Make Mushroom Earrings With Polymer Clay

Hi! This tutorial will show you how to make cute mushroom earrings with Polymer Clay! 🍄

If you're in need of a unique handmade gift idea for fall enthusiasts look no further. Let's make some cute fungi! :)

Supplies

Tools & material :

● Red, white, yellow and beige polymer clay

● Earring hooks

● Four silver eye pins

● Four silver jump rings

● E6000 glue

● Plastic wrap

● Flat sculpting tool

● Toothpicks

● Paintbrushes

● Rolling Pin

● Pliers

● Parchment paper

● White acrlic paint or gesso (optional)

● Liquid fimo (optional)

● Chalk pastel (optional)

● Epoxy resin (optional)

Step 1: Find Inspiration for Your Handmade Mushroom Earrings 🍄

First, let's pick the perfect mushroom !

In order to make these earrings, I used this reference picture of fly agaric fungi (Amanita Muscaria).

I love how whimsical they look so I thought that they would make a lovely pair of earrings. I wanted to make cute mushroom characters that look like they came right out of a fairytale and fit right into my miniature library.

I was also inspired by a few of my favorite clay artists on instagram :

-https://www.instagram.com/pilzhase/

-https://www.instagram.com/handmade_perolin/

Step 2: Sculpt a Basic Mushroom Stem (or Body!)

Let's sculpt a small mushroom with polymer clay !

In order to make these little fungi, you will need to make two small oval shapes with beige polymer clay.

I would recommend using Fimo soft n°70 (sahara).

You can make a regular mushroom stem or sculpt a little body with legs and tiny arms as shown in the pictures.

Next, take a small chunk of red polymer clay for the mushroom's cap. Roll it into a ball and flatten it slightly.

Don't attach the mushroom's cap to the stem or body yet. We will add neat little details in the next step.

Optional :

I strongly recommend using plastic wrap or freezer paper to protect your work surface. Uncured polymer clay can dissolve/soften polystyrene plastic. Here's a great post about plastic compatible with polymer clay: http://thebluebottletree.com/polymer-clay-melt-pl...

Polymer clay might stain your work surface and tools so it's safer to cover your table with some plastic wrap.

Step 3: Making the Mushroom Cap

The Amanita Muscaria has thin white gills (or lamellae) and white flakes on its cap.

So let's add some gills under the polymer clay mushroom cap.

For this step, you will need red and white polymer clay. You might also need a needle, a flat sculpting tool or a toothpick.

Once you've made the basic dome shape for the cap with red clay (previous step), flatten two small round shapes with white clay and place them under the mushroom cap.

Carve the mushroom gills with a needle while holding the mushroom cap gently.

Go from the center outward as you carve the gills.

Step 4: Assemble the Fungi 🍄

Put the mushroom's cap on top of the stem.

You will need to insert the eye pins before baking the clay.

Lightly grab the tiny fungi sculptures and insert the eye pin at the top of the caps.

Once you're done, smooth the surface of the clay and get rid of any fingerprints.

Step 5: Bake the Clay

Place your tiny mushroom sculptures on parchment paper and bake the clay in a kitchen oven.

Follow manufacturer's instructions on the package => for Fimo polymer clay : 230°F (110°C) for 30 minutes.

Remove the polymer clay succulent from the oven and let them cool before assembling the jewellery.

Step 6: Add Mushroom Spots With Acrylic Paint

Paint the dots with white gesso or white acrylic paint. Let the paint dry for a few minutes.

Optional : You can apply epoxy resin or UV resin on top of the mushroom cap in order to obtain this glossy look.

Step 7: Link the Polymer Clay Mushroom With the Earring Hooks

You will need a pair of silver earring hooks, two silver jump rings (3mm = 1/8") and pliers !

First, open a jump ring with a pair of pliers (twist it open).

Use the jump ring to link the eye pin on the top of the mushroom to the earring hook. Twist shut the jump ring with your pair of pliers.

Step 8: Make More Mushrooms !

Now that you know of to make simple mushroom earrings, I'll show you how to make a more complex pair of earrings.

This second pair of earrings was inspired by the lovely mushrooms that we find during this time of the year in Animal Crossing New Horizon. I tried making a miniature version for my animal crossing diorama that you can see in my other instructables. I thought that this tiny mushroom would look really adorable as a pair of earrings.

You can also use Tinkercad in order to create a new mushroom design. It's fun to use and great for understanding the basic shapes needed in order to sculpt simple mushrooms.

Step 9: Skinny Mushroom Earrings Tutorial

If you want to make these mushroom earrings, you will need some beige and yellow polymer clay.

You can start by sculpting the mushroom's cap. You can add a little bit of brown crushed pastel with a soft brush on top of the mushroom cap. This will give a lovely rusty color towards the middle of the cap.

Next, take a small chunk of beige clay and shape it into 4 thin log shapes. This will be the stems of your mushrooms.

Press these shapes together at the base in order to make them stick and insert an eye pins at the center.

You can bake the clay and glue the mushroom caps to the stems using E6000 glue.

Finally, once you are satisfied with the look of your mushrooms, use a jump ring to link the eye pin at the center of the mushroom to the earring hook. Twist shut the jump ring with your pair of pliers and you're almost done! :)

You could use epoxy resin in order to give the mushroom caps a nice glossy look.

Step 10: Design Even More Mushrooms With Tinkercad

Now that fall is coming to an end, I can't stop making little mushrooms. I think they make such cute gifts for fellow autumn fanatics and fall enthusiasts ! 🍂

If you want to make even more mushrooms, you can design and 3D print tiny mushrooms with Tinkercad !

Tinkercad is a free web app for 3D design. You don't need to download anything if you want to start creating 3D sculptures with Tinkercad. You just need to open this link and login with your google account : https://www.tinkercad.com/

First, you might want to click on 3D design and "CREATE NEW DESIGN". I recommend watching this Youtube video if this is your first time using Tinkercad.

Next, you can select a dome shape for the mushroom cap and an elongated cone shape for the mushroom stem in order to create a new mushroom design. You can select these basic 3D shapes on the right side of your screen and drag and drop them at the center of the 3D grid.

Carefully position them with the little arrows showing up. Place thedome shape on top of the cone shape and voilà ! 🍄 Congratz, your 3D mushroom is ready ! 🍄