
The following are the instructions for the emoticon charms. The Minecraft charms are also pictured in some of the images below but the instructions for making those are in another post.
Materials:

Tools:
- Wax Paper (to work with the clay)
- Newspapers (to protect your painting surface)
- Paint brushes (both large and small)
- Pliers
- Wire cutters (for any eye pins that may be too long)
- Rolling Pin
- Ruler
- Knife/Metal Spatula (or other straight edge tool to cut the clay into squares)
- Baking Dish (We used an 8x8 Pyrex Dish)
- Cooling Rack
To make the Emoticon charms easier for "mass production" and a bit more "alike", we decided to make "stamps" from the clay.
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Homemade stamps for clay made from baked clay |
To make the stamps, simply form "blocks" from the clay. Then make all the symbols you need. Bake the pieces as directed then clue the symbols in place on each block. The baked clay stamps are perfect for making impressions in the soft clay.
We made a "regular eyes" stamp - :
a "winky eyes" stamp - ;
and a "squinty eyes" stamp - X
Then we made a "smiley" mouth - )
a "straight line" mouth - |
which can also be used at an angle - /
a "big D smiley" mouth - D
a suprised "O" mouth - O
and a "tongue sticking out" mouth - P
Finally, we made an angle bracket stamp - <
and a "3" stamp - 3
to be used to make a "heart". < 3
Making the pieces separate allows them to be used interchangeably.
We used a large amount of clay to make the "stamps" for the Emoticon charms. If you aren't making the stamps, a pound of clay will yield a whole lotta charms. Seriously. Even after making the stamps, we were able to make almost 90 charms from our pound of clay.
It takes a little practice with the stamps to get a feel for how much pressure to use to make your imprints. Roll out a piece of clay and make a few practice runs before using the stamps on your charms.
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Practicing with the stamps before making the charms |
Once the stamps are completed, soften the rest of your clay by kneading it in your hands.
Roll a section of clay out thin (about 1/8" thickness) on a sheet of wax paper (the wax paper is simply to protect your surface). Cut the clay into 1-inch squares using a ruler and a knife or metal spatula.

Push an eye pin into the top center edge of each square until the "eye" is flush with the clay (see image below).
Press the stamps into each charm to create your desired Emoticon "face".

Place the charms in your baking dish and bake as directed (we baked for 20 minutes at 275 degrees).
Once baked, allow the charms to cool completely. I usually move clay to a cooling rack once they have cooled enough to handle.
Carefully place a small dab of super glue on each charm where the eye pin meets the clay. This is to endure the eye pin is secured to the clay.
When the glue has dried, it is time to start painting. The Boy chose to use bright solid colors for his emoticon charms...red, orange, yellow, purple, teal, and lime green.
Using black paint and small brushes, we "filled in" the imprinted emoticon faces. After the black paint dried, all the charms were given several coats front and back of high-gloss clear coat spray and allowed to dry for a couple days. This gave the charms a thick glossy finish.
Attach jump rings to each of the eye pins to complete the charms.

The main colors were allowed to dry completely before the faces were painted.
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To spray paint the clear coat, we placed the charms in newspaper lined boxes boxes across wooden skewers. |
Attach jump rings to each of the eye pins to complete the charms.

1 comment:
That is such a nice idea. The charms turned out so cute! Good job. :)
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