Have you ever used polymer clay before?  I saw so many fun projects on Pinterest using polymer clay, so I reached out to the lovely people at Sculpey to see if they would send me some of their product.  I had planned to write a post with all kinds of tips for working with polymer clay, from a beginners perspective. But this stuff is so easy to work with. Its one of those products that you can just dive right in and start playing. Today I’m going to show you how to make a marbled polymer clay hair stick, and give you a few beginner tips for working with polymer clay.

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Choose your clay colors

I started with four neutral shades of Sculpey Premo polymer clay, white, black, gray granite and translucent. I cut off chunks of each, mostly white and grey and just a small sliver of black and translucent. 

Working with polymer clay

Before starting make sure you have clean hands and work area. I used a piece of wax paper to work on to keep our kitchen table clean. Knead the clay until it’s soft and then roll each color into a cylinder.

Watch the video below for the quick version of this tutorial.

How to make marbled clay

Next I rolled all four colors together and twisted. I continued rolling, twisting, and folding over until I got a marble color I liked.  If you want to make polymer clay beads, you can stop here and use the bead maker and starter kit to get perfectly round beads.

Shape the hair stick

I rolled out the clay into a u-shape about four inches long to make a two-pronged hair stick.

Then I used a sharp blade and squared all the edges. 

Make some decorations

You could stop here and have a basic hair pin, but I decided to add a few flower decorations. This was a little tricky for me and I attempted a few different ways before I finally landed on something that was simple and looked half decent. I mixed some fuchsia and white clay together to get a nice pale pink for the flower petals.

For each petal I made a small ball, flattened it, then pinched the end to get a flower petal. I put four petals together, and added small green ball in the centre to make a flower. 

Bake the clay

Once you’re finished shaping the clay, it’s time to bake it. Preheat the oven to 275°F.  Put your clay on an oven safe sheet, preferably on wax paper. Bake the clay for 30 min for each 1/4 inch. My clay hair pin was about a half inch high, so I baked it for an hour. 

My completed marbled polymer clay hair stick!

Polymer clay is fun to work with and you can pretty much create anything you want. If you like trying out new products and making all kinds of different crafts, then this is for you. I spent a few good afternoons with the kids over Christmas holidays making things and just playing around with the clay. 

To use the hair stick I just stick it into a messy bun. 

We made a few other projects including some Christmas ornaments, and lots of marbled beads. To make marble beads, you start with your marbled roll of clay that you twist and roll. Cut off small chunks and roll it into a ball using the bead maker. Poke a hole through the bead, and bake it. 

Have you tried using oven back clay? Could you see yourself trying it? What would you make with it? Here are a few other projects I’d love to try: