The Early Bird Robin’s Nest Necklace and Earrings Set

Supplies:

1 block of Fimo Effects stone marble #03

1 block of Fimo Soft peppermint #39

1 block of Fimo Soft sahara #70

1 block of Fimo Soft chocolate #75

Silver Fimo Powder

Bake able pearlescent sparkles

Silver coloured 20 gauge wire

Silver coloured 24 gauge wire

E6000 jewellery glue

Fine silver coloured chain

Silver coloured eye pins

Silver coloured jump rings 3mm

Silver coloured lobster claw clasp

Earring hardware in silver colour

Tools:

Three in one pliers, (or round nose, flat nose and wire cutters).

Rolling pin for clay

Blade for cutting clay

Rubber stamp

Clean protected work surface

Bake able ceramic mug

Oven

I have wanted to do a project that uses polymer canes in the whole for ages now. I like the way that the clay canes of wood get lighter and more translucent the thinner they get. The more you stretch and manhandle them the more they look like sticks. I almost called this piece sticks and stones because I paired the nest with a Fimo Stone Effects egg. 

Making the Egg Beads

Step 1:

Soften one package of Fimo Effects stone marble and add a small fraction of Fimo Soft peppermint. Sprinkle in some pearlescent bake-able sparkles and mix until finely marbled.

  

Step 2:

Roll the mixed clay into a ½ inch wide worm and cut ½ inch and ¼ inch slices from it to make the egg beads. This will make enough beads to create several sets of jewellery. You will need three large beads and five small ones for one jewellery set.

  

Step 3:

Pour out some silver powder onto a flat surface and load your rubber stamp lightly with the powder. Tap extra powder off . Roll each egg bead over the loaded stamp to create a pattern on each egg bead. The stamped silver powder gives the beads some more shimmer and depth.

  

 Step 4:

Reserve three small egg beads as they are without holes to glue into the nests. Cut a one foot piece of 20 gauge wire and curl the end with the double round nose pliers so the beads don’t fall off while baking. Complete the rest of the beads as follows. Pierce the top of each teardrop or egg shape with a straightened piece of 20 gauge wire and suspend over the top lip of a bake able ceramic mug. Bake beads as directed by product package. Allow beads to cool.

Step 5:

Cut a piece of silver coloured 24 gauge wire to 12 inches long. Wrap the centre of the wire twice around the double round nose pliers to create a double eye and twist a neck that is 1/8 inch long. This double eye will be in the centre of the wire.

   

Step 6:

Follow the pictures above to wrap the wire around the small part of each egg and create a dangle bead. Push the two wire ends through the egg bead in opposite directions and pull snug. Wrap the ends of the wire around the top of the egg bead until the clay at the top of the bead is completely wrapped. Snip off any extra wire if needed and hide the ends in the wrappings.

Making the Nest:

Step 1:

Soften the chocolate and sahara coloured Fimo Soft and make a long cylinder from half of the sahara coloured clay that is about one inch thick. Flatten two sides of this cylinder so it has the profile of a football. Make a 1/8th inch thick sheet of chocolate Fimo Soft and wrap the football cylinder.

Step 2:

Flatten the rest of the sahara coloured Fimo Soft to a sheet about ½ inch thick and cut a strip that will fit up each side of the wrapped football shaped cylinder. Pinch the edges of these strips closed.

   

Step 3:

Use a blade to slit three deep slits lengthwise in each side of the cylinder. Fill these slits wit thin sheets of chocolate clay and press to seal the cylinder back up. Wrap the whole thing in another 1/8th inch thick sheet of chocolate clay.

Step 4:

Slowly roll this log, shortening as you need to, into a worm that is 1/8th to 1/16th of an inch thick.

   

Step 5:

Start spiralling these 1/8th to 1/16th inch worms around each other to make a kind of pinch pot. The base of the nest will be about 1 inch before it starts to pile up and become a nest.

  

Step 6:

Roll another worm that is 1/8th to 1/16th of an inch thick and cut it at odd angles into pieces that are varying lengths from 1/8th inch to ½ inch. Gently push these sticks into the edge of the nest piece making sure to securely push each piece into place.

Step 7:

Cut two eye pins to ¼ of an inch long and add the eye pins to the nest as shown one at the top and one at the bottom of the piece.  Bake the piece according to the manufacturer’s instructions on the package label. Allow to cool, Glue the head pins into the piece for security. 

Assembling the Pieces:

Step 1:

Use the E6000 to glue the eggs beads without holes into the nest. Set aside to dry.

                 

  Step 2:

Put one large dangle bead onto each ear wire. 

Step 3:

On the top eye hook of the nest attach a 9 inch piece of silver coloured chain with a silver coloured lobster claw closer to the end . On the bottom eye hook of the nest, attach a 14 inch long piece of silver coloured chain with a large jump ring on the end. Add three egg dangles to the chain after the nest at about every 2/3 of an inch leaving the large dangle for the last one . This large dangle will be the centre of the necklace when it is worn. The nest lies to the side.

Project!!! How to Make Segmented Fish From Polymer Clay

Beastie recently found an old completed project and asked if we could make her a necklace. I said, "SURE!" and decided to share it with you too.

Here are the full instructions on how to create segmented fish from STAEDTLER Fimo

Materials needed to create this project:

2 STAEDTLER Fimo colors of your choice, plus a scrap of black Fimo for the eyes

Scrap Fimo to make the molds (about a quarter block)

Metal leaf

Size (adhesive) for gold leaf

STAEDTLER Fimo gloss varnish

Heavy beading elastic

Crimp beads that fit the elastic and match your metallic powders

4mm spacer beads that match your clay colors (2 or 3 for each body segment)

Jump rings

Eye pins

Fine chain

4mm facetted glass bead 

Tools needed to create this project:

Clay rolling tool or (exclusively used for clay) pasta machine

Toothpicks

Corn starch (to use as a release agent)

Round clay cutters varying from .5in to 1in (or a craft knife to cut circles)

Parchment paper

A selection of soft, small paintbrushes

Flat and round nose jewelry pliers and wire cutter to assemble piece

STAEDTLER fine tip permanent black marker

Step #1. Making the Molds

Make a 1/2 in thick worm of scrap clay and cut 5 segments that are each 1/4in longer than the segment before it. Roll these segments into balls and form them into flattened teardrop shapes. Insert a toothpick into the flat end of each teardrop shape and bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 30 minutes in a preheated 230 degree oven. Let the molds cool before using.

Step #2. Blending the Clay 

Create a Skinner blend by rolling out two clay colors to 1/8th inch thick sheets. Cut the sheets diagonally and stack, match the wide end of one color stack to the thin end of another. Fold the clay over (Long way every time) and re roll to a 1/8th inch thick sheet. Repeat this process rolling and folding (always in the same direction) until the clay colors blend in the center of the sheet. Keep the blending sheet neat and tight, by pushing the side edges straight after every fold.

Step #3. Making the Body Segments

Roll the blended clay sheet out to 1/16th in or setting 5 on a pasta machine. Use the circle cutters or a craft knife to cut out circles that will cover each of the mold pieces. My largest cutter is 1in and my smallest is 1/2in. I cut my circles where the colors met on my flattened clay sheet. Dip the molds in corn starch and tap off the excess before you form the body shapes. 

The cornstarch will help the clay come off the mold.  You may have to re apply the cornstarch during molding by removing the sheet if it starts to stick to the mold and re dipping in cornstarch. I added small flattened balls of matching clay just on top of the tip of each mold before covering with the clay discs to form the body segments. The flattened ball of clay will reinforce the tip of each segment and strengthen the hole for beading later.

Form these flat, two color discs over the molds to create five body shapes. 

Make a tail piece that will fit into the smallest body segment. Each body segment needs a hole in the center for stringing the pieces together. The tail hole should go from top to bottom on the tail end that fits inside the smallest segment.

Stand the tooth pick based molds up in a worm of scrap clay for baking. The tail piece can be baked on a pile of cornstarch to keep it from flattening on the baking sheet. Bake these pieces and the tail on a parchment paper lined baking sheet in a preheated 230 degree oven for 20 minutes. Allow the pieces and molds to cool before unmolding.

   Using only the largest and second largest molds, make two new body segments. The largest segment will be the head of the fish and will need two small black clay eyes and some gills. The second largest segment needs two triangular side fins. Use a toothpick to add some fin texture. Bake all pieces on a parchment lined baking sheet in a preheated 230 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Step #4. Gilding and Varnishing

Mount each of the body pieces onto the end of a tooth pick with the cup of each segment facing up and stand each tooth pick up in a piece of Styrofoam.  Paint the inside and edges of each body segment with two coats of size for metal leaf. Let the coats dry between layers. When the size is clear but still tacky, apply gold leaf over the sized areas and burnish it into the size with a dry brush. Dust off any extra leafing. 

Coat each piece with at least three coats of varnish, letting each coat dry before applying the next coat. 

Step #5. Assembling the Pieces

 Start with the tail section and work toward the head. 

Thread a crimp bead onto the beading elastic and then add the tailpiece. Thread the elastic back through the crimp and tighten the elastic up to the tail. Crush the crimp bead in place and trim the tail end of the elastic leaving the working end to thread more pieces. Add the smallest body segment next. Then comes two or three spacer seed beads depending on how deep your body segments are. Add the next body segment, more spacers, and then the next segment until all segments but the head are loaded onto the elastic.

 After the body segment before the head is added, thread on another crimp bead, then an eye pin. Feed the elastic back through the crimp and tighten everything up to the body. Crush the crimp bead into place and trim the tail of elastic. Put one or two spacer beads onto the head pin and add the head segment. Add a decorative 4mm facetted glass bead and turn an eye tight to the bead with the round nose pliers being careful not to crush the nose of the fish.

Add a jump ring to the nose loop to hang the piece.

Alternate color: Koi

Roll out a sheet of translucent clay 1/8th in thick and press black and orange balls of clay onto the surface. Flatten these sheets slightly by rolling with a clay roller. 

Stack the sheets with the color sides both up and put through the pasta machine or clay roller until it is 1/16th in thick.

 Just before we put the clay through the rollers the last time we sprinkled it with heat safe glitter for some sparkle. The glitter looks like fish scales. 

 We added 4mm doll eyes to these fish and secured them with clay eyelids. Our doll eyes are made of Fimo clay using the technique shown HERE .