Okay, so y’all know I’m no stranger to a good oven-bake-clay project. What I love about it is that it’s soooooo beginner friendly! Really, if you have an oven and can read package instructions, this is the craft for you!
In the past I’ve made clay candlestick holders for Mother’s Day (so adorable) and clay conversation hearts for Valentine’s Day (my daughter wears these ON THE DAILY). What I love is each project turns out so unique and different, but they’re all so so simple.
I was going to include my step-by-step process below but I feel a little silly doing so, because it’s basically:
ROLL > CUT > BAKE > ASSEMBLE
What I think will be more helpful are the tips and tricks I’ve learned working with clay in general, and on this project specifically.
TIP #1 - Keep your workspace CLEAN
No matter how well you think you’ve cleaned your table and tools, that clay will find hairs, dust, etc and it will get into your beautiful project. I ALWAYS use parchment paper under and over my clay to ensure I’m not picking up dirt and dust from my table, or fibers from my roller. If your house is immaculately clean, by all means—roll straight on that table. That is not the case at my house! The parchment paper keeps it all clean, and then I can reuse it bake on.
TIP #2 - Color + Quality matter
In past projects, I have used white clay and painted it whatever color I wanted after baking. This is good if you’re trying to be frugal—it’s much cheaper to buy a hunk of white clay and just paint it. However, I have found that the colored clay is much more *sleek* and bakes up way nicer. It also comes out much more professional looking when you use colored clay vs painting yourself. On that same note, I say absolutely spring for a step up in the quality of clay. I love Sculpey, and I’ve used both the Premo and Soufflé versions. This have a much nicer finish than the basic Sculpey, and they’re only slightly more expensive.
TIP #3 - Condition the clay
You’re gonna want to give yourself some time to warm up and knead the clay. The more worked it is, the better and cleaner it will roll out. I had a couple blocks that were suuuuuper stiff and crumbly. I soaked those in a sealed bag dunked in warm water. That helped a bit. A dough roller (like a pasta roller) would have definitely worked better but I wasn’t going to invest THAT much in my clay crafting. We’ll see where it takes me in future!
TIP #4 - Keep an even thickness
I found that slightly less than ¼” worked for most of my pieces. For the big hoops, they were about ¼” thick to fully cover the earring stud I was glueing to them; but the other pieces were definitely thinner. Thinner = lighter and cuter earrings. Too thin = brittle pieces. I would stay between ⅛” and ¼”
TIP #5 - Use super glue…sparingly
I started out trying to use jewelry glue to attach my clay pieces (ie. adding a stud backing) and it took forever to set, and sometimes didn’t hold. I found a gel based superglue works best. That being said, you only need the TEEEEENIEST bit. I ended up covered in superglue my first go round. Trust me, NOT FUN.
And honestly, THAT 
IS IT PEOPLE.
These were so fun and I cannot wait to dip my toes into some more advanced designed with color mixing/layering. But for now, even the simplest cut-and-assemble earrings are hitting it out of the park for me.
I’ll include links to the supplies I used below. Let me know if you make some of your own! I’d love to see your creations!
Supplies I used:
- Sculpey Premo
- Clay cutters (THIS SET also came with all the earring hardware as well!)
- Parchment paper
- Rolling pin
- Permanent Markers (optional, for decorating–I like THESE)
- Super glue
- Pliers
- Earring hardware (if not already included in cutter pack)
We were created to be creative, friends—so get creating!
