How to Make Evil Eyes
The evil eye is a traditional Turkish symbol often worn as an amulet to protect against evil. Though making evil eyes yourself may seem complicated, with a little effort you can make your own evil eye using polymer clay and the millefiori bead-making technique, which involves rolling layers of clay into a log and slicing off beads with the evil eye design embedded in a dark circle.
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Things You'll Need
- Three packages of polymer clay in the colors black, white and blue
- Plastic wrap
- Ruler
- Cane cutter or single-edged razor blade
- Needle or toothpick
- Oven
- Baking sheet
- String/wire/chain to make a necklace
Instructions
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Cut or pull off a piece of black clay for the pupil of your evil eye.
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Knead the clay until it is soft without becoming sticky, and roll it into a log as thick as you want the pupil to be. Wash your hands before handling a different color of clay.
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Cut or pull off a larger piece of blue clay, and knead it until it is soft.
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Roll the clay into a ball, and use a rolling pin to flatten it into a sheet a little thinner than you want your iris to be.
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Roll the sheet of blue clay around the black log you made earlier. This will form a cane with the pupil part in the center, surrounded by the blue iris part. Roll this log back and forth in a rolling-pin motion until the two clay colors are melded together. Wash your hands before handling the white clay.
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Cut or pull off an even larger piece of white clay, and knead it until it is soft.
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Roll the clay into a ball, and use a rolling pin to flatten it, just as you did with the blue clay.
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Roll the sheet of white clay around the log you made with the black and blue clay, the same as you did before. Roll the log back and forth to meld all the colors together. This log will form the entire evil eye: the white, iris and pupil. Wash your hands before handling the black clay.
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Cut or pull off an even larger piece of the black clay, and knead it until it is soft.
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Roll the clay into a ball, and use a rolling pin to flatten it. Make this sheet about twice as thick as the white sheet.
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Roll the sheet of black clay around the log, the same as you did before. Roll the log back and forth to meld all the colors together.
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Wrap the log in plastic wrap and allow it to cool in the refrigerator until it is firm (about 15 minutes).
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Take your cane out of the refrigerator and place a ruler next to it so you can cut beads of uniform thickness.
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Place a thin cane cutter (available at craft stores) or razorblade on top of the cane and press down smoothly to cut through the clay. If your clay is still soft, place it in the refrigerator for another 15 minutes. If it is firm, continue using your cutter to slice beads of uniform thickness. You will notice that the beads cut from the middle of the cane will have the best eye shape.
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Pinch the top of each bead into a point, if you want them to have a teardrop shape. Otherwise, leave them as-is for circular beads.
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Make a hole in the top of each bead by drilling a needle or toothpick through it. Later you will thread string through this hole to make jewelry, so make sure the hole is big enough
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Preheat your oven to 265 degrees.
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Arrange your evil eyes on a baking tray and bake for 20 minutes for ¼" beads.
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Allow your evil eyes to cool. If they are still rubbery afterwards, put them in the oven for a bit longer.
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Thread one or more evil eyes onto your string to make a necklace. Besides wearing it as jewelry, many hang the evil eye in their house or car.
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Tips & Warnings
Don't use the same baking trays for clay and food.
References
- Photo Credit Ornament Against evil eye image by TekinT from Fotolia.com
