Hi Friends,
My long-term desire to make terracotta jewelry has been partially fulfilled after making this simple piece of terracotta earrings. To be honest, after making this, my enthusiasm has been rekindled and I really like to do more and more and more of this kind…:)
To make this kind of jewelry basically, you’ll need processed natural clay, which is available in craft shops.
Take the approximate amount of clay required for making your jewelry and place the remaining clay in air-tight containers. If you place the excess amount of clay outside, it loses its moisture and becomes dry making it difficult to use it later on.
Make beads, squares, triangles, cylindrical beads or any desired shape required for the design in your mind. Here I have made two flower shapes and two circular beads. Made holes in the circular bead, using toothpicks or needle-shaped sculpting tools. Shape moulds and minute carving tools are also available in craft shops.
For attaching the flower shape to the beads and to the earring hook I inserted eye-pins on both sides, ie., above and below, in the flower when it was still wet.
Let them dry for 24 to 48 hours. Since I don’t have a kiln at home, I baked these beads and shapes in a conventional oven at 250F for around 2 hours. Though I am still experimenting on this step, the beads were hard and good enough. But I’m planning to bake it for more time in my next attempt.
Color the beads and shapes. I have used pearl and metallic colors. Attach it to the earring hooks and wear it right away!!
Try it out, have fun and please share your thoughts.
Have a great day!!!
