How to make Halloween Polymer Clay Keychains?
Today I’m going to teach you all about polymer clay for kids! It’s such a fun and versatile crafting material and below I’m sharing several tutorials on the things kids can make with it. I wanted to answer some common questions and go over the basics here, so you have a good starting point and a reference.
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What is Polymer Clay?
Polymer clay is a non-toxic, moldable, heat cured plastic clay. It’s durable and versatile for a variety of crafts, and is easy to use once you learn the basics.
Brands of Polymer Clay
There are many brands of polymer clay, such as Sculpey, Premo, and Fimo. They range in price and in consistency. Generally, for basic crafting and kid use, I prefer Aestd-ST is my favorite. It’s soft, easy to work with and Clay kit contains 27 colorful clays, 1 project booklet and 3 sculpting tools.
There are also products like this! This is translucent Liquid clay, which is great for attaching pieces to each other.
Tools
Let’s get into some of the tools you can use with polymer clay. Now, you don’t actually need any professional tools to get started unless you have a specific project. You can just play and mold the clay with your hands. However, these plastic tools attached to polymer clay kit are great and help create lots of patterns and shapes much easier.
Extra Materials
Here I’m sharing some products that make working with polymer clay easier, and items that can be used to enhance your creations.
One product I use a lot with polymer clay is chalk pastels. Also known as soft pastels, these are pressed pigments that are amazing for shading polymer clay. I like using these to make clay foods look more realistic, add cheeks to characters, or shade different areas. Just scrape a bit off the stick, and dust it on with a brush.
Jewelry pliers and keychain set with tassles are needed if you’re making polymer clay keychains. And the baking paper is for baking! I use baking paper on bottom and top when I bake my creations to keep shiny spots from appearing on the clay when baked.
And here are the last few tools I like to use. Nail polish remover and cotton buds are great for cleaning dust and fingerprints off of clay before you bake it.
Baking Polymer Clay
Polymer clay is safe to bake in your home oven. It’s baked at a low temperature for a length of time dependent on the thickness of your project. Always check the packaging of your specific brand of clay for baking directions.
Sealing/ Finishing Clay
When properly baked, polymer clay is durable, water proof, and non porous. It doesn’t need to be sealed at all! But if you do want to seal it for a shiny finish, I suggest using a polyurethane sealer. Sealers made for polymer clay peel off within days, and clear nail polish with ruin the polymer bonds and make your whole project sticky and soft. Test your sealer of choice on a practice piece, and if in doubt, don’t seal it.
Storing Polymer Clay
I keep my clay in small plastic craft bags, just to keep it clean and dust free.
I hope you found this Introduction to Polymer Clay helpful! Below you are examples of Cute Halloween keychains and step by step tutorial how to make them.
