With spring holidays on the horizon, it’s the perfect time to create fun gifts or home décor. Use polymer clay to make a colorful marbled bowl.
What you need:
• Polymer clay (3 to 5 colors)
• Small bowl
• Rolling pin
• Straight edge or knife
• Plastic wrap
• Cookie sheet
What you do:
1. Soften a lump of the lightest color clay in your hands. For a small bowl, about one bar per color is enough.
2. Roll the lump of clay to create a ball.
3. Place the ball on a flat surface. Using your palm, roll the clay ball back and forth so it stretches out to create a snake-like form. If clay gets too thin or layers separate, fold the snake in half twice and start again from step two.
4. Once your clay snake is about eight inches long (but not too thin), set it aside and repeat the above steps for each color, working from lightest to darkest.
5. When all colors have been rolled out, gather clay snakes together to form a log.
6. Holding the log near both ends, twist your clay about five times to blend.
7. Fold the twisted log in half and roll into one big snake.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 two or three times, or until the colors create a marbled effect.
9. Fold the completed snake in half twice, and roll between your palms to create a large ball.
10. Using your hands, flatten the ball into a disc shape.
11. Put the disc between two layers of plastic wrap and roll clay until the entire slab is about 1/8-inch deep.
12. After removing the top layer of plastic wrap, transfer your slab (with bottom plastic wrap still in-place), to a small bowl, centering it to keep the sides as even as possible.
13. Gently push the slab into the bowl shape without pushing into the clay itself.
14. Use straight edge to cut off uneven edges, if needed.
15. Let clay dry in its bowl form. When dry, remove clay bowl from its form and remove any remaining plastic wrap.
16. On a covered cookie sheet, follow instructions on the polymer clay package to bake your clay bowl.
Photos: Scott schwartzkopf
