Polymer Clay Christmas and Winter Ornaments

The first step in any good Polymer Clay project or in any craft for that matter is to gather your supplies, so you are not searching for something at a crucial point in your craft. Having said that, you will need the following supplies to do this craft:

Polymer clay in the following colors: Gold, Red, Green, White, Silver, Brown, and Black. I prefer Sculpey for the ease of use, and for its strength, but you are welcome to use any brand that you like.

Liquid Translucent Sculpey

Glitter

Future Floor Wax

Cookie Cutters in assorted Christmas and Winter shapes

Step 1: Condition your polymer clay by running it through a polymer clay pasta machine, or kneading it until it is workable, and a long piece will not crack when it is bent.

Step 2: Roll out your polymer clay approximately ¼ to 1/3 inch thick, and using cookie cutters, cut out your basic shapes.

Step 3: Decorate your basic, single-color shapes with the appropriate complimentary or contrasting color. For example, if you use a ginger bread shaped cookie cutter, you can cut out the shape in brown, and using small worms of white (traditional) or black (modern) you can 'draw' the clothing onto your ginger bread man or woman. You can leave the worms you put onto the base ornament three dimensional, or flatten them out.

Step 4: Bake your ornaments per the instructions on the package. This part will require a parent's supervision, unless you have permission to use the stove or toaster oven. Make sure that your oven runs at the temperature you expect it to with the help of an oven thermometer. This will help keep your ornaments from under baking and being fragile, to over-baking and being burnt (with the most awful smell) or being very brittle.

Step 5: Mix a small amount of glitter and Liquid Translucent Sculpey, and coat both sides of your ornament. A simple, silver glitter or pearl dust works best here.

Step 6: Re-bake your Polymer Clay ornaments. They can be baked as many times as needed, as long as the temperature remains consistent.

Step 7: When your ornaments have completely cooled, cover them in several coats of Future Floor Wax. This will keep them intact, and will help bring out the sparkle of the glitter.