How to make a Jewelry Charm - Pumpkin Spice Roll Charm @Sweet.Carolines.Clay

How to make a Jewelry Charm – Pumpkin Spice Roll Charm

Pumpkins, Pumpkins everywhere! Pumpkin love is still going strong and we want to keep it going. With Thanksgiving coming up, we’re about to close out the season with delicious pumpkin pies and piles of desserts. So put on your stretchy pants but dress them up with a cute Pumpkin Spice Cake Roll charm! Here at Excel Blades, we can’t resist adding a charm to our bracelets and adding something for the season will dress up any holiday outfit. Even if we decide sweatpants are the appropriate kind of stretch pants for this Thanksgiving. Hey, it’s family, we don’t need to impress them! Adding a pumpkin charm to your jewelry will add that pumpkin spice to your outfit that everyone loves. Even if you don’t turn it into a charm, you’ll have an adorable miniature pumpkin spice cake to decorate your shelves, tables, or counters and it will give your guests something to talk about.

Using Excel Blades’ 12x18 self-healing cutting mat, K18 Cushion Grip Knife, K26 FitGrip Knife, Retractable Scribe with a .030in point, and 4.75in straight pointed tweezers, @Sweet.Carolines.Clay was able to make a beautiful pumpkin spice cake roll charm using polymer clay.

Caroline is the creator of Sweet Caroline’s Clay and has been into arts and craft projects her whole life. She started making charms from modeling clay about six years ago and hasn’t stopped working with it since! Out of all the things she creates, she loves making miniatures and trinkets the most! She also loves to share her work with others in hopes that they can be inspired and get creative too!

To make this pumpkin spice cake roll, you need the following materials:

Let's get started! 

1. Before beginning, set out all your materials and clay sculpting tools. On the self-healing cutting mat, Caroline chose our blue colored cutting mat, cut a little piece of orange polymer clay using a saw blade. Your piece should be about 1cm x 7mm x 1cm. You can use the guides on the cutting mat because they’re 1cm x 1cm.

2. Using your fingers, roll the piece into a cylinder shape with one end smaller than the other, almost like the carrot nose on a snowman.

3. Using a roller, roll the orange piece flat. Don’t have a roller, no problem!  Just use Excel Blades K18 Cushion Grip Knife to roll out the clay.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 with a smaller amount of white clay. The white piece of clay is about 2/3 the size of the orange clay. Using the K18 Cushion Grip Knife, trim the orange so that there is still an orange edge, but it’s not as wide of a margin. You still want orange to be the dominant color, but this will make it easier for your trims and cuts in the later steps. With such a micro craft, the K18 Cushion Grip Knife is the best hobby knife for this kind of precision cutting.

5. Once the edges are closer together, use your fingers to roll the two pieces together into the swirl that will become the pumpkin base of the clay charm.

6. Once you have your swirl established, smooth out the edge of the roll to make a smooth circular shape. Next, use the grip knife to trim both faces in order to make them flat. This cutting tool is a soft grip exacto knife that works well for beginners and advanced hobbyists so don’t worry about your skill level, you’ll be able to comfortably use this knife in order to make the necessary trims. Once both faces are trimmed, use your fingers to round out the circle again because the pressure from trimming the faces may have moved the circle out of shape.

7. Using the small but sharp point on the scribing tool, score the face of the orange part of the swirl on both sides to give it a cake-like texture.

8. Using the #24 closed star icing tip, press white polymer clay into the tip to get a star-shaped line of clay about two inches long.

9. Swirl the clay into an icing swirl shape and use the FitGrip ergonomic hobby knife to trim the excess.

10. After placing the icing on top of the pumpkin body, use the cushion grip knife to trim off 2mm sections of pre-rolled and baked red, orange, and yellow polymer clay to make sprinkles. Even though the polymer clay is already baked and hardened, this sharp hobby knife will have no problem cutting through the hard surface. Once you have a decent amount, set them aside.

11. Next, melt the brown plasticine modeling clay and drizzle it over the top of the white icing swirl with a toothpick until you’re satisfied with your “chocolate drizzle.”

12. Taking the decorative sprinkles you chose, use these straight pointed tweezers to place them on the still-melted plasticine modeling clay. It will act as a glue once dried. These are the best tweezers to help with your precision placement, especially on a project as small as this and with items this tiny.

13. Taking the sprinkles you cut from the polymer clay, shower them over your pumpkin spice swirl or place them with the tweezers. The melted plasticine modeling clay will continue to act as the glue.

14. Attach the charm and bake until hard to get your finalized Pumpkin Spice Cake Swirl Charm!

Don’t worry if your Pumpkin Spice Cake Swirl Charms don’t come out the same, having a unique piece is awesome and will make your work special. When trying out a micro project like this, the crafting supplies you use will help with the outcome of your DIY projects. That’s why Excel Blades tools are great for any hobby or craft projects; with these precision tools, you can master any project you decide to take on.

Keep creating and crafting and take on the next project! Now spice up your holiday outfit or just your day-to-day wear with your new charm because who doesn’t want a little pumpkin spice cake swirl to keep the pumpkin love going this season?