A New Idea Up In Flames

NOTE TO START: I am okay, my kitchen is okay, and all flames were contained in the oven.

This week, a good friend of mine told me about how she had started to create polymer clay earrings. I’ve seen so many small vendors selling polymer clay jewelry at small markets and online, though I’ve never ended up buying any for myself. Given my friends sudden interest, I decided to join her in trying out this new craft. I gathered the needed materials and set out to the internet to find some instructions on how to get started. I even thought that maybe this activity could be a replacement for watercoloring as my free inquiry topic this semester! This was dependent, of course, on how my first few attempts went.

https://www.papernstitchblog.com/diy-clay-jewelry-techniques/

The above link is to a blog post I found, which outlined instructions and interesting ideas to get me started on making some earrings. The instructions were clear, and very helpful. My first few pairs of earrings turned out successful! The photo below shows the two sets of completed earrings, and a few pieces of earrings that have yet to be put together. I’ve found so far that the pliers I have are too large to work with the small earring connectors. I’m borrowing a smaller pair of pliers from my dad later this week, so those incomplete earrings will be put together then.

I was so happy with how these turned out! I do not have specific clay cutters, so my shapes are a little rough around the edges. But overall, I was very optomistic in my abilities given my first attempt! The next day, I started making more clay pieces, becoming obsessed with trying out new designs. I quickly came to the thought process that I may start drowning in the amount of clay earrings in my house soon (on a side note, does anyone want earrings??). I had even refined my skills to some extent, figuring out hpw to smooth edges and create more precise shapes. I put my second batch of earrings into the oven, and this is where I made a critical mistake. I completely forgot to change the temperature setting on my toaster oven, leaving the temperature on the “toast setting” for 15 minutes. Within 5 minutes, I smelt something burning, and looked over to find that the clay and the parchment paper had completely lit up in flames. The next few minutes were spent in panic and chaos, while I opened windows and doors, turned off the oven, and fanned the smoke alarm. Luckily, the flames did smother themselves inside the oven, and no real damage was done. Aside of course, from the ruined clay.

So this is where I stand: with a smelly house, a lot of left over clay, and a lot of nerves around trying this out again. I am definitely going to take a break from polymer clay for at least a few days, or at least until my house is rid of this smell. I think I’ll go back and continue down the road of watercolor painting (which has a much lower chance of encountering fire). I may make some more posts on making earrings again in the future when I regain my confidence. Until then I can’t help but think: “can I still make jewelry out of charred clay?”.

Photos by Tyla Penner (CC by 4.0)