How To Make Cute Polymer Clay Charms For Beginners

Making DIY clay charms is easier than you think. There are so many adorable themes and ideas you can explore. These clay creations are perfect for keychains, jewelry, and more! The best part is some charms can be sculpted in less than 5 minutes!

food clay charms on table. — A 6-year-old artist made these clay charms.

Oven bake clay is so easy to work with that even young artists can make cute DIY charms. If making these with children, please allow an adult to do the baking while taking proper precautions.

Why Kids Love Using Polymer Clay

KID FRIENDLY – Any aged artist can sculpt with oven-baked clay.
EASILY CHANGE SUBJECT MATTER – The sky is the limit when designing charms.
CAN BE DONE AT HOME – This easy sculpture idea for kids uses polymer clay that can be baked at home. We prefer using a specific toaster oven to bake polymer clay.

Supplies you’ll need

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Polymer Clay (we are using Sculpey Premo)
Optional: Gloss
Tools (such as a toothpick, glass cup, etc.)
Small Eye Hooks
Toaster Oven

PREMADE KITS – We love this DIY charm kit for kids that would have everything you need.

Tips For Sculpting With Clay

Sketch out your idea first, or find a picture to work from.
Keep clay charm designs simple at first.
Use clean hands to warm clay.
Work on clean surfaces like plexiglass, glazed tile, or baking sheets.
Rubbing alcohol on a rag can help keep your surface clean.
Your hands will help make the clay more pliable.
Beginners can use simple tools like toothpicks and a glass cup to roll for sculpting. You can also purchase a tool kit if needed.

DIY Charm Tutorial

Step 1: Sculpt Your Charm

We will make a simple pizza charm for this example by layering different colors together. You can see how we added layers and other textures with the toothpick.

Kids are always creative in making food sculptures, like our fun Model Magic food art lesson.

Step 2: Add Your Eye Hook

Before baking, stick an oven-safe eye hook into the clay sculpture.

pizza clay charm with container of gold eye hooks.

Step 3: Bake The Clay Charm

This is best done in a toaster oven at 275 degrees F for 30 minutes. For Premo clay, you bake at that temperature for every 1/4″. Our pizza sculpture is almost 1/4″ thick, so we baked it in our toast oven for 30 minutes.

Read the baking instructions on the clay you chose to work with.

PRO TIP – Use an oven thermometer to monitor your temperature. You want your temperature to be as even as possible to avoid cracking your pieces.

Optional: Add Clear Coat

To change the appearance of your surface, you can purchase a specific, clear gloss from Sculpey, use Varathane, or use different versions of Mod Podge.

Clay Charm FAQs

If you want to change the surfaces appearance then adding a clear coat would work. However, it is not necessary to seal your clay charms.

It is best to store your oven bake clay in air tight containers or bags to avoid lint and other dust from getting stuck in your clay.

We like baking our polymer clay in a toaster oven we specifically use for crafting. We recommend doing your own research about baking polymer clay in your regular oven. One thing to note is that you should never try to bake your clay in the microwave.