Polymer Clay Charms

This is a great activity for school age children. We had a 7 year old boy helping us with this project.

You will need:
polymer clay- we used Sculpey
a small cutter - any shape
items to make impressions
small thin object to make holes for string
baking sheet and oven
string

We purchased a variety pack of Sculpey at our local craft store for less than $8. (There are other brands of oven hardening polymer clay.)

To make impressions used plastic, shaped beads, a metal screen and a metal stamping set to make impressions. You can use anything you have on hand. Rubber stamps would make great impressions as well.

We found a small round cap in our "found" objects bin that was between 1/2" and 3/4" in diameter. You could choose any shape cutter. Roll a piece of clay out about 1/8" to 1/4" thick and cut out your shape. It is best to roll all charms at near even thickness for baking.

"C' impression with our metal stamp.

We used a paint splatter screen. 

Spell out a name.

If you get some thicker pieces, just take the thinner pieces out earlier and bake the thick ones a bit longer. We baked ours for 10 minutes at 275 degrees Fahrenheit.

We didn't make our holes very big, so we needed a thin string. Keep in mind what string you will be using and make the holes a bit larger as they will shrink a bit during baking.

We made red, white and blue stars for a great patriotic necklace!