If you love working with clay, why not make an autumn leaves polymer clay slab to use for your next jewelry project? This step-by-step tutorial will show you how!
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I’ve fallen in love with polymer clay over the last year or so. It’s become one of my favorite creative hobbies.
Because I don’t create for the purpose of selling—I don’t have a polymer clay creations Etsy shop, for example—I have the freedom to make without pressure. Some people thrive under pressure, but for me, it is often a killer of creativity. At least when it comes to experimentation.
One of the things I’ve been experimenting with lately is making clay slabs that I can use for jewelry like earrings, pendants, and charms. There are so many different ways to make clay slabs and millions of variations. No two slabs are the same, even if you use the same colors and shapes every time.
I felt inspired recently to create an autumn-themed clay slab. I wanted something simple, but impactful. And so I created this autumn leaves polymer clay slab with a few colors and one little clay cutter I’d picked up as part of a larger pack at Michaels.
This is a super simple slab that anyone can make. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never worked with polymer clay before, or if you’re an old pro.
Use this tutorial as a jumping-off point. You don’t have to make it look just like mine! Add other shapes, change up the colors, or add more fine detail.
So, let’s get making.
To make an autumn leaves polymer clay slab you’ll need:
- Polymer Clay: I used red, green, orange, yellow, gold, brown, and black, but you can use whatever colors most appeal to you. I prefer Sculpey Premo clay when I’m making things. If you’re not sure what colors to get or want some options, I recommend this multipack.
- Leaf Clay Cutter: These leaves are small and I recommend using a cutter instead of trying to make each one individually. I used the leaf cutter from this clay cutter pack I picked up at Michaels. You can check it out here.
- Pendant Clay Cutter: I’m using this slab to make earrings and a pendant. I want these to be circles. You can make them whatever shape you want. You can use cutters, or cut shapes out freehand. If you want to get the same circle cutters that I used, you can find them at Michaels here.
- Polymer Clay Tools: You’ll want depth guides and an acrylic clay roller, or a clay rolling machine. Or both!
- Optional: Polymer clay glaze (like this Sculpey glaze) or UV resin (like this UV resin kit).
- Jewelry Findings: Depending on what you’re going to make with your clay slab – like a pendant, earrings, keychains, etc. – you’ll want jewelry findings to match. The Dollar Tree has some findings packs if you want to keep costs low. You can also get bulk packages of various findings on Amazon, here.
- Other helpful tools: A ceramic tile to work on and/or bake your clay pieces on. Plastic wrap to lay over your clay before cutting the little pieces so they don’t get stuck in the cutter. Parchment paper to work on.
Directions
Step 1
Gather your materials and choose your colors. For this slab, I’m doing a dark brown background with red, green, orange, and yellow leaves. I wanted the yellow, green, orange, and yellow clay to look like they belonged together, so I added a little bit of gold clay to all four colors. (Not shown in the yellow, which I had already started to fold in when I realized I needed a picture!)
When working with polymer clay, you want to make sure you’re properly conditioning it. That essentially means working with it until it is soft and pliable. There is no set amount of time this takes. Older clay might be a bit harder and dryer, and thus take longer to condition. Newer clay right out of the package might be soft and easy to work with right away.
But that’s not necessarily the case. I’ve had clay right out of the package that was dry and crumbly.
You’ll know it’s ready when you can easily fold it without it cracking.
Tips for Dry, Crumbly Clay
If you find your clay is impossible to work with, there are two solutions I’ve found that work well. One, you can mix in some clay that is soft and pliable and work the two together. The oils from the softer clay will help soften the dry clay. Or two, add a tiny bit of clay softener and work it in. Start with just a drop or two and only add more if necessary. A tiny bit goes a long way! This is the Sculpey clay softener I use.
Step 2
I chose a dark brown for the backing of this slab. I also considered black, white, and translucent clay but settled on this rich, pretty brown. You can do whatever works best with the colors that you’ve chosen.
Next, I rolled out my slab background (the brown clay) to a thickness of 2mm, using depth guides, and my leaf colors to the thinnest setting on my clay rolling machine. I used both depth guides and a rolling machine for this project because my clay rolling machine doesn’t have a thick enough setting for the backing.
If you don’t have a rolling machine, you can absolutely just use depth guides. And if you only have a rolling machine, you can roll out two sheets of the backing at 1mm each, and then layer them together. If you’re doing this, I’d recommend using an acrylic roller over them to help them adhere to each other.
Roll out your clay in whatever method works best for you, with the tools that you have access to.
You want the leaf colors to be much thinner than the backing color. I used the thinnest setting on my clay roller for these.
Step 3
Now it’s time to cut out your leaves!
To make the process easier, I put plastic wrap down over the clay before I punched the leaf shapes. This helps keep the leaves from getting stuck inside the cutter. When they get stuck in the cutter, they end up misshapen when I poke them out. In the long run, this saves time for me.
However, if you don’t have plastic wrap or don’t want to use it, you can dip the cutter in cornstarch before using it on the clay. I like that method much less, but there are lots of clay artists who swear by it. If you’re not sure, try both methods and see which one you prefer!
Step 4
Now carefully place your little leaves in a random pattern. Make more leaves if you need to.
I added a little line on each of the leaves with a needle. If I had more patience, I would have added other little lines to the sides, like the veins of a leaf.
If I try this particular slab again, I would make the middle line thinner and not as deep.
Step 5
Now use whatever other cutters you want to cut out your shapes. I’m making some earrings and a pendant here. Unlike when I was cutting out the leaves, I didn’t use plastic wrap to cut these out. They were thick enough that they didn’t get stuck in the round cutter.
Save what’s left of your slab for another project. You can use it again, or mix the clay to get a new color. I keep a little plastic box full of my clay scraps and occasionally mix or marble them to make new patterns and shades.
Step 6
Bake your clay according to the instructions on the package. The bake temperature and time will vary depending on the clay you used and the thickness you rolled it to.
At this point, you can glaze them or apply UV resin if you wish. I opted not to; I like the raw clay look with these. I often use Sculpey gloss glaze on my projects though; it’s great for a variety of makes and dries pretty quickly. I generally only use UV resin when I’m making projects with a flat surface.
Now you just need to add your jewelry hardware, and you’re done!
Will you make this autumn leaves polymer clay slab?
I like projects that can serve as a starting point for one to explore their own ideas. This slab project is a great example of that. Sure, you can do exactly what I did. But why would you want to?
Choose your own colors, use a different clay cutter, and try different techniques. Why not marble some autumn colors together and roll that out to make leaves with? Try mixing in some translucent clay for a really pretty stained-glass effect. Add some other shapes in amongst your leaves.
I’d love to see how you adapt this tutorial to create something of your own. Show off your creations on Instagram with hashtags #theserialcreative #clayslab
For more fun projects, check out my free resources archive full of patterns and tutorials!
