Glow in the Dark Brush Embroidery Polymer Clay Earrings

by Snuggle Bunny

3.7K9213

Intro: Glow in the Dark Brush Embroidery Polymer Clay Earrings

This is my first instructable, I will be as thorough as possible. I wanted to make something special for my grandmother for mothers day, and she loves to wear earrings...so I figured eh, WHY NOT! I remembered watching a video on YouTube on how to re-hydrate dried up polymer clay. (They mixed it with baby oil) So I thought to myself, what if I mixed in allot of baby oil to make it an icing consistency to brush embroider on polymer clay like cake decorators do, and if so would it harden when baked? IT WORKS! So here we go XD

STEP 1: Things You Will Need.

  1. Clear coat spray paint (I chose gloss)
  2. Baby oil
  3. Pasta machine (or hand roller)
  4. Polymer clay 2 colors (I chose black and glow and the dark)
  5. Acrylic paint (I chose gold)
  6. 20 gauge wire
  7. 2 fish hook earrings
  8. Mixing cup
  9. Needle nose pliers (round will be better, but I did not have any)
  10. Razor blade
  11. Ball tools
  12. Scissors
  13. 2 paint brushes (a flat brush for painting thick layers, and a fine point for detail)
  14. Plastic bag

STEP 2: Shaping the Base.

You can use scrap clay for this if you like, it will be covered up later.

Roll some polymer clay into a ball, then roll the ball into a tear drop shape. Flatten the clay, then add a hole at the top of the tear drop with a ball tool. Bake as instructions on the clay you use suggest, mine was 275 degrees for 30 min. (Make sure you put the back side facing down on the plate you use to bake in the oven, that way the face of the earrings wont be distorted)

STEP 3: Painting the Clay.

Roll out some clay on the thickest setting of your pasta machine. (The clay you want for your base color)

Now paint the clay with the acrylic. (Paint 4 thin coats, allow to dry between coats)

STEP 4: The Crackle Effect.

After your final coat has dried roll the clay through the pasta machine on the next setting down. cut the clay in half and stack it, and put it back in your pasta machine again, this time the next setting below the last. Repeat till you get your desired crackle. (In these pictures I used 3 coats of paint, so the crackle was not very pronounced. So I used sections of this sheet on the back. I tried again and found that a thicker coat of paint gave better results)

STEP 5: Time to Add Some Pizazz!

Find sections of the crackle clay you like, and cut out squares that your base will fit in. Smooth the clay over your base. (Start in the center and work your way out to prevent air bubbles) Press crackle clay on both sides and bake again. (I did another 30 min)

STEP 6: Mix Baby Mix!

This process takes some time and will, or at least did cramp my hand lol. Knead your second color of polymer clay till it's very soft. Put it in your mixing cup and add in a little baby oil and mix. Keep adding little by little until you get an icing consistency. (I probably used around a tablespoon of baby oil total)

STEP 7: Tiny Piping Bag.

Cut a corner of your plastic bag and fill it with your polymer clay mixture. Push all of the clay to the tip of the tiny piping bag. Now pull both corners of the plastic bag to the center, and roll down the top. Cut a tiny section off of the tip of the bag, and I MEAN TINY! It is better to start off to small then cut a hole to big. (If you mess up cut off the other corner of the bag and repeat)

STEP 8: Time to Embroider.

Pipe the shapes you want, then take your small fine point brush and wipe the clay away from the edges. Then bake again. (I did another 30 min, I tried 10 but the clay mixture was still soft) Here is a tutorial on brush embroidery for more detail. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Amu2DlNJ0sM)

STEP 9: Clear Coat.

After the earrings are cooled down, spray a thin layer of clear coat on both sides, allowing drying time in between coats. (I let each side dry 10 min, then let the pieces dry another 20)

STEP 10: Time to Bail!

Once the clear coat is dried you can move on to making the bails. (Around 30 min)

Each step is a photo

  1. Cut 4 pieces of 20 gauge wire (Around 2 inches each should be fine) Loop 2 of them through one of the holes in the earrings, now bend the wire strait up where the end meets the wire.
  2. (How the wires should look from the front)
  3. With your pliers make a loop and bend the wires outward where the ends will touch the bottom of the loop.
  4. Now cut off the excess wire and bend them down
  5. Cut 2 more wires around and 1 1/2 inches. Get one of the wires and wrap it around one of the bails.
  6. Wrap the wire back again in the opposite direction.
  7. Do this a third time
  8. Flatten the trimmed edges down.
  9. Here is a video tutorial on YouTube explaining things in better detail (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Al_ox5SSqo)

STEP 11: Finally!

Make 2 small 20 gauge loops with your pliers, and attach the fish hook earrings to the bails.

STEP 12: YAYY!

And your done! I hope my grandmother enjoys wearing them as much as I enjoyed making them. I hope you guys enjoy them to! If anyone decides to recreated these or something similar, I would love to see them. Also any suggestions on improving my instructable would be greatly appreciated XD

live long and prosper!

12 Comments

tmcdonald4 5 years ago

Great instructable, exactly what I was looking for. Having done some cake decorating, I'm going to suggest anyone who tries it for the first time use at the very least a quart freezer bag (thicker material bag) as did the author, if not a cake decorating bag, instead of a regular sandwich bag, because trust me, if you don't get the consistency liquid enough, you will have a mess on your hand if you use a wimpy bag & it bursts that is a lot tougher to clean up than frosting.

Doop Ves 8 years ago

Your granny loved them sweetheart. They are beautiful. Love you too.

M!key 8 years ago

These look amazing, what a great idea and what an incredibly well put together first instructable. I'm looking forward to seeing what you produce in future :)

Thanks for posting.

NathanSellers 8 years ago

Super awesome! Fantastic techniques. I love that you can rehydrate the polymer clay to do this. You have opened my mind to new possibilities. These turned out beautifully. I'd your grandma doesn't like them you will know she is off her rocker.

Snuggle Bunny 8 years ago

LOL Thank you so much! I was surprised to find out it worked.

Pavithra Arunkumar 8 years ago

Its very Beautiful !!! Clear explanation. your grandmother will love it for sure !

Snuggle Bunny 8 years ago

Thank you so much, I'm hoping she will ?

Snuggle Bunny 8 years ago

My phone changed the smiley I inserted into a question mark...how awkward lol

tomatoskins 8 years ago

These look awesome! I love that they glow in the dark!