DIY Polymer Clay Blossom Earrings & Petal Cane Tutorial

Learn how to make a petal cane with this tutorial and then use it to make DIY polymer clay blossom earrings!

The days are getting longer and we’ve just changed seasons from winter to spring. It’s the perfect time to show your love for spring with a pair of diy polymer clay blossom earrings. They may be more fantasy than reality but I think they still make a lovely statement for the season.

The petal cane in this tutorial is simple and versatile and can be used in many different projects. It begins with a skinner blend, which is always one of my favorite things to make. Turn the blend into a long, thin ribbon and accordion fold it into a plug. Press in the corners and turn the plug into a cylinder. Thin sheets and snakes are added for interest and that’s it for the petal other than reducing!

Don’t want to use the petals individually in a sculpted flower as with these diy polymer clay blossom earrings? You can easily turn it into a full flower cane with a center and pack the flower with translucent or solid colored clay to use flat.

Once the petal cane is made the earrings themselves come together fairly quickly and easily. The petals are given some shape with a ball tool but if you have a silicone flower petal veiner molding tool I would give that a try. In fact, I think I may have to order one and try it out myself!

I’ve added a couple leaves in these earrings from this tutorial but if you’d rather leave them out your earrings will still look great.

Baking these earrings long enough and hot enough is essential. Putting the earrings on and taking them off again means there will be a lot of handling of the petals. Use an oven thermometer to be certain it’s at the correct temperature for your brand of clay and don’t be afraid to bake a little longer. You want those petals to be nice and flexible to stand up to all the handling.

Gather up some pretty flower petal colors and let’s get to work on some diy polymer clay blossom 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
• Polymer clay in colors of your choice
• Polymer clay blade—use your sharpest blade for clean slices
• Acrylic rod
• Wooden skewer
• Ball stylus tools—large and small
• Needle tool
• 1/2” round shape cutter
• Round micro cutter, optional
• Earring posts
• Super glue 
• Liquid clay
• Baking setup: glazed tile, foil, clean kitchen sponge

Directions for DIY Polymer Clay Blossom Earrings

Part One: The Petal Cane

Make a small skinner blend with whatever colors you want for your flower petals. For my petal cane I’ve gone with some pink, coral, and yellow colors I mixed up from my scraps separated with strips of white. Unless you want a lot of flower petals keep the blend on the smaller side as this will be reduced quite small and a little will go a long way.

RELATED POST: HOW TO MAKE A POLYMER CLAY SKINNER BLEND

When your colors are blended to your liking, sheet the blend on a medium setting (no.3 on my Atlas). Fold the blend into thirds. Set the pasta machine on the thickest setting (no.0) and pass the folded sheet through the machine feeding one of the narrow ends in first. Continue to pass it through the pasta machine on progressively thinner settings until you reach the thinnest setting you can go without tearing your clay. Depending on how warm it is that could be setting no.7, 8, or 9 for me.

Make a plug with the thin ribbon of clay by folding it back and forth in an accordion fold. Take care to trap as little air as possible.

Press in the corners of the plug, shaping it into a cylinder. Roll the cylinder on your work surface to smooth the sides making sure to keep it 1” – 1.5” in length.

Using a sharp blade, cut down through the center of the cylinder. Make two more cuts on either side of the first, angling them slightly.

Lay the two center slices side by side and press a wooden skewer into them making a channel about 1/3 down from the top.

Roll a thin snake of black or complementary dark colored clay and place in the channel on one side. Sheet a piece of the same clay on a thin (no.7) setting and place under the snake. Reassemble the two pieces.

Repeat with the outer pieces of the cylinder, this time making the channel lower than the first one in the center. Reassemble the cylinder.

Reduce the cylinder. I find it easier to keep the cylinder round for most of the reducing and then shape it into a petal shape when I’m close to the size I need. With this cane it’s easy to see the lines where you need to pinch to form the point.

Part Two: DIY Polymer Clay Blossom Earrings

My finished earrings are approximately 1” across. I reduced half the cane to just shy of 0.5” for the base layer of petals and the other half slightly smaller for the second row of petals. Reduce your cane according to how large or small you’d like your finished earrings.

For each flower cut five thin petals from the larger petal cane using your sharpest blade. Place a petal in the palm of your hand. Use a ball tool to thin the petal toward the outside edges and give it a slight cup shape. Repeat for all the petals.

Sheet a small piece of clay in one of the colors you made the initial blend with on a no.4 setting. Cut out two 1/2” discs and place them on your baking tile with enough room between them to build the flowers.

To start, if desired, place two leaves on each disc, either from a leaf cane or cut from a solid sheet of green clay. I used one of the canes from the tutorial linked below.

RELATED POST: THREE SIMPLE POLYMER CLAY LEAF CANES FROM ONE BLEND

Space the petals evenly around the disc, lightly pressing them into the clay at the center with a ball stylus.

Cut five more petals for each flower from the smaller cane and repeat the process of shaping them with the ball tool. Offset this layer of petals from the base layer so the petals are staggered rather than stacked right on top of each other.

Sheet a small piece of clay on a medium setting (no.3 or 4) and burnish it onto the tile or your work surface so it sticks well. Using a 1/8” micro cutter, cut out three circles for the center of each flower. Roll the circles into uniform balls.

No micro cutter? Roll a thin snake of clay and cut equal sized lengths from it to form the balls.

Pick up the balls with a needle tool and place them in the center of the flowers, three on each. If the clay sticks to the needle tool simply give it a little twist as you pull the tool out of the clay ball.

Before baking take a moment to shape the petals and leaves, if you’ve added them, to your liking. Tent the tile with foil and bake at the recommended temperature for your brand of clay for 45 minutes.

Adding Posts and Final Bake

When the flowers have cooled gently lift them from the tile by sliding a blade under them. Use a small dot of super glue to glue the earring posts in place. If you’ve used leaves on your earrings be mindful of where the posts sit to they’ll be positioned evenly. Let the glue set before proceeding.

Sheet a piece of clay in the same color as you used for the base disc on a thin (no.7) setting. Texture with a texture sponge, if desired. Cut out two 1/2” discs.

Add a thin layer of liquid clay to the back of the earrings. Slide the discs of clay over the earring posts and gently press them into place. Smooth the edges so you won’t have to do any sanding.

Place the flowers, petal side down, onto a clean kitchen sponge on your baking tile. Tent with foil and bake at the recommended temperature for your brand of clay for 30 to 45 minutes.

That’s it! You’re done! Now go show off your new diy polymer clay blossom earrings!

Notes

Make sure to bake these flowers long enough and hot enough for your brand of clay. There will be lots of handling of the petals as you put the earrings on and take them off so you want to be certain they are properly cured and flexible.

These earrings sit best on the earlobe when worn with a pad style earring back as opposed to a butterfly back.

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