DIY: Clay Earrings
Oh hey blog, long time no see. With moving and travelling and having family visit I haven’t had a lot of time for you. But I am back now and let’s get to it! When I bought this air drying clay for a Homemade Christmas Ornaments . Little did I know it was the gift that keeps on giving. Honestly, it’s my new favourite thing to craft and create with. I may have spiralled a little. But who cares because these clay earrings are so adorable and easy to make!
What You’ll Need:
- Air Drying Clay (You could use polymer clay if you have it but then you have to bake it)
- Embroidery Thread
- Earring Backs
- Paint or Nail Polish
The first step is to prep the area you will be working on. I just laid out a plastic bag and then rolled and smoothed out the clay. It’s helpful to wet your hands and the surface to make the process easier.
I searched through my whole house and found a bunch of stuff we could use to cut out the shape of the earrings. My favourite was a lid for my hair oil and my travel toothbrush holder. Just so you know.
I tried out all the various lids and cut out a bunch of earring type shapes. I knew for some of them I wanted to add tassels on the end. For these ones, I poked three holes in the bottom to attach the tassels. I used the inside of a ballpoint pen but you can use whatever does the trick. Like a toothpick or a pen. You get the idea. Ignore the clouds in the left corner, they are for yet another air drying clay project. (Can’t stop won’t stop)
When all your shapes are cut out leave the clay to dry overnight, if the pieces are thick they might need another day to fully dry. I used acrylic paint for some of the pieces but wasn’t terribly impressed so I switched over to nail polish. The nail polish has a nice shine to it but just make sure if you use nail polish you do it in a well-ventilated area. If you do use acrylic paint I would suggest you also add a sealing coat on the clay.
For a couple of pieces, I used a pencil eraser to stamp paint on. I wanted them to look like little oranges on branches so I added the stems and leaves with a paint brush. On others, I just painted several coats of nail polish. Letting them dry in-between coats. You can experiment with any colour or colour combos you like.
Once the paint is dry its time to add the tassels onto your clay earrings! Loop embroidery thread around your fingers at twice the length you want the tassels to be. Then use a needle threader or a single piece of embroidery thread to pull the loop of thread through each hole in the clay piece.
Using the same technique from this tutorial DIY: Tassels then tie up each individual tassel.
Once you have the tassels tied up cut open the loops and then trim to the desired length. Repeat these steps as many times as you like.
Then the fun/scary part super glue the earring back onto the clay. I’ve super glued my fingers together way too many times in my life so the prospect of super glueing anything makes me just a tad nervous. You should definitely do this step on a protected surface and not just on your desk as I did. A little super glue goes a long way.
These simple painted pair of clay earrings are very lovingly modelled by my sister. I think they are a fun statement piece but in the end, I didn’t like them as much as some of the more detailed pieces.
These dark green tassel earrings are my new go to! With this project I made so many cut out pieces from clay, then painted a few of those, then added tassels to even less, and in the end, I made three complete sets of clay earrings. There are so many customizations you can add to this project to personalize it! I’ve been wearing these creations all the time! They are pretty endlessly customizable with cuts, colours, tassels, etc.
-Hannah
