Polymer Clay Christmas Tree Magnet: A Beginner's Tutorial

Step 1

The winter holidays are just around the corner, so now is the perfect time to take care of decorating your home and preparing gifts for your loved ones. Today, I'll show you how to make a charming polymer clay magnet yourself—this tutorial is suitable for beginners and even for crafting with kids!

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Step 4

To make the magnet, prepare:
• Green, red, and white modeling clay (you can use polymer clay, regular salt dough, air-dry modeling clay, or even Igroform). I used cold porcelain, as I'm currently really into making figurines from this material 🙂 ;
• Pointed-tip scissors;
• A rolling pin or a beer bottle to roll out the “dough”;
• A craft knife or a standard blade;
• A magnet;
• Glue (super glue or a hot glue gun with a glue stick);
• A paper Christmas tree template.
Tutorial
Roll the material out into a thin sheet large enough to fit the Christmas tree template. The optimal thickness of the sheet is 2 mm.
Place the template on top and cut the “dough” along the outline using a craft knife.
Let the base dry.
Glue 1–2 magnets to one side.
Pinch off a small piece of the unhardened “dough” and shape it into a teardrop (about the shape and size of an almond).
Glue it to the bottom row of the tree.

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Step 6

Snip into the clay with the tips of the scissors to form needles.

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Step 8

Glue on the next teardrop and repeat the same steps. Attach two teardrops to the left, and then one in the center of the same row.

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Step 10

Layer the branches with a slight overlap—this will add volume to the piece. Repeat the same process with two more tiers. At the very top, form the peak from a single teardrop.

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Step 12

Now it's time for the decorations—cut out little stars, ornaments, candy canes… Decorate the tree with beads, seed beads, or glitter. 😉