Earrings made with jewellery clay and pearlescent white beads

Hoop earrings with round discs in fine clay polymer.   Make pendants for hoop earrings with three discs of fine clay polymer. Use the same colour for all discs without a pattern.

2   Use around 1/3 of a colour – or 6-7 g.

3   Knead the jewellery clay for 4-5 minutes.

4   Roll out the clay until 3 mm thick and smooth.

5   Cut out six discs – equivalent to three per earring.

6   Use a pointed object, such as a needle or head pin, to make the hole in the middle. The hole should be 2-3 mm.

7   Bake the slices on baking paper for 18 minutes at 120 degrees in a regular oven.

8   Untwist the locking mechanism on the hoop earrings using multi-purpose pliers in order to add beads.

9   Thread a pearlescent white bead onto the hoop, then add three discs of jewellery clay. Finish the earring with another bead. Use pliers to twist the locking mechanism back into shape again.

Drop earrings   For these earrings, mould the drop around a head pin.

11   Use the leftover jewellery clay from the six cut-out circles. Knead the remaining clay together well.

12   Mould a drop around a head pin.

13   Make sure that approx. 1 cm of the pin is free of jewellery clay.

14   Bake the pendants in the oven with the head pin inside (18 min. at 120 degrees in a regular oven).

15   Use round nose pliers to make an eye on the top part of the head pin.

16   Twist the pin around itself using two pliers to close the eye. Hold the eye with one pair of pliers and use the other pair of pliers to twist the head pin.

17   Thread a pearlescent white bead onto the eye pin and make an eye at the other end of the bead using round nose pliers.

18   Close the eye by twisting the end of the eye pin around itself. Cut off any excess wire using wire cutters.

19   The earrings can now be assembled. Open the eye on the earring slightly and open the eye on the eye pin. Squeeze the eyes closed after the pendant has been added.

Earrings with dots/terrazzo   Make large and small dots on the solid-coloured and rectangular pendants.

21   Knead approx. 6-7 g of jewellery clay for approx. 4-5 min – equivalent to 1/3 of a fine clay polymer package.

22   Knead around 4 g of jewellery clay in the desired dot colour.

23   Roll out the base colour of the pendant to a thickness of approx. 3 mm. Also roll a long thin sausage in the desired colour for the dots.

24   Cut the sausage into thin slices and press them onto the rolled-out slab of jewellery clay.

25   Place the discs on the rolled-out clay. Roll the clay using slight pressure until the dots are even with the surface.

26   Cut two pendants (1.5 x 3 cm) out of the jewellery clay.

27   Make a hole in the pendants (2-3 mm) using a needle or head pin. Bake the pendants for 18 minutes at 180 degrees in a regular oven until hard.

28   Bake the pendants in a regular oven for 18 minutes at 120 degrees.

29   Thread a pearlescent white bead onto an eye pin and make an eye at the other end of the bead using round nose pliers.

30   Close the eye by twisting the eye pin around itself under the new eye.

31   The earrings can now be assembled. Once the pendant is completely cool, attach an oval round jump ring along with the eye of the eye pin. Twist open the eyelet in the earring and close again after the pendant has been added.

Hoop earrings with striped pendant   Create these two-tone pendants using a fourth technique.

33   Knead 1/4 package of white jewellery clay and 1/4 package of black jewellery clay for 4-5 minutes.

34   Roll out both colours until the jewellery clay is around 4 mm thick.

35   Cut the jewellery clay into 2-3 mm wide strips. Place them alternately in white and black to form a new slab of clay.

36   Roll the strips into a striped slab of clay around 3 mm thick.

37   Cut out 2 circles.

38   Squeeze the circles together slightly on one side.

39   Make a 2-3 mm hole using a needle or the end of a head pin.

40   Bake the pendants for 18 minutes at 120 degrees in a regular oven.

41   Thread a pearlescent white bead onto a head pin and make an eye using a pair of round nose pliers.

42   Twist the pin around itself under the eye and cut off any excess wire using wire cutters.

43   Open the hoop’s locking mechanism using pliers.

44   Add a pearlescent white bead to the pendant and attach the jewellery clay pendant to the hoop. Now twist the locking mechanism back into shape.