My most recent crafting hobby is sculpting jewelry and figurines out of oven bake clay. I got started with this hobby with an oven bake clay set in a variety of colors (that also came with some basic tools for shaping clay) and a book on sculpting clay for beginners that focuses on the fundamentals and then uses subjects that I really liked such as desserts and cute animals to demonstrate how to sculpt clay. I started by making a rainbow assortment of macaron earrings. To accomplish this, I made two discs of each color and shaped the “feet” detailing of the macrons using a needle tool. I then used white clay to make the cream filling, rolling it first into a ball before flattening it into a disc to place between the two macaron halves. I then inserted a metal loop into each macaron that would eventually be used to connect to earring backings. I baked the macrons at 325F for 15 minutes on a metal surface (as per the clay package instructions) and allowed them to cool completely before adding earring backings.
My next project was to make a rainbow cake from which to cut rainbow cake slices. I accomplished this by making discs of all of the colors of the pastel rainbow I used for the macarons as well as white discs that were thinner to represent frosting in between the layers. I covered the entire cake in white clay to represent frosting and then cut the cake into four slices with a knife. After cutting the cake I used a needle to make swirls in the cake layers to give it a sponge-cake like appearance. I put a metal loop in each cake slice to use for an attachment to either earrings or a necklace. I baked the cake slices along with the macarons at 325F for 15 min.
Next I decided to try making a rainbow unicorn. I started by sculpting the unicorn’s body from white clay, first differentiating its head from its body and then using a pinching motion to make ears. I likewise made its front legs using a pinching motion and made its back legs by rolling pieces of clay and attaching them to balls of clay to represent the unicorn’s thighs and legs. I made the golden horn by sticking a metal pin into the unicorn for support and then swirling two golden rods of clay around the metal support. After sculpting the horn, I made the unicorn’s rainbow mane and tale by rolling each color of my pastel rainbow into a rod-like shape and curling the rods at the end to give the unicorn luscious locks. I repeated this for all colors of the pastel rainbow and added them to the unicorn’s body by gently pressing down with an including sculpting tool. I again baked at 325F for 15 min to make my final majestic rainbow unicorn figurine. I added detail to the figurine by hand painting its eyes purple.
After making these fabulous pride-themed creations, I was inspired to make a few more fun pieces including a cactus, my cat Esmee, and a canoli.
I really enjoyed this craft and thought it was the perfect way to celebrate rainbow tones for pride! I highly recommend both the oven bake clay kit and the polymer clay for beginners book if you’re interested in making clay jewelry or other clay creations. I have a lot of jewelry making supplies from doing beadwork and epoxy art but if you are just getting started with jewelry, I recommend a kit like this one that has some basic jewelry necessities like jewelry pliers and earring fish hooks. Happy Pride 2021 and here’s to a colorful future!
Millennial's Delight 
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