Faux turquoise polymer clay

Polymer clay faux turquoise

Turquoise has a long history of being associated with Holy and sacred things. The early Persians believed that turquoise represents the heavens because of it's beautiful blue colour which is believed to be a symbol for happiness and a conquerer against negative energy.The gem was used to cover domes of palaces and places of worship as it is believed to be a Holy stone. The brightness of the colour is a symbol for happiness and increases a person's self confidence. With the rich mythology of the stone, it is no wonder why it has grown in popularity over the generations and has become a statement piece in many a jewellery box.

However, for those of you who don't want to buy the genuine article but still want the effect with the option for customisation to add to your wardrobe, I have provided the technique to create your own faux turquoise polymer clay jewellery.

What you will need:

1. Polymer clay- For those of you who have never used the clay, it is a variety of oven bake clays that come in a range of colours and brands that harden to a plastic like finish and are available at your local craft store.

The colours I used were turquoise, translucent blue, white (substitute this for transparent, if you have it) and navy blue in the Premo brand

2. An X-acto Knife

3. Acrylic paint- in Natural/brown colours that you want the grain in the stone to be

4. Sanding paper- preferably wet/dry 

5. A tool to make holes in the bead such as a screwdriver or a drill

6. Jewellery findings or just some string for a simpler design

Method

1. First of all, you will need to put the clay in the freezer for 10 mins to harden it so that when you chop it up, it won't lose too much shape and definition.

2. Take the clay out of the freezer and cut off irregular and uneven pieces of clay from the block which will form the base of the turquoise stone. Do this with all of your chosen colours apart from the white, keeping in mind how much of each colour you want to show through in the finish product. I didn't want too much dark blue in the mix as I only wanted it as an impurity in the stone.

3. After dicing as much as needed of each colour, cut chunks of and 

roll them into log shapes.

4. Begin the marbling technique by rolling them and twisting them in your hands over and over again. When the logs get too long, loop them over and twist them again. Repeat this step until you are satisfied with the amount of marbling in your clay

5. Roll your newly marbled clay into a ball and begin randomly slicing pieces off like in step 2. As the clay is softer by now, you may want to re-insert it into the freezer to harden it again and reduce distortion.

Note: At this stage, I realised that the finished product would have looked much more realistic if I had replaced the white clay with translucent, which would give the rippling effect a glass like depth found in turquoise, however, white worked fairly successfully as a substitute.

6. Mix all of your clay chunks together, being careful not to handle the clay too much as the heat from your hands will distort the structure.

7. Now, at this stage you could clump them together, bake your piece and call it finished if you wanted to. However, to add an extra element of realism you will want to include the gains found in natural turquoise. To do this take your acrylic paint and squirt some on your mixed up clay chunks and stir the paint making sure that your clay is all evenly coated. If you want a more natural look, you could include some sand in your paint or only add the paint to half of your clay, which will make it look irregular as if it had just been mined.

8. Now, here comes the messy part. Get your hands in there and grab small handfuls of clay, the size your want your finished piece to be. Compact the clay together, so there are no large holes or cracks in the centre and begin to form the sticky mess in your hands to the shape you want your turquoise to be. I chose to create a few horn type shapes along with a couple of tube beads. You may need to remove some of the excess paint at this stage of the process to make the clay stick better to each other.

9. This may seem counter- intuitive, but the next step is to bake your clay in the oven, still coated in the acrylic paint to the manufacturer's instructions printed on the packaging. I promise you, it will be fine, as long you don't bake on any oven utensils that you plan on reusing for food and make sure to open a window to diffuse some of the fumes from the oven, especially after baking.

10. Take the pieces out of the oven and allow to cool before doing anything with them as they are still flexible and brittle at this point and become more durable when cool.

11. Take a piece of medium grit sandpaper to the surface of the clay and watch the magic be revealed as the paint is removed, revealing the turquoise-like surface underneath.

If you have sandpaper in different grits, then begin with a low grit sandpaper and move higher and higher until the clay has a smooth surface. To add extra sheen, use an old t-shirt or other cotton fabric and buff the piece until shiny.

You can add some gloss are varnish to your pieces for even more polished shine if you desire. And there are your finished beads. If you didn't poke a hole in them before baking then you can do that now with a screwdriver or drill to add some jewellery findings or just thread a piece of string through for a simple boho necklace.

And there you have it! a faux turquoise polymer clay bead/pendant which can be slammed up or down depending on the occasion and can be customised by changing your colour recipes!

Hope you enjoyed and Thanks for reading!
Harry x