooled, remove the resulting cabochon from the ring base. We sand and varnish. We wait until the varnish dries, and then we glue the bottom of the base and return the “malachite” back.

Earrings.

We form a tube from the colored remains and pieces of cuts and twist it. We make a small ball and insert it into the base for the earrings. We press a little and give it a nice shape.

We bake, cool, remove from the base, sand, varnish, wait until the varnish dries. Glue the clay back to the base.

The earrings and ring are ready!

Brooch.

We roll a beautiful slice fragment onto a layer of emerald clay 5-7 mm thick.

Using a sharp blade, cut out the desired cabochon shape.

Bake. polish and varnish. We cut out a pattern of a suitable size from paper for the future brooch, pin it on suede, and trace the contours.

Tip: To easily and accurately trace the contours of a pattern, simply shade its circumference with chalk.

Cut out 2 parts. We glue polymer malachite to one (photo 18), and sew a fastener to the other (photo 19).

We sew the cabochon with a thin chain in 2 rows using waxed thread.

Sew on acrylic beads. Glue together the lower part with the fastener and the upper part with clay.

The brooch is ready!

Bracelet.

We make a sausage from emerald-colored polymer clay, 1-1.5 cm thick. Cut it into pieces about 2 cm long. Here you need to use all the remaining colored pieces and sections.

To do this, we form beads from emerald clay, glue them with colored remains, and roll them into a sausage. We twist the sausage and randomly form “pebbles” of irregular shape with our fingers.

You need to make about 7 pebbles.

Bake, polish. We make holes using a thin drill. coat with varnish.

After the varnish has completely dried, place the pebbles on the elastic band, alternating them with acrylic beads. We tie the elastic band into a strong knot.

The bracelet is ready!

ADVICE: If you want to complete the whole set at once, then first form all the clay parts for each decoration. Then bake them together, sand them and varnish them.

IMPORTANT: Be sure to wait until the varnish is COMPLETELY dry. Even if it seems to the touch that the varnish no longer sticks, during operation it can become damaged and leave unsightly marks and dents on the surface.

Did you like the master class? Save it for yourself:

Do you want to learn how to make flowers like this from polymer clay? Check this one out .

Have questions about polymer clay?

Polymer clay decoration- these are always fashionable and sophisticated, airy and “lively”, original and unique, stylish and durable things. With a little imagination, you can make a lot of creative jewelry, bouquets of flowers, magnets, and jewelry from plastic (polymer clay). In this handicraft lesson we will show, how to make vintage earrings from polymer clay using Fimo metal powder, as well as imitation of stone (agate) using transparent clay (using cabochons as an example).

To work you will need:

polymer clay (blue, turquoise, translucent);
round cutter;
silver powder (if you don’t have special powder for working with plastic, you can use eye shadow);
foil;
stack;
metal fittings (rings, earrings);
roller or pasta machine;
varnish for polymer clay;
soft brush.

Knead the turquoise polymer clay until soft and roll it out onto pasta machine (on one, 3–4 mm). The base needs to be dense - the earrings will not be so fragile after firing. We crumple the foil and roll it with a rolling pin over the polymer clay several times (2-3 times) to make the texture more saturated.

Using a round cutter, cut out the blank for the future earring.

Roll out blue polymer clay into a sausage. Roll out the transparent one thinner.

We twist them together in a spiral. Fold in half and twist again. We twist until the stripes of different colors become very thin.

Cut a piece from the resulting sausage and roll it into an oval. Cut it in half. We get two identical cabochons, which we place in the center of the earring blank and press them a little with our fingers so that the clay adheres to each other (there is a special gel on sale for working with plastic, you can put the cabochons on it).

We roll a thin turquoise sausage and wrap it around the cabochons. Use a blade to cut off the excess.

Using a stack, we begin to press the sausage onto the base and cabochon, creating a relief pattern and pressing all the parts together more tightly.

Making leaves. Roll out turquoise polymer clay into a sausage. We cut off two identical pieces and form a droplet out of them with our fingers (with our index finger we roll the ball along the surface). Flatten the drop to the surface so that it becomes flat and like a needle (or reverse side knife) draw the veins of the leaf. We slightly change the shape of the leaf by twisting it by the tip.

We roll small balls of turquoise polymer clay and begin to glue everything to the base.

First, we form the leaves, pressing them with a stack at the base to the surface, and also flatten the balls with a stack at our discretion, as you like.

Use a toothpick to make a hole into which the earring will be attached.

Using a brush, cover the blanks with silver powder without touching the cabochon. There is no need to tint the entire surface - let’s just give it a little shine, so that there are gaps of turquoise color left.

We send the pieces to be fired (at the temperature indicated on the packaging). In our case, the firing time was 10 minutes. at a temperature of 130 degrees. We wait for the pendants to cool completely and coat them with varnish. We coat the cabochons three times for a better glossy shine.

We wait for the varnish to dry and assemble the blanks into earrings. Bend the ring and insert it into the pendant. We put on the earrings and close the ring.

Vintage polymer clay earrings with imitation blue agate are ready!

Earrings made of polymer clay in vintage style!

Polymer clay jewelry always touching and funny, they are resistant to short-term wetness, but prolonged exposure to water damages the varnish that covers the product.

Using various materials, for example, wood, stones, wire, beads, you can create jewelry of different styles - from everyday, romantic to vintage. Modeling from polymer clay- an interesting and fascinating process, a type of creativity where, without special skills, you can create fashionable jewelry - earrings, rings, brooches, flower necklaces, stylish decorative elements.

Emphasize your individual style, make vintage earrings made of polymer clay - you will always be the center of attention!

The first keychain made of polymer clay with imitation silver. On the eve of February 23rd - this will be relevant. Let's create a keychain with appearance silver. Take a piece of polymer clay. Knead it well, lubricate it with cream and press it into our mold, which we chose for this, carefully cut off the remainder with a knife, smooth the surface with water. This is so that the back side of the keychain is even and smooth, we send it to dry. The polymer clay will dry completely after 24 hours.

After our workpiece has dried, we carefully take it out of the mold and turn it over. Take a sheet and cut out a square from it with a margin. Let’s start gluing it onto the surface, smoothing it with our fingers and a special plastic stick. It should look like this.

We glue the same sheet of square on the bottom, fold the edges and cut it carefully with scissors, this is what we got.

But now let’s take a sponge, slightly moistened with water (it’s included in the kit) and rub it with it so that our silver appears. When you achieve the desired result in processing the keychain, we’ll select a sheet that we’ll place in our blank and pour in UV resin, completing everything these are beads.

We put it under a UV lamp for 2 minutes, or you can put it on a window in the sun for 20-30 minutes, in cloudy weather it will take up to 1 hour. In the end you will receive such a wonderful keychain, very light and weightless. Made by your hands with love - this always nice.

Next, we will create jewelry from UV resin. For this we need a round hemisphere mold. We begin to create and create, choose a mold in size for the pendant and ring. Fill the mold with resin to the very top. Add a little white glitter and stir lightly.

Squeeze a little white paint onto a piece of paper, mix it with a drop of resin and place it in the mold, but don’t stir it completely and create chaotic movements to create vortices in our hemisphere.

We send it to dry under a lamp.

After that we look at the result.

Let's do the same with the second hemisphere.

Using exactly the same method, we will create a hemisphere for the earring, only we will take a smaller circle, and when all the blanks are ready. Then we will cover the upper part of the hemisphere with blue ink and let it dry, you can turn it over and admire the milky way that we will get.

Apply UV resin again to the ink, attach the fittings and send it to dry under a lamp for 2 minutes.

And when we collect the jewelry, we will get this set of jewelry.

To create a pendant sphere, you will need a round mold. Pour resin into the half-sphere mold, add glitter and put a rhinestone heart, set it to dry under a UV lamp for 2 minutes.

We repeat the same thing again with the second hemisphere.

This is how beautiful it turned out.

To connect two hemispheres together, pour a little resin into the middle of one of the hemispheres, insert a loop and attach the second one.

Let it dry for 2 minutes under a lamp. We take it out and attach the chain, and we get such an original sphere-pendant.

Let's start creating a ring, miniature and elegant. Let's pour resin into the mold, pour beads of two colors into it, you can take more colors. Distribute them evenly and send them to dry under the lamp.

We take the blank from the mold and cut off the excess resin with scissors, and sand the edges with sandpaper moistened with water.

This is what we got in the end.

Let's move on to creating a set of jewelry: pendants and earrings. You can say quick-made jewelry, if of course you have everything necessary materials or if suddenly you were unexpectedly invited to visit, and you did not have time to buy a gift, then this master class will come in handy. Pour resin into an elongated mold form, evenly place sequins of two colors (you can make small flowers from polymer clay), fill the centers with microbeads and send them to dry under a UV lamp for 2 minutes.

We take our product out of drying and again top up with resin. In this case, you can use resin of any flexibility. We send it to dry again.

Let's see what we got and create a second earring of the same kind.

For the pendant, take a square mold and pour resin into it, distribute sequins with microbeads, and send them to dry under a lamp.

To attach a cross pendant to a pendant, you just need to pour resin and drown the cross halfway in it, and then dry it under a lamp.

We take out our pendant and connect it with pre-prepared accessories. We have such a light and transparent set of jewelry, and if you use your imagination, you can get designer jewelry like this.

This time we will create a keychain. To do this, we will prepare an ice cream stick and various fillings that you have at home, I took pre-prepared fims and skeletonized leaves, rhinestones. Let's start by preparing the stick, cutting it with a knife (4 cm) and sanding it, giving it a semicircular shape, pour resin into the mold, spread it evenly over the surface in a stack, lay the fimki, sprinkle it with microbeads and send it to dry under the lamp.

We take it out from under the lamp and add resin again. Distribute the resin evenly in a stack and lay the skeletonized leaves, and also place the stick and send it to dry under the lamp. The stick needs to be raised a little so that it sinks in the resin, I used a cap.

And we apply the very last layer of resin and lightly sprinkle it with blue and lilac glitter, and send it to dry under a lamp.

Remove the lollipop from the mold and trim off the excess resin with a knife.

We will transfer the letter or whatever you want to the stem of the stick.

The final touch remains, this is to tie a bow, and so that it does not come undone, drop a drop of resin and attach a rhinestone and again under the lamp for 2 minutes. The result is such a lollipop!

And now for the cabochons, let’s take a mold for the cabochon. Pour resin into the mold, sprinkle in pearlescent glitter, mix it in a stack closer to the edges and send it to dry under a lamp.

We squeeze it out of the mold and turn it over, now we boldly fill the resulting base with resin, distribute the fillers in it at our discretion and again place it under the lamp for two minutes.

We take another mold, fill it with resin again and again put it under a UV lamp for two minutes.

Take the mold out of the mold and turn it over. Pour in the resin and distribute it evenly over the surface using a stack.

Place the filler, in this case it is (rose petals made of polymer clay), add microbeads and under the lamp for 2 minutes.

Here are our cabochons ready!

Best of luck in your resin endeavor!

In this master class we will decorate a small box using polymer clay. We will learn how to make cabochons with imitation turquoise and “inlay” them into a plastic base, which we will complement with simple but beautiful patterns.

In such a box you can then store small jewelry and decorations.

To decorate a box with polymer clay we will need the following materials:

Making cabochons

First of all, we will make cabochons with imitation turquoise from polymer clay, which will then decorate our box.

Knead the plastic until soft. We pull the blue clay into a tube, and roll the gray clay to one millimeter in thickness. We tear the gray clay into pieces and paste it over the sausage. Leave space between pieces!

We roll the tube over the surface, stretching and smoothing the cuts.

We cut the tube into several equal parts and put them together.

Cut the resulting kane again. We put it together and cut it into thin slices.

Joint to joint, we glue the base with slices and roll the bead in our palms to smooth out the cut areas.

We form an oval cabochon. We prepare the required number of such stones for further decoration.

Decorate the box with polymer clay

Let's estimate how many cabochons we will need for decoration. We decided to place one large cabochon in the center, and surround it with small ones on top, bottom and sides. We place the finished cabochons on the surface of the box and figure out the composition.

Roll out the silver clay to a thickness of 2 mm.

We apply the lid of the box to the resulting plastic sheet and print its borders.

Cut out the shape along the resulting contour.

Place the base on the surface of the box and carefully trim off the excess plastic.

We roll out plastic of different colors (silver, bronze, gold) into thin threads.

We wrap the cabochons with bronze threads.

Press the plastic tightly against each other and use a blade to evenly apply the pattern around the perimeter of the threads

We wrap the cabochons in the second circle with gold plastic color

Using a stack with a ball (dots) we also add texture to the surface of the threads.

We cut the clay into small pieces and form identical droplets from them.

We roll balls of the same size in the same way.

We place the balls on the base opposite the small cabochons.

Add droplets by pressing them with a needle at the base.

We also decorate a large cabochon with balls, pressing them in the center with dots.

We insert bronze-colored clay into the center of large silver balls.

We decorate the center of smaller balls with golden clay.

We wrap small cabochons with silver clay threads.

We decorate the central cabochon with a lace arc.

We decorate the centers with gold and bronze clay.

On the upper edges of the box we lay out silver threads with dots and form tick patterns from them.

We decorate the ticks with a lace arc.

Add clay balls again, pressing them with a dot in the center.

We decorate the middles of the balls with clay of a different color.

We fill the remaining empty spaces on the surface with the same elements that were used in the rest of the drawing.

We send the lid of the box to be fired in the oven at a temperature of 120°C for about 15 minutes. We wait for it to cool, remove it from the lid and place the clay base on the glue.

We cover the side walls of the box with black Acrylic-Art acrylic paint. Let's dry it.

Using a foam sponge, we decorate the black surface with “Decolor” silver paint. Let the paint dry. If desired, you can coat the paint with a layer of matte acrylic varnish to protect it from scratches and damage. The inside of the box can also be painted, or the wooden texture can be left, it’s a matter of taste.

Our box with polymer clay decor is ready!