I wanted to write a tutorial that would allow a complete beginner to polymer clay to create a piece of jewellery with the minimum of tools and materials, with a professional finish and takes a short time to make.

When I started making jewellery out of clay I found it very easy to make lovely pieces, but it took me a while to figure out how to get a lovely finish on my lovely beads.

Inspiration

We always have a bunch of kikois lying around the house. We use them to cover up all the beige furniture that inevitably seem to come when you rent an apartment in the UK. In case you're wondering what a kikoi is, it is basically a sarong, of a special stripy kind. And they come in the most beautiful rich, bright colours. The colour combinations caught my eye one day while I was pottering around in my studio and so I made my first stripy pendant.

Level: Absolute beginner Tools

• Acrylic rolling pin (You can use a drinking glass if you don't have one)
• Pasta machine (or stack of cards)
• Craft blade
• Round-nose pliers
• Pliers
• Varnish
• Wet/dry sanding paper (360 or 400, 600)
• Polisher*
• Oven
• Baking surface

*If you don't have a mechanical polisher I recommend using a nail buff.

Materials

• 3 different coloured blocks of polymer clay
• 40cm/ 15.7” Leather cord (or any other stringing material you have at hand)
• Silver d-shaped wire

Before you start

A few things to remember:

• Do not use your clay tools for food
• You will need a piece of glass or ceramic tile to work on. It should be able to handle high temperatures because you will put it in the oven with your pendant on when you bake it
• Be careful of leaving fingerprints on your clay, they're a bummer to sand off later. Many clay artists use surgical gloves but I tend to forget to buy them.
• If you do not have a oven dedicated for baking clay, you will have to use your oven, even though this is not recommended. If have to use your oven - put the piece and the glass in a oven proof container that will not be used for making food again.
• Always read the safety instructions for all materials you work with. Polymer clay is considered to be very safe to work with. But if the clay burns the fumes are toxic so take care.

Step 1: Make the thinly stacked section

Select the colours you want to use for the pendant. I used peppermint (Fimo), sunflower yellow (mixed with brown), red (mixed with brown) and a little bit of white clay as a neutral colour [1a]. Roll out your clay. I used the thickest setting on my pasta machine. If you do not have a pasta machine, use a stack of cards on either side of the clay to ensure that it is of equal width. 

Cut your rolled out pieces of clay into squares (I cut mine into 5cm x 6cm/ 2” x 2.5” approximately).

Stack the layers [1b].

Always roll your clay on a non-stick surface. I use a piece of glass, many people use ceramic tiles, or baking paper. Lightly roll over the stack with your roller to ensure that layers join.

I want the layers to be different thickness's because I think it looks better that way. To do that cut two thirds of your stack off, and roll it a bit to thin it out. Cut it into two equal part and stack on top of each other, with the turquoise layer at the bottom each time, then stack it on top of the other piece [1c].

Roll out the stack a bit more to thin out the layers and trim when you're done. The pendant will be 6cm long, 2cm wide and 0.5cm high (2.4” x 0.8” x 0.2”) so cut the stack 2cm (0.8”) wide and .5cm (0.2”) long. The height of the stack is how long the stripy bit will be in my finished piece.

Turn the piece you cut out to its side and lightly roll it on a stack of cards to ensure that it is the correct height [1d].

Step 2: Adding a hook

Cut the d-shaped silver wire to about 4cm (1.6”) and form it around your round-nose pliers.

Use your normal pliers to squeeze it close at the bottom to form the loop.

Use your pliers to curve the ends up [2a]. This will prevent the wire from coming loose after you've baked it.

Position the hook in the centre and middle of the piece of clay and gently push it in. Be careful not to let the end of the hook go through the bottom of the clay, it happens all to easily [2b]. Your clay will be slightly deformed by the pressure of adding the hook, so use your craft blade to straighten the top.

Step 3: Add colour blocks

Roll out the three colours you are using to .5cm (0.2”) high using the card stacks. Decide which order you want to put them in and cut them to the right size.

I used yellow at the top (1cm x 2cm x .5cm or 0.4” x 0.8” x 0.2”) then red (1.5cm x 2cm x 0.5cm or 0.6” x 0.8” x 0.2”) and the turquoise at the bottom (2.5cm x 2cm x 0.5cm or 1” x 0.8” x 0.2”) [3a]. There is no need to be precise with these measurements it just needs to look pleasing to the eye. I wanted to keep my piece to 6cm long so I chopped a bit off the turquoise clay.

Press the pieces of clay together to ensure that it joins properly. Use the blade to press against the edges to keep them straight. You can also use your blade to shave the clay even on the top [3b]. Do not try and cut too much in a go, that will deform your clay. It is important to try and get all the edges and surfaces as even as possible before you bake it. Otherwise it means a lot of elbow grease when you sand it [3c]. Bake your piece according to the manufacturers instructions.

Step 4: Sanding

You have to wait or the piece to cool down before you can start sanding it. The clay will be soft until it has cooled down.

Right. Hope you like your piece!

Get a container with water and your wet/dry sanding paper out. Start sanding the piece on the lowest grit. I started with 340. Make sure that your piece is always wet while you sand it. If there are bits on the sanding paper while sanding it will scratch your piece.

Do not apply too much pressure. Sand with the low grit until you are happy that the piece is quite smooth. I also want a beveled edge on the pendant, so I sanded each edge with a sanding board [4a]. You could also just keep your pendant at a 45 degree angle and sand it that way.

Then work up your way to the highest grit.

If you sand your piece you have to polish it. I use a Dremel hand tool with a felt polishing head for my work.

Polish your piece.

If you do not have a power tool to polish with I recommend using a nail buff.

Step 5: Varnishing

You can omit this step if you like. Generally I think this pendant works better with a sand and buff only - because the piece feels more like stone without a varnish.

Because this tutorial attempts to provide beginners with all the steps needed for finishing jewellery I include it here. There are lots of varnishes that you can use for your pieces. I recommend using floor polish as a finish. For people living in the US Varathane or Future is usually recommended. In the UK can look for Johnson's Klear floor polish.

Dip your finger in the floor polish and cover the piece with a thin layer of floor varnish. Leave to dry. I usually hang the piece on a length of wire because it allows me to cover the whole piece.

Repeat 3 times.

I bake the piece between each layer of varnish (about 10 minutes). I don't think you need to do this, but that way I know it dried and hardened properly each time.

UK stockists

Wet/ dry sanding paper - the big DIY stores only seemed to stock very coarse wet/dry sandpaper. You should be able to find wet/dry sandpaper from small local hardware shops. I finally found high grit wet/dry sandpaper from Tools Station.

Floor polish - I could not find Johnson's Klear in Sainsbury's or Tesco but my corner shop stocked it