How to Make Your Own Earrings With Fimo
Handmade Fimo beads are popularly made throughout the world, often by home craft enthusiasts. Fimo is a polymer clay which bakes hard at low temperatures, so it's easily used at home. It comes in a wide variety of colors and special types including glittery, florescent, translucent and metallic effects. Make your own Fimo earrings and create personal designs, which are often cheaper than many ready-made earrings.
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Things You'll Need
- Earring attachments
- Fimo in colors of your choice
- Needle
- Baking tray
- Aluminum foil
- Skewer
- Pliers
- Strong glue
Instructions
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Buy earring attachments from online jewelry making websites or craft stores. Stud-type earring blanks are available with butterfly backs as well as hooks with dangling attachments for drop-style earrings.
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2
Break off pieces of your chosen Fimo colors and warm in your hands. When they are easily malleable, mold the desired shapes. Roll individual colors into small balls and pierce with a needle to make plain round beads.
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3
Merge two or three different colors of Fimo together and roll into balls for more interesting patterns. Don't mix colors together too much or the result will be muddied. If the Fimo becomes too soft to work with effectively, leave it to cool for 10 minutes.
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4
Make any shape you like. For drop earrings, either push straight dangling attachments down through the molded shape before baking, or make beads with holes in, and thread on hoop-shaped attachments after baking. To make stud earrings, shape out the pattern, and glue to the blank stud attachments with strong adhesive once hardened.
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Preheat the oven to 130 degrees Centigrade (266 Fahrenheit). Cover a baking tray with aluminum foil and place the beads on it. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes and leave to cool.
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String or glue the beads on the attachments. Press open the round links at the top of looped, or straight, dropped earring attachments. Loop them through the round links on the earring hooks, and close with pliers. Leave glue to set on studs before wearing.
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Tips & Warnings
Save money by recycling the attachments from old earrings by removing beads already attached.
Store unused Fimo in air-tight sealed bags. If Fimo becomes dry through poor storage, mix eight parts of Fimo to one part Fimo Quick Mix to make it useable again.
Wash your hands in warm, soapy water before working with Fimo and between the use of different colors. Dirt and grease is likely to come off on the Fimo and old colors can muddy new ones, ruining your project. Work on a clean, smooth, unvarnished surface and wipe it down between colors.
References
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images
