Tag Archives: Sculpey

Attach Earring Posts to Polymer Clay Studs

Hello weekend crafter! Today, I’m sharing with you some of my favorite ways of attaching earring posts to my earring studs.

One of my favorite ways of attaching earring posts is using super glue. In the States, a popular brand is Loctite. Another way that you can attach posts is by using liquid Sculpey.

So let’s start with using earring posts with an extended peg. This is actually my go-to post because the peg gives the earrings something extra to hold on to. The way that I attach this is that before I bake my stud, I already press down the earing post so that the peg leaves a hole on the back of the earrings. You can bake it with or without the post, but I prefer to bake it with the post in.

Some reminders though on using the extended peg. First, you can’t roll out your slab too thinly. The peg itself is about 2 mm, so you have to roll out your clay a little bit thicker. If I used a thinner slab, pushing the peg in will cause it to have an indent on the top of the earring.  So I recommend rolling out a slab that is about 3 mm in thickness.

Before I glue the post, I use my electric nail file and roughen out the surface of the post. Then, I also roughen out the surface of the back of my earrings. This helps to better adhere my post to the earrings. Then, I just put the glue around the post and make sure the hole lines up with the peg.

Another common way of attaching earring posts is with the use of liquid Sculpey. One way of doing it is by putting a bit of liquid Sculpey on the flat side of the earring post and then covering the entire backside of the earrings with liquid Sculpey. When this bakes, it will be more or less clear, and if the post is completely covered, it’s pretty hard to pull out.

Yet another way of attaching the post is by sandwiching it between clay. So, what I do first is to place the post on the stud. And then, roll out a thinner piece of clay and place a hole on its center. Then, I cover the post with liquid Sculpey and use the thinner piece to cover the entire back.

As you can see, the posts are then hidden, which looks really neat. But, the trade off is that you will end up with shorter posts. Comparing the covered posts with the exposed posts, I actually lost about 1-2 mm in length on the covered posts. This might be ok on some earlobes, but if your client’s earlobes are on the thick side, this might be a concern for them as the earrings might end up too tight.

Finally, for attaching the plastic posts, of course since this is plastic, I can’t attach it to unbaked clay. I simply sand off the top of the post with my electric nail file and attach it to the earrings with super glue. By the way, if you put too much super glue on the posts, the backs of your earrings might end up with a white residue around the post. To remove this, simply put some acetone on a cotton bud and go around the area gently.

So, my conclusion is that all of these methods work, some ways are just more convenient than others.   

I hope that you learned something from this tutorial. If you want to know what I’ve been up to during the week, do visit my IG, @ crafttime.ph.

Thanks for stopping by!

Conditioning Hard and Crumbly Polymer Clay

Have you ever sliced into a block of polymer clay only to have it crumble in your hands? This has happened to me many times already most likely because I’ve stumbled upon some very old clay. But I am not the sort of person to throw anything out, so I’ve had to come up with strategies on how to condition my hard and crumbly clay.

I’m sure other clay crafters will also have their own preferred way, but for today, I’m sharing my personal favorite ways of “reviving” my hard and crumbly clay.

The first is the classic way which is just to use my own fingers’ warmth and then pass the clay through the pasta roller. I normally set my roller into the thinnest setting just to really press the crumbs together. My test to see if the clay is already conditioned enough is to roll it into a ball or into a log.  The pro of doing this method is you’re not actually adding anything to your clay. The con is that it will take a bit of time as well as some effort.

The second way that I like to do is to add a bit of soft translucent clay. This will make it easier for the dry, crumbly clay to stick together. Run it through the pasta machine again until the clay doesn’t come apart. Note that there will be a very slight color difference when we add translucent clay. The pro of using this method is that it takes less time to condition the clay. The con is if you are very specific in color, you might not like the subtle change in color. Another con may be that the clay may turn too soft. If this is the case, simply put it into the fridge for a bit so that the clay can be easier to handle.

The third way, and my current favorite method of softening clay is by hitting it with a hammer or a mallet. I have a small craft hammer, and I use this whenever I work with super hard clay. I cut my clay up, put it inside a plastic bag to keep all the crumbs together and then I just pound on my clay until they stick together. The pro of using this method is that again it takes less time to condition your clay, which is ideal for someone like me who has wrist problems. The con is that you have to get a small hammer, and you also have to have a surface that you can hit repeatedly.

And the last way is to hit the clay with the hammer, but also to add a little bit of liquid Sculpey. As I hit the clay with the hammer, I fold in the clay with the liquid sculpey. This just speeds up the process of softening the clay. The con is that some of you may not have liquid Sculpey, so it’s another material that you need to have on hand. Another con is similar to adding translucent clay, you may find that there is a slight deviation in color. The pro is the time that it takes to condition the clay is cut down.

I hope that this inspires you to keep even your oldest clay. Happy crafting!