Kawaii Pizza Charm

This polymer clay pizza charm is a fun and colorful accessory for any occasion! It is easy to make, doesn't take much time and requires minimal materials. If you're a crafty person like me, charms are the ideal way to showcase your art and accent your wardrobe. The sculpting of the clay is a video tutorial so you can see how to shape the clay. I suggest both watching and reading the steps, as I put some of the important information about baking in them.

Seeing how something is sculpted and what techniques are used has always been helpful to me. If you have the skill to sculpt something just by looking at a picture, go ahead and just read through the instructions. If you are new to polymer clay, go ahead and watch the video and read the steps. Refer to step 8 for information on baking.

Most of the materials can be found at your local craft store. I suggest Sculpey brand polymer clay. For this project you will need:

Pliers,

An X-acto knife or some sort of sharp cutting tool,

A sewing pin,

An eye pin,

Colored Polymer Clay:

Tan

Yellow

Red

Black

Start by rolling your tan clay into a ball, then flatten it into a quarter inch disk. Use your X-acto knife to cut two sides into a triangular shape, leaving the third puffy and rounded. Save excess clay. Then round the shape off by applying slight pressure to the edges and corners. Now roll the excess clay into a snake (long cylinder) and flatten. Take the flattened snake and place over the rounded edge of pizza crust, cutting to size and pressing lightly. To help bond the clay, use the rounded ball on the end of your sewing pin and rub against the inside edge of crust. Do the same with the outside edge, using X-acto knife where needed to erase traces of a seam.

The cheese is the easiest part. All you need to do is: flatten a triangular piece of clay, put it on the crust and trim to size. Continue to round the edges so it looks puffy and cute.

To make the pepperoni, cut 3 pieces from the red clay and roll them into balls. Gently flatten them, putting more pressure on the edges of the circle to create a puffy look. Put on the two pepperoni, one higher and the other slightly lower. For the third pepperoni, use the X-acto life to cut it a little more than half. Use the smaller piece and press it on the corner of the slice.

(Optional) Texturing:

You can texture your pepperonis with the back of your sewing pin, tapping gently on the pepperoni.

To complete this adorable charm, you will need to add an adorable face. Take two tiny balls of black clay and press them on the bottom of the slice. Remember, a little clay goes a long way when you are flattening clay, it may take a while to get the eyes perfect. Roll a small piece of clay into a snake and press it on right under the eyes, use your ball pin to give it a crescent shape. Trim the edges of the smile as needed.

In the video you will see me trim the eye pin slightly shorter than the charm and then bending it. That is because a longer and slightly bent eye pin will stay in far better than a short straight one. If your eye pin is loose after baking, use super glue on the stem. After bending the eye pin, push it into the clay at an angle, adjusting so it is in the middle of the crust. If you want your pizza to hang at an angle, try inserting it off center.

Important: If you want your charm to hang on a charm bracelet necklace or earrings, make sure the circular portion of the eye pin is facing the same way as the front of the charm. This is because jump rings are usually needed to attach the charm to the necklace. If you want to hang the charm on string or with twine, rotate the top of the pin is facing away from the front and back of the charm

The general rule for Sculpey clay is to bake it at 275 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes per quarter inch thickness. If you are using a different brand of clay, follow the instructions on the package. I suggest baking your charm for 15 minutes. I bake all of my clay in a toaster oven to save electricity and prevent the kitchen from overheating in the summer. As the clay bakes it may have a chemical smell, this is normal. When you pull the clay out of the oven don't handle it! It will still be soft and requires time to cool before completely hardening. Wait 30 minutes before handling. If your clay isn't hard enough, you can always put polymer clay back in the oven for more time. That's the great thing about polymer clay, very rarely burns.

Congrats! You have finished the Instructable. Enjoy your adorable charm, or give it as a gift. If you liked this Instructable or have any questions, contact me in the comments below. I would love to see how yours' turned out, so feel free to post a picture of yours in the "I made it" section. And be sure to vote for me in the Jewelry Challenge