As you would already know from seeing the Lunar Drift collection, I'm fascinated with the beauty of the phases of the moon. So it just seems like the natural next step to DIY some moons out out of clay to adorn gifts wrapped in these scarves.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
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Polymer clay (I used Sculpey III in 1132 Jewelry Gold and 1101 Pearl)
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Smooth rolling pin like acrylic (or a substitute, like a wine bottle. Keep in mind that polymer clay is not food safe - so if you use a rolling pin it needs to be one you use for crafting only, not one that you also use for cooking)
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A smooth surface to roll out on (I like using non-stick baking paper because then you can transfer directly to the baking tray and use it to bake on as well. You can then store it away with your clay and reuse each time)
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Cookie cutters (or a substitute, like something to trace. Mine are 3cm in diameter, and like rolling pins must be ones for crafting only)
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Skewer & sewing needle (or anything else to poke holes and add texture to the clay before baking)
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3 jump rings to connect the clay discs (I used rose gold one, but just pick a colour that suits your clay colours)
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Decorative string or ribbon to tie to your gift
ONE
If you choose to marble your clay, we'll start here. Otherwise you can skip straight to rolling it out. To marble clay, warm up each bit of clay in your hands to make it more pliable, and then roll out a skinny sausage of each colour. Put them next to each other, and then twist. The more you twist them together, the smaller the marble texture will be. Curl the sausage up into a tight spiral and then put it down on your baking paper and roll out.
You only need a small amount of clay to create these 4 discs, but if you have an idea for another project you can marble and roll out more for maximum crafting efficiency.
Ensure your clay is an even thickness, I made mine really thin for this project (about 1mm) but you can stay thicker if you want them to be more durable, and then cut out into circles.
TWO
Use your sewing needle to 'colour in' the moon phase shapes using little dots, and then make 1 large hole on each side using the skewer. This is the hold your jump ring will go through, so do a quick double check at this stage that the hole is big enough. You'll want it to be a bit bigger than the thickness of the jump ring, so that it has room to slide around.
Bake your clay pieces for the amount of time specified by your clay brand, take them out and let them cool.
THREE
We now connect the discs to each other. Using your pliers, open up each jump ring, thread them through the holes of 2 discs and close the ring again.
FOUR
We're pretty much done, now we just need to thread your decorative string through the outer holes so you can attach it to a gift.
To keep it simple, you can just tie 1 piece of string to each side and then tie in a bow at the back. What I like to use is cut one long piece and loop it through both ends. It's hard to describe, so you can follow the diagram below to see how to loop it through and then tie with a bow, either at the front or back depending on if you want it to be visible or not:
