St Patrick’s Day Earrings Step-by-Step Tutorial

Learn how to make a pair of polymer clay green rainbow St Patrick’s Day earrings using a set of DIY tools.

Celebrate St Patrick’s Day in whimsical style with green rainbows topped by shimmery gold studs with backfilled shamrocks. Wow. That’s a mouthful.

The studs are my favorite part about these earrings. I’d initially planned on a mica shift shamrock but the handmade stamp didn’t give a crisp enough outline and the shamrock was too blurry for my liking.

Backfilling the impression left by the stamp was the answer and I love how it turned out. Plus, there’s still a mica shift ghost outline which adds some depth. 

In fact, I like it so much you can expect I’ll be revisiting the idea.

Sanding the studs with multiple grits of wet/dry sandpaper and giving them a good buffing only takes a few minutes and finishes them beautifully. I don’t always sand and buff earrings, except for when I use a metallic clay. Creating a nice high shine really makes the mica particles pop with loads of shimmer.

The rainbows themselves were made on a DIY jig from a previous tutorial. The jig is made from polymer clay scraps and is lined with an index card so you can bake the rainbows right in place. No worry about distortion from transferring uncured rainbows from the jig to your baking set up.

You can find the tutorial for the DIY rainbow jig linked below:

DIY POLYMER CLAY TOOLS | MAKE A CUSTOM RAINBOW JIG

So, mix up some lovely shades of green polymer clay and get ready to make some St Patricks Day earrings.

Tools & Materials

• Non-porous work surface—I work on either glazed tile or glass
• Pasta machine dedicated to polymer clay use—I use an Atlas 180 and will refer to the settings I use on my machine. If you don’t have a pasta machine an acrylic roller and some playing cards will do in a pinch, it’ll just take a little more work
• DIY Rainbow Jig
• Acrylic rod or brayer
• Polymer clay extruder
• Polymer clay blade
• Craft knife
• 3/4” round shape cutter
• Pin drill
• Texture sponge
• Scrap polymer clay
• Metallic gold polymer clay
• 4 or 5 different shades of green polymer clay
• Cornstarch
• Liquid clay
• Super glue
• Earring posts
• Jump rings
• Wet/dry sandpaper in 400/600/800/1200/1500 grits

Directions for St Patrick’s Day Earrings

1. DIY Shamrock Stamp

Condition the scrap clay and make six small, uniformly sized balls of clay. I used a round cutter that’s about 1/8” but you can just cut evenly sized slices off a small rope of clay.

Roll the balls into tear drop shapes. Pair up the tear drops to make three heart shapes.

Join the three hearts together at the points along with a small piece of clay for a stem.

Cut out a 3/4” circle from a sheet of scrap clay rolled out at the thickest setting on the pasta machine (no.0 on my Atlas). 

Dab a bit of liquid clay on the circle and center the shamrock on top.

Roll a 3/4” cylinder of scrap clay and trim to about 1 inch long for a stamp handle. Smear a little liquid clay onto one end and place the shamrock stamp, gently pressing it in place.

Give the cylinder a little squeeze to make finger grips for ease of stamping. Firmly press the stamp, shamrock side up, onto a baking tile and bake for 45 minutes at the recommended temperature for your brand of clay.

2. Making Rainbows 

Using the pasta machine thoroughly condition each shade of green clay. 

Roll each sheet of green clay into a cylinder the same diameter as will fit the extruder. Make extruded ropes with each shade of green.

Choose which shade of green you’d like for the inside of the rainbow and start by wrapping the rope snuggly around shape cutout on the jig. Build out the rainbows making sure each rope is firmly in contact with its neighbor.

Use a sharp blade to trim the rainbows to their desired length.

Place the rainbows, jig and all, on a baking tile.

3. Backfilled Shamrock Studs

Condition the gold metallic clay until it is a uniform color with no dark streaks. Sheet on a medium setting (no.3)

Lightly dust the shamrock stamp with cornstarch and press into the gold clay. 

Center the 3/4” round cutter over a shamrock and cut out two circles for studs.

Place the gold circles next to the rainbows on the jig and tent with foil. Bake for 30 minutes at the recommended temperature for your brand of polymer clay.

While the pieces are curing mix a small amount of green clay with a bit of liquid clay to make it soft and sticky.

Remove the studs from the oven after 30 minutes but allow the rainbows to bake another 30 minutes.

When the studs have cooled smoosh the polymer clay/liquid clay mixture into the shamrock depression.

Using a dull blade scrape off the excess green clay and use a baby wipe to finish cleaning it up. Pop back in the oven and bake for another 30 minutes. (*See notes)

When the rainbows are cured and have cooled carefully remove them from the jig. They may stick a little to the center piece but will come free with some gentle coaxing.

Mix a small amount of green clay with a bit of liquid clay to make it soft and sticky. When the studs have cooled smoosh the clay mixture into the shamrock depression.

Using a dull blade scrape off the excess green clay and use a baby wipe to finish cleaning it up. Bake for another 30 minutes.

When the rainbows are cured and have cooled carefully remove them from the jig. They may stick a little to the center piece but will come free with some gentle coaxing.

4. Adding Earring Posts 

When the stud pieces have cooled drill holes with a pin drill fitted with a bit the right size for your jump rings.

Use a tiny dot of superglue to glue the earring posts to the backside of the studs. Use the hole you just drilled to determine placement. Let the glue set.

Sheet a piece of the gold clay on a thin setting (no.7) and cut out two 3/4” circles.

Once the glue has set on the earring posts cover the back of the studs with a thin layer of liquid clay. Slide the circles you just cut out over the earrings posts and use the texture sponge to press it gently into place.

Allow the raw clay begin to bond for a few minutes and then trim away any excess along the edges with a craft knife.

Place studs face down on an index card or piece of copy paper on top of a tile. Tent with foil and bake for 30 minutes at the recommended temperature for your brand of polymer clay.

5. Finishing Steps

When the studs have cooled again sand the face and sides with wet/dry sandpaper. Start with the 400 grit and work your way through to the 1500 grit.

Buff to a shine by rubbing them on a piece of denim, a soft piece of flannel, or a cotton buffing wheel on a Dremel.

Using the pin drill, finish drilling the hole through the stud backing. Drill holes at the center top of the rainbow arch as well.

Attach the studs to the rainbows with jump rings.

Notes

* If you don’t want to keep going in and out of the oven it’s perfectly fine to leave the rainbows in the oven for over an hour while the studs finish their second bake. As long as you have your oven set at the correct temperature (use an oven thermometer!) there’s no harm in leaving them longer.

When shaving off the backfill clay use a dull blade. I picked up my sharp blade and ended up shaving off a tiny bit of the gold clay in the process. It’s not noticeable after sanding but if I’d gone any deeper it may have been.

I typically start with a 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper when I’m sanding jewelry pieces but there was a fair bit of sanding to be done to get the gold clay perfectly level with the green backfill clay. If you are more precise with your backfilling than I was then you are probably okay skip the 400 grit.

If I were to make these again I would use a metallic green clay for the backfill on the studs or add some of the gold clay to the green for a bit more shimmer. 

Pop in these green and gold polymer clay St Patrick’s day earrings and celebrate the luck of the Irish!

As always, if you have any questions or comments, I’m happy to hear from you.