Lookbook view
Styled context
Treat this as a starting point for a test piece, not a finished spec. AI may help explore design directions, organize notes, and draft parts of this guide. Clay brands, ovens, glues, finishes, and hardware behave differently, so check product instructions and test on scrap before making a batch. Measurements, spacing, and timing are estimates from the reference images. Test them on scrap before making a batch. Some product links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Check listing details, dimensions, materials, and fit before you buy. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Full disclosures
Craft these artistic drops by layering thin, low-relief details for the hair, cheeks, and lips onto a flat bust silhouette. Keep the back of the plaque perfectly smooth and light, and suspend them from round, colorful stud toppers to complete the portrait design.
Each earring is suspended from a deep cobalt round topper, featuring a portrait bust with a chic yellow bob, soft pink skin, rosy cheeks, and crimson lips. These statement drops hang gracefully, offering a light and wearable piece of modern art.
Use the list to check tool size, hardware placement, pad width, and slab thickness against the piece you want to make before you buy.
The color stock and clay body choices that carry the visible design.
Needed for the bob hair and neckline details that define the silhouette.
Sets the face and neck color of the relief plaques.
Useful for the lips, eye whites, and tiny highlight cleanups.
A firmer polymer clay ideal for crisp details, pixel grids, and canes to prevent distortion during slicing and assembly.
A polymer clay safe glaze that seals the piece without becoming sticky over time.
Hole placement, bake surface, and oven check tools.
Useful for low-relief facial planes, hair grooves, and clean edge shaping without flattening the plaque.
Gives flat pieces and small sculpted parts a stable baking surface so they cure without twisting.
Posts, jump rings, chain, and connectors that finish the piece.
Covers the round stud toppers and the dark hair-shadow accents in the portrait.
Makes it easier to repeat the stud toppers and keep the portrait plaques balanced.
Use these for attaching the blue clay toppers after cure.
Creates the short connector run between the topper and the portrait drop.
Adhesives and attachment choices when the build needs them.
Optional surface products if you want to shift sheen, sand, or coat.
Treat the portraits as relief plaques. Cut the bust shape first, place the hair mass and face color fields next, then refine the cheeks, lips, nose line, and hair grooves only after the silhouette feels balanced. The build stays cleaner if you keep the back flat and let the cobalt stud topper handle the visible top connection. Keep the relief shallow enough to bake evenly; if you lock a plain base in an early bake, add later raw details with compatible liquid clay or the bond product your clay line supports and rebake only before paint or glaze.
Roll out your conditioned clay sheets. Lightly dust your templates with cornstarch as a release agent, then cut out the base bust silhouettes and two cobalt-blue topper discs to ensure a clean, repeatable set of base shapes.
Assemble the base layers of the bust. Position the yellow shirt, the magenta neck shadow, and the pink face slab onto the backing sheet. Wipe the raw clay contact areas with a damp cotton swab to remove any residual cornstarch or oils before pressing the layers together to guarantee a strong raw bond.
Layer the yellow hair over the head and use a fine needle tool to carve detailed hair texture lines. Add the dimensional pink nose with a tiny white highlight dot, the open crimson lips, and the yellow eyeballs with dark yellow-brown pupils. Apply a soft pink chalk pastel to the cheeks for a blushed finish. If you choose to seal these surface details, use a compatible water-based polyurethane glaze like Varathane or UV resin, avoiding aerosol sprays.
Pierce connection holes near the top of the yellow hair and near the bottom edge of the blue toppers using a needle tool. Bake all pieces flat on a ceramic tile lined with parchment paper at the temperature specified by your clay brand, letting them cool completely before handling.
Clean the backs of the cured blue toppers with rubbing alcohol. Apply a high-strength adhesive like Devcon 2-Ton Epoxy or E6000 to attach the metal stud posts, avoiding brittle super glue. Once the adhesive is fully cured, connect the portrait plaques to the toppers using silver jump rings.
Metal findings like posts, hooks, and jump rings may contain nickel or other allergens. If your wearer has sensitive skin, choose surgical steel or titanium findings and test any sealant or coating on a small spot before wearing.
Open these when you want more depth on a technique behind the build, not another supply row.
Face plaques, cameo-style shapes, and portrait drops stay cleaner when the silhouette is solved first, the facial planes stay low relief, and the topper or brooch hardware is planned as part of the front design rather than as an afterthought.
Posts can fail when the flat pad has too little grip or the back is curved. Compare visible loop-tops, flat pads, short ring paths, and balance-line marks on a sample before you make the final pair.
Your slab cracked at the edge or the cane squished because the clay was still stiff in spots. Condition until every color folds in a similar way, then do the fold test before you roll the working slab.
Custom range
Use this piece as the starting point for a make-ready plan, cutter or tool model files, a supply list, or a finished range inquiry.
More pieces with a related form, finish, or making path.
Pin it to a board, copy the link, or hold it in your saved list while you sample your version.
Tag Clay Bake Studio on Instagram or TikTok so we can see how you adapted it.
