How to make Polymer CLAY JHUMKIS

It took me a long time to realise that paper quilling is big in India. Interestingly, it was designer Sankgetha Sripathy who is known best for her terracotta jewellery on Smudgy Trove Facebook page, who painstakingly pictured the process and sent it to me. She has now came up with a short tutorial on polymer clay jhumkis. Classic jhumkis or jhumkas are all-time favourites with some. Of late though, it looks like they’re seeing a resurgence with fresh design experiments. I prefer the earthy clay over polymer any day. But the medium offers its own options for creativity. Crafting enthusiasts have umpteen methods to come up with polymer masterpieces. I love the yellow design on this jhumki, with its swirl pattern that sways between a rose effect and marble effect. I googled polymer jhumkis and found that while jhumkis are made with a lot of moulds, using such marble effects for a traditional form of jewellery is not so common.

Radhika Malladi on www.imprintshandmade.com

STEP 1

For a start, pick your clay sheets from the Sculpey pack.

STEP 2

Soften the sheets using the pasta machine or clay kneading machine. If you do not have a pasta machine at home, you could use your dough roller or chapati roller. Another option is to knead it with your hands, using some baby oil.

STEP 3

The rolled clay needs to be cut into square shapes by cutting off the uneven edges.

STEP 4

You then need to stack the squares one over the other. Roll this stack, to make the sheets stick, and also to make the layers thinner. Roll the whole stack into a cylindrical shape, the way you would roll semisolid dough to make spring rolls.

STEP 5

This is a picture of the rolled stack. You need to tighten it a bit so that the layers stick better. Slice them, and you get these spiral cuts. The base clay sphere is ready now with a bit of Smoothening.

STEP 6

Here is the small white clay sphere that she used. To blend the swirls on the sphere, roll it between your palms.

STEP 7

Cut the spheres and ensure that you have two thirds on one side and one third on the other. Fix an eye pin through the center of the tiny cup. Add another small ball of the swirl design on top.

STEP 8

Scoop out the white using a potter’s tool, or a tiny scoop if you have one. Leave just a little layer that holds the swirl design topping.

STEP 9

Pick up some green clay now, or an accented coloured clay and roll many tiny beads from it.

STEP 10

Measure about half an inch of nichrome wire.

STEP 11

If you have cut wires for paper quill jewellery, this should be a breeze. Or a bit of trial and error will work just fine. Insert the wire bits into the edge of the jhumki base and then fix the tiny clay balls on top of each of the bits. The tiny balls work as an extension of the jhumki.

STEP 12

Notice the protruding nichrome bit against the index finger which is a must for fixing the tiny Balls.

STEP 13

This is how the jhumkis look after you have inserted the tiny balls on their base.

The next step is to bake them. Each brand of polymer

• clay requires different temperatures and time to bake them in.
• In this case, the jhumkis were fired for 20-30 minutes.
• And then the fish hooks were fixed.
• And the exquisite piece of Indian design jewellery was ready! A mish-mash of traditional and modern.
• Optionally, you can glaze this piece with Mod Podge.

– Pictures and content courtesy: Sankgetha Sripathy ( Smudgy Trove)