Last month our design team, our founder Lisa and her daughter Ivy joined us in our Kutztown store for a DIY necklace event. Customers hand-selected stones and crystals to create a one-of-a-kind version of our Delicate Round Tennis Necklace.

If you missed out on this in-store event, no worries we put together a family-friendly DIY Necklace tutorial on how you can create your own one-of-a-kind necklace at home with friends and family using polymer clay.

  

When Lisa’s kids were small, they used to make clay necklaces all the time. As a child Lisa actually started her foray into jewelry by harvesting clay from a nearby stream and making beaded necklaces baked in her mom’s oven! A very entrepreneurial kiddo, she sold them to her aunts when she was just 8 years old. Lisa carried this creative process with her and introduced it to her daughters, Lily, Ivy, and Avery, digging out clay from a creek in the front of their house.

Start with a Sketch: Sketch out your DIY necklace, start with the center shape and work your way out.

Roll out your clay: Mold the clay into your shapes to match your sketch. Make sure they aren’t too thick or they will not bake! We suggest keeping them around 1/16”-1/8” thick.

Once your shapes are created poke small holes into the shapes so you can easily thread your string, ribbon or chain through the pieces.

Bake and Assemble: After the pieces are baked and cool to the touch. Start assembling your DIY Necklace to match your sketch, tie off the end of your necklace and your done!

Materials for Clay DIY Necklace

• Oven-bake polymer clay in the colors of your choice* (we love this FIMO brand)
• knife 
• Toothpick 
• String, ribbon or chain for necklace
• cutting surface
• parchment paper
• baking sheet

How to Make Clay DIY Necklace

• Preheat your oven to 225º and lining a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Take each color you plan to work into your design, and massage each color clay individually into a ball in your hard to warm up the clay.
• Roll out each color clay with your hands until you have a log shape, about ¼ ″ thick. 
• To combine colors, add a pink + white log, and create a combine “log”
• Add additional colors as you want!
• Once all colors are added, shape the log into about ½” thick
• Cut individual beads from the log
• Shape each individual bead either into an oval or sphere
• Use a toothpick to create a hole in the middle of each bead

• Place all your clay beads on a baking sheet and bake for approximately 10-12 minutes. 
• Keep a close eye on them so they do not burn, especially if your oven likes to run hot!
• Remove the clay from the oven and let it cool. If they feel a little gummy when they first get out of the oven, it’s okay – as long as they still hold their shape you are good to go!
• For assembly, simply string your pieces of clay onto your necklace strand. Whether it is a string, ribbon or a metal chain. And viola! Your very own kid friendly DIY Necklace