Thursday, July 11, 2013

S’mores Necklace {Tutorial}

After posting about my daughter’s Camping Birthday Party, I received quite a few requests for a tutorial on the S’mores necklaces that the girls made as their party favors… What can I say? You ask, you shall receive! Here is the:

This is an easy, fun project to do with school-age or older kiddos and is perfect for parties, girl scout activities, or just for grins on a rainy day.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

Polymer Clay in White, Tan, and Dark Brown
Poly Paste (or similar polymer clay adhesive)
Jump ring, lobster clasp, eye pin, and necklace cord/chain

Instructions:

Break clay and roll between fingers until soft. Form two penny-sized balls of the tan clay, a slightly smaller ball from the dark brown clay, and an even smaller ball of white clay.

Flatten tan clay balls to about 1/8 inch thickness and the diameter of a quarter. Using a clay cutter or knife, cut flattened clay into two small squares (roughly 3/4 inch square). Use a toothpick to draw a faint line in the middle of each square (to resemble a graham cracker).

Use tip of toothpick to make faint hole marks on each side of your cracker pieces.

Flatten your dark brown clay piece between your fingers to make a piece of chocolate – soften the corners with your fingers until this piece is slightly smaller than your cracker pieces. It will be a bit thicker, and that’s okay… we like our chocolate thick around here. :)

To form the marshmallow, flatten your white clay ball onto a hard surface until it’s a little thicker than the chocolate piece (a little bigger than 1/4 inch). The smooth the edges by rolling gently on your hard surface.

Now all of your s’mores pieces are ready for assembly.

Turn one cracker piece right-side down and apply thin smear of polymer adhesive. Top with chocolate, add adhesive. Add marshmallow, add adhesive, and then top with final cracker, right-side up.

Looks almost like the real thing, huh?

Just like you would with a real s’more after the marshmallow is toasted, squish it down a bit to “melt” your marshmallow.

Trim your eye pin with jewelry pliers (or bend back and forth until it breaks) to fit the depth of your s’more charm.

Dip the eye pin into poly adhesive to coat it and then insert down the middle of the charm. It’s okay if there’s leftover adhesive at the top; just spread evenly with your finger. It will dry clear after baking.

Bake your charm per directions on your clay package (I used Sculpey clay so I baked mine at 275 degrees for 15 minutes). I use a clay mat that’s oven safe for baking, but parchment paper works just as well. After baking, allow clay to cool for 10-15 minutes.