Strawberry Necklace Tutorial

This is such a fun little project, and at the end of it you have a super cute strawberry charm necklace. A perfect addition to a summer outfit!

Materials List:

• Air dry clay
• Clay sculpting tools and rolling pin
• Craft knife
• Star/snowflake cutter if you have one
• Red and green acrylic paint
• Paintbrush
• UV resin and UV lamp
• Wire cutters/sharp scissors
• Eye pin and chain
• Super glue
• Small pliers

Step 1.

Take a small piece of air dry clay and roll it in your hands into a ball. Narrow one end into a strawberry shape. Smooth out any bumps or cracks by applying a bit of water to your fingers.

Step 2.

Take another small piece of air dry clay and roll it out until thin. (If you don't have a rolling pin, using the side of a glass jar also works well). Use your snowflake/star cutter to stamp out your leaves. (If you don't have a cutter, use a sharp craft knife to cut out your shape freehand).

Step 3.

Mix a small amount of air dry clay with water to make a 'slip'. The consistency of the slip should be a paste - thicker than water but still spreadable. Cross hatch (or just make some marks with your craft knife) on the top of your strawberry where you are going to stick the leaves, and do the same on the underside of your leaves, blob a bit of slip onto the top of the strawberry, but not too much! Stick your leaves onto the top of your strawberry. 

Step 4.

Using a cocktail stick, make a hole in the top of your strawberry. You want the hole to go about half way down the strawberry. Make sure you don't go too far and come out the bottom!

Step 5.

Use whatever you have available to make some dots on the body of the strawberry. You could use a clay sculpting tool, a cocktail stick, anything with a pointy end really.

Step 6.

Leave your strawberry somewhere safe to dry. This can take anywhere from 24-48 hours. Leave it somewhere warm but out of direct sunlight. (If the outside dries too quickly it can make the clay crack). In the early stages, rotate your strawberry while it is drying to prevent a flat edge.

Step 7.

When it is completely dry, use acrylic paints to paint the strawberry red and the leaves green. The edges of the leaves in particular can be tricky, so use a small paintbrush.

Step 8.

Once the paint is full dry, apply UV resin over all of the strawberry, however do not put it in the hole in the top.

Step 9.

Cure the resin using a UV lamp. I found the easiest way to hold the strawberry was to insert a cocktail stick into the hole, hold the cocktail stick and rotate it under the lamp until the resin was full cured. This will only take a few minutes.

Step 10.

You will know when the resin has fully cured when it is no longer sticky. It will have a lovely shiny finish. Put your eye pin into the hole in the top of your strawberry to check how long it needs to be. You want the circle part of the eye pin to be just sticking out of the hole. Cut your eye pin to size with some wire cutters or sharp scissors.

Step 11.

Drip some superglue into the hole and insert the eye pin again. Wait for the glue to fully dry. 

Step 12.

Using some small pliers bend the wire to open up the eye pin. Place the necklace chain into the open eye pin and then using the pliers again, squeeze it shut to trap the chain inside. Don't close it too tightly - you want the chain to be able to slide in the eye pin. 

Step 13.

Wear your new necklace, and when you get compliments remember to tell them you made it yourself!