Simple Tools:
Popsicle sticks, straws, toothpicks, cookie cutters, plasticware, garlic press, cheese grater, 6" dowel (3/4" diameter), rolling pin, single-edged razor blade (use with care!), glazed ceramic tile, floral wire, metal clothes hangers, glass or metal pan.

Professional Tools:
Dental tools, metal wax tools, boxwood tools, fettling knife, Lucite brayer, Kemper clay cutters, clay gun, needlenose pliers
Sculpey III clay

Getting Started:
The clay may be stiff at first but will become flexible if you warm it between your hands. If the clay becomes too soft, put it in your refrigerator for a few minutes. Keep a damp paper towel near you so you can keep your hands clean. Lighter colored clays can get dirty looking if you work with hands which are covered with other colors of clay. A glazed ceramic tile is a great surface to work and bake on. You can also work on waxed paper and then transfer your clay to a cooking sheet. A metal pan can brown lighter clays, so a glass pan is a more recommended surface to bake on.

You can use the wire from a metal hanger or floral wire to bake beads on. This wire is great for poking holes in your beads and other jewelry items. If you want to roll a thin, even slab of clay, put a ball of clay between two popsicle sticks that are parallel to one another. Then, roll your clay with a rolling pin or 6" piece of dowel. The popsicle sticks will help the dowel roll evenly over the clay.

Roll your clay on lace or other rough surfaces to give it a textured surface. Bake your clay in a standard oven or toaster oven at 275Ð. It can take 8 to 15 minutes depending on the size of your clay piece and how thick it is. If you cook it too long it will turn brown and black. When the clay bakes it will give off a plastic smelling odor.

After you bake your clay, you can attach jewelry backs with epoxy glue. You can twist and close loops with needlenose pliers.

Recommended Readings:
Dierks, Leslie, Creative Clay Jewelry: Designs to Make From Polymer Clay, Lark Books: Asheville, North Carolina, 1994

Ford, Steven and Dierks, Leslie, Creating with Polymer Clay: Designs, Techniques & Projects, Lark Books: Asheville, North Carolina, 1996.

Roche, Nan, The New Clay: Techniques and Approaches to Jewelry Making, Flower Valley Press: Rockville, Maryland, 1991.

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