Glittered Ornament Charms

As promised, here is project #1 in my "30 for $30" series. 30 Glitter projects to justify buying Martha's $30 glitter...still don't have a catchy name but anyway... (you can read more about this series here) Now on to the tutorial~

Glittered Polymer Clay Ornament Charms

You'll need: polymer clay in white & silver or gold, sterling silver or gold plated headpins, needle nose pliers, wire cutters, baking dish designated for crafting & Martha's 24 piece Glitter Set of course! I used Lapis Lazuli (blue), Peridot (green), & Tourmaline (pink)

*For the headpins here's my recommendation- if you aren't going to be making jewelry often just by a small pack of them at your craft store in the beading aisle, you're going to overpay verses online but only by about $1. I used to make a lot of jewelry so I order mine from Fusionbeads. Their prices on silver & crystals are the best & they always offer free shipping with no minimum purchase.

This tutorial is also a good guide for making polymer clay charms in general, if you like my sushi bracelet featured here this is how I did it. (minus the glitter, sparkly sushi would be just weird)

1st- To make the ornament base take a small piece of white clay & roll into a ball that is no more than 1/2" in diameter. Next use a teeny tiny piece of your metal colored clay to make the ornament topper. Push a headpin through both pieces.(on a side note, I'm hoping my photo quality will soon be improving greatly as I've strongly suggested Santa get the family a new camera this year)

Next you'll bake the pieces according to the clay instructions. I baked mine at 275 degrees for 15 minutes. You'll want to dedicate one piece of bakewear for your crafting, even with washing most manufacturer's don't recommend using the same piece for clay & food. Once cool it's time for the sparkle! Using a small paintbrush cover the white part of each ornament with a thin layer of white glue. Holding the ornament by it's headpin sprinkle liberally with glitter over a paper plate that way you can save the leftover glitter & redeposit it into the bottle. Remember, our MS glitter is like GOLD. Let ornaments dry by sticking them upside down in a clump of clay.
Repeat glue/glitter steps if you have any spots you missed. Finally you'll want to give your ornaments a good sealer so that the glitter doesn't come off on anything & everything. I used 2 layers of Delta Polyurethane Sealer & applied it with a paintbrush. (I think Mod Podge Hard Coat might work well too) The sealer doesn't however cover you against your work area becoming a glitter wonderland. My husband is still complaining about the sparkle of our kitchen. Oops!

Finally once your sealant is dry you'll need to bend the headpin into a loop. I also like to wrap mine with the excess headpin wire. I took pics of this process but I just don't think they're clear enough. Take a look at this link for wire wrapping instructions, it's not hard, promise! If the wire wrapping seems a bit too ambitious you can use this simple loop technique but be warned, I've lost a charm or two from this so I recommend the wire wrapping.

That's it! String on your favorite chain & you're done! Oh, & a final tip- if your loop is too small to string on a chunkier chain then simply attach a jumpring (also available at the craft store) to your ornament & then string away. I like the way these look on a long chain layered with another small necklace...