Make Christmas Decorations: Tutorial for Upcycled Marbled Polymer Clay Christmas Ornaments

Hello Creatives :)

Christmas is coming! If you're feeling like a Christmas craft, you can make these Christmas decorations. This tutorial combines polymer clay, old candle lightbulbs (which no self respecting hoarder, ahem, crafter can throw away), and washi tape. And for those of you who prefer the video format for craft tutorials, you can check out my second-in-my-whole-life-youtube-video! (Making videos is super new to me so I totally welcome feedback :))

Upcycled Polymer Clay Christmas Decorations

You will need:

-Polymer clay in various colours (Sculpey III brand is my pick)
-Old lightbulbs
-Glass or tile work surface
-polymer clay rolling pin (I use an even sided glass)
-Scalpel
-2 Pliers
-Wire
-Washi tape
-Silver leaf (optional)

Make:
Roll a selection of colours into snakes or worms or whatever your chosen word is for rolls of polymer clay :)

Twist them together into a happening party;

And get that party pumping by clumping them into a ball! (Permission to roll eyes now omg, I'm sorry- I will stop!)

Then roll your clay into a log once more, then twist and roll into a ball. Do this a few times (I like to do this around 3 times) and your clay will start to marble. Experiment to see what you like. The more you mix, the more marbled your clay will be. Over mix and your colours will all blend and mix together and you will lose the marbled effect. You will see the marbled effect the clay has once you start rolling it out.

Take your rolling tool, like my high-tech even-sided glass shown here, and start to roll out your clay. This is where you get to see the magic of your marbled polymer clay! Roll it out quite thin, about 1-2mm. It's opaque so you don't need to worry about seeing through the clay, you just want to make sure it's not so thin that holes start to tear into it.

Take one of the lightbulbs and wrap the clay around it, manipulating it and smoothing and pressing as you go. Trim the excess clay and use your fingers smooth and disguise joins. 

If you'd like to use the silver effect, press your clay onto a sheet of the silver leaf, gently sticking the leaf to the clay. Do this once you've first flattened the clay a little, then continue rolling the clay and the silver leaf will start to crack and give that distinct look you see below. Keep rolling until it's thin again.

Wrap around another lightbulb then trim and smooth as above.

Once all smooth and done, bake the lightbulbs in the oven according to the instructions on the pack.

Now to make the hanger. Take a length of wire and make two small loops in the ends using two pairs of pliers helps here. Thread another length of wire through these loops and use that piece to wrap around the base of the lightbulb end.

You then take some pretty washi tape and wrap it around the unsightly lightbulb end to make it pretty! It also doubles up it's purpose by holding the wire in place.

I'm pretty pleased with the outcome of this Christmas craft! You can make them in your own individual colours, and they would make great handmade gifts for the festive season too.

So, if you find yourself with some spare time that you just don't know what to do with, and you have a collection of old lightbulbs like I do, then give making these Christmas decorations a go!

I hope you enjoyed my my DIY Christmas decorations tutorial!

Jules :)