DIY Polymer Clay Gumball Garland

Thursday, November 20, 2014


I am going to start this post by saying making felt balls sucksssss.  Earlier this week I had this not so awesome idea to try and make a giant felt ball garland.  So I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up like $20 worth of felt.  I got home, got all my supplies ready and after a billion attempts I was left with little soggy, soapy shapes that did not even slightly resemble balls.  Plus one ball takes like 10 minutes to make...so ya that idea was axed. And to be honest I like the polymer clay version so much better!  You have so many more options with colors since you can blend them together and it takes like 1/100th of the time it would to make a felt ball garland.

I was going to wait until after Thanksgiving to post this but I just couldn't wait that long.  Plus I figured this is a great craft to do with the kids or just by yourself if you have any time off next week.

What you will need:
  • An assortment of polymer clay (found at any craft store) 
  • Waxed cotton cord
  • A bead making tool or a toothpick 
Directions:
  1. Start by conditioning your clay to soften it up. 
  2. Decide how big you want to make your gum balls and rip off a small chunk and roll it into a ball in between your hands.  Continue to do this with all the colors that you decided to use. 
  3. Once all your gum balls are made (I made 60 to reach from one end of my mantel to the other), use the bead making tool to poke a hole into the center of each ball. 
  4. Place all of the balls into a designated craft baking sheet and bake at 275 degrees for 30 minutes. 
  5. Let the gum balls cool and then string them onto the waxed cotton cord in whatever color pattern you like. 
  6. Hang your garland on your tree or on your mantel.
  7. Have fun! 
















































































Have fun! The color and pattern options are endless!

See Also:




6 comments:

Michelle said...

Such a cute idea! Love the colors too!

Cara said...

LOVE this!

Unknown said...

My daughter is loving polymer clay right now so we are going to have to make something like this. Love it!

Studio Pillows said...

Such a cute idea! Will have to try this...

Brianna said...

Ahhh I made a felt ball garland recently and they were a pain in the ASS to make! Next time I'm just gonna buy them off etsy haha until then I'm SO doing your clay version!

Unknown said...

This is so cute! I love this idea. I would be honored if you would link it up at our Found & Foraged Linky party tonight starting at 8PM CST over at www.thebigrevealblog.com if you were interested. Hope to see you there!

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