Create cute & fun polymer clay succulents that you can turn into magnets, gift toppers, desktop decor, and more! The instructions show several different types of plants inspired by real succulents and how you can place them together in a tin to create a mini garden and turn it into a magnet – you could also use bottle caps, miniature terracotta pots, or more polymer clay, to create your own containers for your succulents or create the succulent by itself and turn them into jewelry, hair pins, etc. Get creative and create your own types of plants & gardens!
What you need:
- Polymer Clay – I used primary colors (Yellow, Red, & Blue) to mix my own shades of greens, reds/purples, along with some white clay to make lighter greens/jades/teals. Additionally, I used terracotta colored clay for my ground – you could also mix brown with the primaries. I recommend SculpeyIII, a 2oz block of each color will be enough to make a few gardens in a similar size to mine.
- Translucent Liquid Sculpey
- E6000 or Quick Grip – or another strong glue to attach your magnet to your tin.
- Strong Magnets – these need to be smaller than the container you plan to put you succulents in.
- Tin or other container for your garden – I recommend something shallow like a bottle cap, small tin or miniature terracotta pot. The tins I used were 15ml.
- Toothpick or skewer
- Soft Pastel – in desired colors, I used pinks & reds.
- Paint Brush – soft and relatively small.
Inspired by Baby Toes and Jade Gollum succulents!
Create both by starting with the same steps! Follow steps 1-7 to complete Baby Toes and then continue with steps 8-9 to turn them into Jade Gollum!
1. Roll a piece of clay into a snake approx. 1/16″-1/8″ thick.
2. & 3. Cut several pieces from your snake approx. 1/4″ long – these don’t need to be exact!
4. & 5. Roll one end of your cut pieces into a point.
6. & 7. Gather three pieces and gently press your pointed ends together in a bunch, continue to add remaining pieces in a radial fashion until you’ve reached your desired baby toes succulent size!
Turn your Baby Toes into Jade Gollum by using a toothpick to create a divot in the top of the succulent (photos 8). Lastly add pink pastel dust to the tops of your Jade Gollum (photo 9)!
Inspired by Zebra Haworthia, create this spiky succulent!
1. To make a darker green clay, mix a little bit of red with some green clay.
2. & 3. Roll your clay into approx. 1/8″ thick snake and pinch off several small pieces from the snake, approx. 1/2″ long.
4. Roll the ends of each piece you pinched off, to create points.
5. Gently flatten your piece between your fingers.
6 & 7. Gather three pieces and gently press your pointed ends together in a bunch at the bottom and allowing the tops to slightly fan out. Continue to add remaining pieces in a radial fashion until you’ve reached your desired Haworthia succulent size!
Inspired by Little Jewel succulents!
1. Roll 12 balls of clay in various sizes, with the largest not much bigger than a pea. 2. Roll your balls into a small snake, rolling on the ends to form points. 3. Pinch 3 of your smallest pieces together to form the center of your little jewel. 4. Gently flatten your remaining piece between your fingers. 5. & 6. Continue to add your pieces, smallest to largest, around your center, begin by adding three between each of your center pieces (photo 5), then adding three more between each of those pieces!
Inspired by Purpusorum!
1. & 2. Form several small flattened diamond shapes from the desired color in various sizes – no larger than your pinky nail. 3. Pinch 3 of your smallest diamond’s points together to form the center of your Purpusorum. 4. & 5. Continue to add your pieces, smallest to largest, around your center, begin by adding three between each of your center pieces (photo 4), then adding three more between each of those pieces! Continue to add pieces until you’ve reached your desired size!
Seedum comes in many shapes and forms, this little clay succulent was inspired by the Lime Zinger variety!
1. Make 4 sets of small clay balls in various sizes, for a total of 8 balls (two of each size), with the largest set about the size of a pea.
2. & 3. Gently flatten all of your balls into pancakes!
4. Starting to form the center of your Lime Zinger, take your two smallest pancakes, turn them into taco shells and slide them together as shown in picture 4.
5. Take your next size up pancakes and place them around your center piece so they are opposite of your center – don’t line them up the exact same way as your first two but cover the gap that was created.
6. With your next two pancakes, place them opposite of your last two – covering the new gaps created in the last step.
7. Continue to add your last set of pancakes on in this manner – you can also make your seedum larger by adding more pancakes!
1.Add terracotta colored clay to the inside of your tin – this doesn’t need to be all the way to the top, but near the top.
2. Use a toothpick to create texture!
3., 4. & 5. Use liquid sculpey to “glue” your succulents to the terracotta clay – ensure your plants are stuck well by blending some of the plant into the terracotta and visa versa.
6. & 7. Add color to some of your succulents with chalk pastel dust – scribble some pastel on a piece of paper and then use a soft brush to pick up the dust and apply to your succulent.
Bake your piece at 275*F for approx. 15min. – check on your piece several times during baking, if you notice any “scorching” on the tips of smaller succulents you may need to turn down the temp and cook longer (for example: 265* for 20 min.).
Once it’s baked and cooled, you can add a magnet or leave as is! I use E6000 to adhere the magnet to the tin – let sit for 24hrs before using!
Join us at the Art League of Ocean City in June to create your own!
