Easy polymer clay rainbow necklace

rainbow polymer clay necklace for St Patrick's Day

This rainbow necklace is easy to make with polymer clay! It's a gerat craft to do with kids and a fun rainbow party make and take.

Materials

  • Polymer clay. You only need a small amount of clay in each color. I used abbot a chickpea-sized quantity.
  • A glue on jewelry bail
  • Adhesive. The usual recommendation would be for E6000 adhesive. It works well, but is pretty toxic. I’ve had success using Eileen’s Original Tacky Glue, but it may be slightly less durable. It’s also non-toxic, so I’m willing to make the trade off. The choice is yours!
  • Cord, chain, etc. to hang your necklace. I used inexpensive satin ‘rattail’ cord.
  • A piece of cardstock or paper, or a silicone crafting mat, to bake your clay on
  • Piece of rough sandpaper, optional
  • A piece of wax or parchment paper to work on, optional but helpful

Tools

  • A hobby knife
  • Oven

Instructions

    1. Select your colors and make about a chickpea-sized ball of each one.
    2. Roll each ball around, squish it, etc. to ‘condition’ the clay and make it nice and supple. I protect my clay by using a piece of wax or parchment paper to work on so it doesn’t get covered in random dust.
    3. Roll your balls out into ‘snakes.’

      Try to make the snakes as similar as possible in width to one another. Use these rolls of clay (minus your cloud color) to make a rainbow, curling the ends on one side as shown, if you’d like. I found it easiest to work from the inside out while making my rainbow.

      Use your hobby knife to trim all the ends on the non-curled side into a straight line. Gently press the pieces of clay together to help them adhere – you don’t have to mush them together too hard if they’re still warm and malleable from conditioning.
    4. Roll/curl your remaining piece of clay to make a cloud.
    5. Gently press it into place on top of the cut side of the rainbow. If you’re worried about it adhering well, you can add a bit of Bake and Bond, but my cloud has had no trouble staying put.
    6. Bake you rainbow on a piece of cardstock or crafting mat according to the package’s directions. Premo! bakes at 275ºF for 30 minutes per 1/4″ of thickness. Base your baking time and temp on your clay and your rainbow’s thickness.
    7. Once your polymer clay rainbow has baked and cooled, you’re ready to attach a bail.

      To help the bail adhere, scuff up the pad with some rough sandpaper (100 grit works well). This is optional, but helpful. Don’t stress too much about finding the exact balancing/midpoint for your rainbow – remember that rainbows in nature usually aren’t perfect arcs all the way across the sky!
    8. Allow the glue to dry/cure fully (I know it’s hard to wait, but it’s for the best!). Once the glue is set, string your rainbow onto a piece of cord, chain, or whatever you’re using to make your necklace. I used a length of green satin cord.