Guys, Terrazzo is having a serious moment. Some of you have been on trend the whole time like Marwa over at Enthralling Gumption while some of us are just now dipping our toes. Either way, this Terrazzo Earring DIY is a foolproof way to add a bit of pattern and color to any outfit while using up that scrap clay pile 😉
Supplies
polymer clay
circle cutters
earring posts + jump links
E6000
Start by rolling out your chosen colors on wax paper, trying to get them roughly the same thickness. You can use cornstarch to keep the clay from sticking to the wax- it’ll come right off after baking as long as it’s not mixed in with the clay.
Pro Tip 1: Use the same brand of clay throughout, especially if you’re mixing colors. The different formulas make it harder to figure out the correct bake time and can cause your clay to become a sticky mess.
Hack at all the pieces with a long blade. Keep going until you have a nice assortment of sizes.
Pro Tip #2: Slightly dried out clay works best here- you can even just crumble it up instead of hacking at it!
Alright, somehow I don’t have photos of step 3, but essentially roll out your base color a little thicker than what you want your finished piece to be. Drop over your piece pile, cover with wax paper, and gently roll over. Your colored pieces should be nice and incorporated into the base!
Cut out your shapes plus jump link holes (I used these basic circle cutters from Amazon). Bake per clay instructions and assemble. I used standard earring posts from Michael’s & the all-powerful E6000.
Honestly, I loved this pattern and colors so much I had to make a second set the following weekend! I feel like semi-circles are the spring shape this year, what do you guys think?
PS, say hi to my new baby Monstera! He’ll be making more appearances throughout the blog soon 🙂
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These are gorgeous! And you look stunning!
why thank you Samm ;D I always knew being obsessed with my hands would be a side affect of blogging, I just never expected to care so much about how my ears looked XD
WOW, these are absolutely stunning! I just love the colors you used, too. And ditto to the above comment, you look beautiful! Are the earrings heavy?
Thanks Marlene! They’re actually pretty light! The big open circles will need a bigger earring back to help balance it, but both are lighter than the jeweled ones you’d find at J. Crew 🙂
Gorgeous!! Love these so much.
Thank you so much!! This is one of my favorite DIYs up till now, because of 1. No waste of clay and 2. Beautiful jewelry that I’ll actually wear (until it wears and breaks)!
Exactly! Never knew what to do with my scraps. Always happy to find ways to use my craft stockpile 😀
Mine looked nothing like yours (predictably) T_T I guess I cut the pieces too big, and then when I rolled the main part of the clay over the pieces they just didn’t come out integrated :/ a video would be super helpful or else this just isn’t very feasible for people who don’t have a lot of experience working with clay.
Hi Sonal! When you say they didn’t come out integrated, do you mean your main part didn’t pick up any of the smaller chunks? I found it helpful to really warm up the main color and leaving the smaller chunks slightly harder/drier (or make them just as soft to get those big splotches of colors!). If that’s not what, let me know so I can help!
I’ll also say that these were my 2nd attempt, it took a little bit of experimenting to get the feel of the clay. If I ever take blogging full time, I’d love to pick up videography! Thanks for the feedback ^_^
I love your earrings. Do you have trouble with the backs coming unattached? I am having this issue with smaller earrings I am making out of porcelain. I am thinking of switching to polymer clay & found this post on an initial post. I have tried E6000 & an epoxy but both do not seem to hold up over time & the backs pop off.
Hi Aimee! I don’t have any experience with porcelain, but with polymer the one true way to keep the backs on 100%, all the time is to make a physical connection. Think jump rings through holes in the polymer or earring backs being baked into the form. E6000 is usually great, but doesn’t hold up well in humid environments. If you want to use a glue, try sealing your polymer first. Polymer likes to soak up the glue, so adding a layer in between will help the glue hold on. Let me know if that helps!
You can put the earring backs on the clay before baking?
Hey Tammy! You can add the earring back on before baking by wrapping some of the back clay around the post, but I wouldn’t recommend gluing on beforehand! A lot of glues are noxious in gas form. For the jump rings, I made my own since they were slightly an odd size, but if I had to guess I’d say 7mm, oval? I try to keep all my polymer earrings to around 3mm. That seems to be the sweet spot of not too thin, not too thick 🙂
Thoughtful Good thinking out the box
Could do project.
Interestingly very nice
You said the polymer clay chips work best when dried out and crumbly. Does that mean the clay doesn’t have to be conditioned first or should it be conditioned and then left to dry out? Thanks, your earrings are so fresh and beautiful!
The clay you want to use for the terrazzo chips doesn’t have to be conditioned unless you want some of the colors to spread out more! Just your base color so it is nice and ready to pick up the little chips.
Hi! Thank you for your tutorial! I was wondering how thick do you roll your clay out to be? And what size jump ring? I find that thinner is ok…. but had a pair beak on me because I think they were too fragile? However, when I make them thicker, the jump ring is too small?
Hi Andrea! I like to get a thickness close to 1.5x the thickness of a penny. The fresher and more conditioned your clay is as well will help it be more durable. For jump rings, I always take a new clay project to the craft store and measure up the holes to jump rings on the display haha. I don’t have a great method for pre planning jump ring sizes, but sometimes I make my own custom sizes with thick gauge wire.
These earrings are beautiful!! What size jump rings do you use? And how thick do have roll your earrings out to?
what brand of clay do you use?
Use Sculpey soufflé and try to avoid Sculpey III!