DIY: Candy Corn Earrings Tutorial

These little candy corn earrings almost look good enough to eat, don’t they? While they aren’t edible, they are yummy eye candy, and quick and easy to make, too!

Here’s what you’ll need.

Supplies:

1. Oven-bake in yellow, white and orange (I typically buy the small blocks from my local craft store chain with a coupon)

2. Two 4 mm earring bases with backs (Again, you can buy these readily at most craft stores or at artbeads.com.)

3. Cyanoacrylate glue ( is a common brand)

4. Two inexpensive disposable aluminum baking pans

5. Empty soup can

Method:

First you have to condition your clay. Pull or slice off a bit of each color of clay. Smush, roll, and otherwise knead the clay until it gets warm and soft. You know it’s conditioned and ready to go when you roll the clay into a ball, and then smash it down, and the edges remain smooth. If you see any little tears or cracks around the edges, you need to condition more.

Go ahead and preheat your oven to 275 degrees F or 135 degrees C.

Now, you’ll roll two balls each of white, orange and yellow. You are going to need a surprisingly tiny amount of clay. Check out the photo below with a penny next to the balls for reference. (It’s so easy to make these earrings, you can see I’m making two pairs here; hence the two pairs of clay balls.)

Next, you’ll want to layer all three colors together, in a snowman shape. Press between your thumb and forefinger; rotate 90 degrees and flatten again; repeat until the colors are fused. You’ll find your shape is a little elongated, and you’ll need to shape it up a bit with your fingers. No worries if it’s not perfectly smooth or symmetrical; real candy corn isn’t perfectly shaped either!

Next, place the candy corn piece on a flat, clean surface. Take the pad of the earring base and press firmly into the candy corn, making an indentation that you’ll later glue the earring base onto. Now, take a safety pin or similar tool and scratch up the surface of the clay inside the indentation made by the earring pad. This rough surface will help the pad adhere later on.

Repeat the entire process to make your second candy corn earring.

Place your candy corn earrings face down in the aluminum pan and place the second pan on top, creating a makeshift sealed oven. (This keeps any fumes released from the polymer clay as it bakes contained, especially important if you’re baking in the oven which you use to prepare food. ) Bake at 275 degrees F or 135 degrees C for 15 minutes.

While the clay bakes, prepare an ice bath for quenching your clay. (Quenching helps strengthen your baked clay pieces.) Fill your soup can with ice cubes and cold water. When you remove your earrings from the oven, drop the baked pieces straight into your ice water and let them soak for a few minutes. Remove and dry them.

If you have some fine-grit sandpaper, you can use that to rough up the earring base a bit, to help it adhere. Then, use a swab dipped in rubbing alcohol to clean the earring base and the indentation in the baked candy corn. Let dry. Put a drop of the cyanoacrylate glue on the candy corn indentation and press the base into the indentation. Repeat with second earring. Let your finished earrings dry for at least 6 hours, or overnight.

Now you’re ready to wear your own tasty creations in plenty of time for Trick or Treat!

 

Guest post by Elizabeth Anne May, who blogs at Seasons with Soul, which is re-launching this week. Head over for special prices and giveaways every day this week.