Easy Clay Charms for Beginners #3 | Halloween Edition | 5 in 1 Polymer Clay Tutorial

Hi guys, Clara here! Today I’ll be showing you how to make easy clay Halloween charms for beginners. Keep watching for step by step instructions on how to make your own mini clay creations.

If you want to see more polymer clay tutorials, good news! I plan on making many more, so any suggestions on what you want to see are always welcome!

Eye Pin Instructions
There are several ways to add eye pins to your clay charms, but I will discuss the two main methods that I use.

Method One (Using liquid sculpey/liquid clay)
1. Using a pin or needle, pre-poke your clay when you want to insert the eye pin, this will prevent the clay from denting and curving inward when the eye pin is placed.
2. Apply liquid clay to the end of your eye pin and insert into the pre-poked hole. Push until only the loop is exposed. Wipe any extra liquid sculpey away with your finger/a q-tip that was squeezed out.
3. Bake your clay as usual, leave to cool after baking, and your eye pin is now permanently secure in your charm.

Method Two (Using superglue)
1. Using a pin or needle, pre-poke your clay when you want to insert the eye pin, this will prevent the clay from denting and curving inward when the eye pin is placed.
2. Insert the eye pin into the pre-poked hole. Push until only the loop is exposed.
3. Bake your clay as usual, leave to cool after baking, and remove the eye pin. It should come out easy as nothing is holding it in place, we only baked the charm with the eye pin to ensure a perfect fit.
4. Apply superglue to the end of your eye pin and insert into the pre-poked hole. Push until only the loop is exposed. Wipe any extra glue away with your finger/a q-tip that was squeezed out.

The sculpting tools I used were silicone sculpting tools, two different sizes of ball pointed sculpting tools, a craft blade, and a craft knife (from the dollar store). You can find several variety packs of sculpting tools at any craft store. I got mine from Michaels (they always have coupons available on their website).

The type of clay used in this video is Sculpey, Craft, and Fimo. I use what’s available as most brands are similar to each other. Always follow your clay’s baking instructions on the package when making clay creations. Do not be afraid to bake your clay longer, it will not burn! But underbaked clay will be weak and brittle. Always bake longer than you think!

I baked mine at 275°F for 60 minutes in a preheated oven. Leave the clay to cool before handling as it is still soft and handling it may leave dents.

Important
When baking clay on any glass object, never put your creation in a preheated oven! Fast temperature changes can cause the glass to crack/break. To avoid this, follow these steps:

1. Place your clay in a room temperature oven on a baking tray/ceramic tile.
2. Preheat the oven to your clay's baking temperature (I baked mine at 250°F).
3. Once oven has reached baking temperature, start timer (I baked mine for 60 minutes)
4. When the timer ends, turn off the oven. Do not open the oven door!
5. After the oven is completely cool (usually 1-2 hours) you can now remove your clay.


Tip: When shaping the clay, if you find that you are leaving a lot of fingerprints, you can use a q-tip and acetone to wipe the surface of the clay clean.

Tip: If your clay figure has trouble standing up on its own in the oven, prop it up with a rolled up ball of tin foil to keep it steady until it’s fully baked.

If you have any questions just leave them in the comments below and I’ll be happy to answer them. Any suggestions on what you want to see next are always welcome too :)

Hope you have a great rest of your day!

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