MAKE YOUR CREATION INTO A CHARM
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One of the many reason people like using polymer clay is to make it into a charm. Which is as easy as putting a loop in it to accessorise it!
Now I don't do this very often, but I do have tons of these screw bails on hand just in case I need to make them into a charm for a keychain!
You have a few other alternatives to do this, but I find this the easiest and convenient way to do it (cause I'm a lazy crafter HAHA). PLUS, these screw bails' (or screw eye pins) ends are usually "melted" close since you don't have to open it like the usual keychain loops and connect them together. Which means your charm will NEVER fall out through an unwanted gap!
For raw clay, you can screw this screw bail through the clay. Be sure to BAKE the clay with the screw bail in so the screw bail will be fitted perfectly after you remove the baked creation from the oven and cool it down! 😊
For baked clay, use your mini drill bit to drill a hole, ensuring that the hole is a little bit longer than your screw bail. I'm using a 1.2mm drill bit here - it's the perfect size for my drill bit! 😀
I prefer to do it this way because I will not distort the clay in any way AT ALL. But if you don't have the mini drill bit, putting it through raw clay will be your best bet! (DO NOT use a needle tool to poke through a baked clay, it WILL break and/or cause a crack)
Whether you're putting the screw bail in raw clay and baking it after, or using a drill bit to make a hole, use super glue to screw the screw bail in for good!
(The super glue I use is a no-run-gel type. I ran out of the liquid type, which might be better for this case (I had to clean off the excess glue, and that might leave white stains!))
This makes sure that the the screw bail will NEVER fall out, which is what you want for your charms!
If you don't have screw bails but you do have headpins, you can use your round nose pliers to make a circle this way! Be sure to grip the edge as much as you can so you can make it as round as you can.
Then you use flat nose pliers to adjust it to make it straight!
One trick that I remembered after I filmed this that I learnt from @aiclay is to make a L shape with the flat nose pliers first, THEN use a round nose plier to bend the L into a circle. That helps to make the circle to be in the middle without much adjustment!
As with most things, there will be a bit of learning curve with such things, so practice a bit, and see what method works for you! 😊
Another method that I've seen around is to make a double loop with a headpin, so it's much harder for the keychain to fall out of the loop (seriously it's the worse thing ever hahaha).
Of course you'd need a longer headpin for that, so be sure to account for that when you buy your headpin! 🙂
As usual, if you want to put your headpin loop on raw clay, make sure you use a needle tool so you won't distort the clay as much when you put the headpin loop through....
...a drill bit for baked clay, and use super glue to glue the headpin down!
Showing you that yes, super glue works with baked clay and metal well! 😀
Hope these little tips helps, and show you that it really isn't very difficult to make your creation into your very own charms! 💖
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