Conversation Heart Necklace: How-To.

Want to know how to make a sweet conversation heart necklace? Here's the tutorial:

Materials:
-Silver Oven-Bake Clay. Any brand will do. I go with the cheapest for $1.99.
-Smooth Plastic Rolling pin. I used the one from my kids' play dough set.
-Tongue depressors or something to gage thickness while rolling. Playing cards would also work.
-Wax Paper to protect your work surface
-Small Heart Shape Fondant Cutter
-Tape
-Toothpicks
-Metal Letter Stamps. Here's a similar set to what I have: small letter stamps. I have used mine in a ton of projects.
-Chain. I picked a 36" one up at Hobby Lobby for $1.99.
-Acrylic Paint (water-based) This is optional.
-Foam craft brush. Also optional.

Method:
Start by setting up your work space. I taped some wax paper down to my work surface, I also bundled some tongue depressors to my desired thickness (I used 5 tongue depressors on each side. I was going for approximately a 1/4"thickness) and taped them down to my surface.

Go ahead and knead your clay. Polymer clay will get softer and more workable as you knead it. I then rolled mine into a ball and then used my rolling pin to flatten it. Once I had rolled it out, I went ahead and used my heart-shaped fondant cutter to make a heart. Smooth out any roughness that may have been left by your cutter. Now, take your toothpick and punch a hole where you want your chain to go through. This must be done before you bake your clay. I learned something else the hard way: Make sure that you punch the hole high enough. If it is too low, your pendant will continually flip over because of the uneven weight. Basically, punch the hole as high as you can.

Take your letter stamps and stamp the phrase of your liking. A couple of things about the stamps: You'll want to practice stamping on an extra piece of clay to get the depth right. Also, the stamps are a little oily right out of the package. Make sure to wipe them down so that you don't get any oil on your clay.

As you can see, I had a helper. She was making silver nuggets. She gifted them to her brother in his mailbox.

Finally, place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Heat your oven and bake to the directions on your package of clay. Mine called for a 275 F oven for 15 minutes per 1/4" thickness of clay.
Once they are done baking allow them to cool. You can use water based acrylic paint to fill in the words if desired. Just paint the surface of your pendant, allow it to dry for a short period and then rub the excess paint off of the surface with a damp cloth. I liked the look of a little bit of paint left on the surface of the pendant. Once that is dry, you can put the chain through and you are done!

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Have a Happy Day!

~MJ