DIY TERRACOTA JEWELLERY - NECKLACE AND EARRING

by - April 30, 2014

Hello friends, Welcome back!! Today am going to share with you all the tutorial of making terracota necklace and earring. I wanted to do this terracota jewellery for a long time but din't find the clear procedure for baking the clay. Last week when I had been to Michaels I spotted on this air - dry terracota clay. So here is my first attempt in making a terracota jewellery.  ( picture heavy post)




Terracota jewellery making is same as any other clay jewellery making. For this project I have used polyfrom model air clay - terracota. 


MATERIALS NEEDED:
  1. Terracota clay
  2. Talcum powder for kneading the clay
  3. Circular base like plastic bottle cap
  4. Knife
  5. Carving tools ( I used old refill , toothpick and floral wire)
  6. Floral wire
  7. jewellery making rope
  8. eye pins and fish hooks 
  9. Pearl paints or metallic acrylic paints
  10. Plier and cutter
PROCEDURE:
TO MAKE THE BEADS

Knead the clay and make identical balls. Allow it to dry for 5 min and make a hole by inserting the ball into a toothpick. Make as many beads as needed for making necklace. I made 30 beads. 

TO MAKE JHUMKAS:


Make 2 medium sized balls out of clay. Using a knife cut little away from centre to get one portion bigger than the other. Take the bigger portion of the two and smoothen its edges to get the shape of a jhumka. 


TO MAKE THE PENDANT:

 
Flatten the clay by rolling it with a rolling pin ( I used ball point pen for rolling). Take the lid or cap of some bottle that has a circular base ( I used the milk tin cap) and press it on the clay. You will get a rounded shape. 
Now use the same circular base and press once again to get the half moon shape and a tear drop shape.Carve designs on the pendant using carving tools . Here I have carved a simple design using a floral wire.
                              
Make small beads out of clay. Cut floral wire into small pieces. Insert the piece of floral wire onto the beads and attach them to the side of the pendant. Attach eye pins. 

 Terracota clay takes maximum 24 hours to get dried fully and become hard. Once it is completely dried there will be no moisture and the colour will become slightly pale ( see pic above for dried beads).

Colour the beads , pendants and jhumkas using pearl acrylic paints of your choice. Since I did'nt have pearl colours I have used acrylics and applied a coat of gloss varnish. I use this arrangement for colouring the beads. Tape two floral wires on top of a box and slide the beads through the wire and colour them. 

Use liner brush for making fine details in the pendant. I chose black and golden colour as it goes well with all colours of dress. 

I have added small beads to the jhumkas also. 

Take a jewellery rope and insert the pendant at the centre of the rope. On both sides of the pendant add the beads. 

Do try it out. Your feedback and suggestions are welcome. Happy crafting!!!

Submitting to
Colour conceptions challenge - " Anything but cards"
Itsy - Bitsy challenge - " monochromatic challenge" - Use any one colour other than black or white - I have used golden with black and created a jewellery set. 
Challenges 4 everybody  - " Anything goes"



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18 comments

  1. Great work! I love d black and gold combination!!

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  2. Love the set Ramya and colors too ..i too want to try terracotta but i didn't till now..Thanks for the tute :)

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  3. Ramya.. Just awesome . I have fallen in love with this gold black set:)


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  4. cute art work all the very best for your creativity

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  5. Hi thanx for sharing,,pls tell how do u fix wire hook in pendent ,,as mine is coming out after drying
    thanx

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    1. Hi Ketki... Yes even my hook comes out sometimes after drying.... for that while fixing the hook I will apply little bit of glue and then attach to the pendant.... you can use any jewellery making glue. or fevibond....

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  6. Hi that's a really beautiful set. I am obsessed with Terracotta jewellery and want to make some for myself. I read somewhere that air dry clay remains non-water proof and breakable. I wanted to know what your opinion is. is there a way to overcome this?

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    1. Hi Pratyu G... Sorry for the late reply ... I had been on a vacation.... Actually if your jewellery is fully dried and not very thin it wont break ... I have tried dropping the beads into the floor....it dint break.... but if you drop it hard both air dry clay and baked clay will break....I have four terracotta sets with me made with air dry clay...... I dont feel they are malleable.... To overcome that clay is non-water proof you can add varnish or fixative after painting.... But as far as the quality and look are concerned many say that baked jewellery is better.... I have'nt worked on it yet so I dont know about it properly.... Thank you for dropping by.... Keep visiting...

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  7. Can please explain how to fix the hooks to the earrings. There are fish hooks available instores. How can we use it,and also please add a note on jewellery glue.thank you.awesome work!!

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  8. Hi they r good i tried out few its come out good but last step which varnish to use

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  9. Hi .. Your work is very good.. Can you please tell us which varnish to use

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  10. Hi .. Your work is very good.. Can you please tell us which varnish to use

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  11. Do you have any recommendation on glue to use for ear studs?

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  12. Do you have any recommendation on glue to use for ear studs?

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  13. Hi. Thanks for details procedure. I tried it. But after drying the pendent has bend. What could be issue?

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  14. hi.. what clay has to use for terracotta jewellery.. there r many clays available online

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  15. Your jewellery is absolutely beautiful. A great post I love the blog, very beautiful
    Ethnic Jewellery Collections!

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Thank you for your comments