DIY Marbled Clay Necklaces

Just a quick post to share a little jewelry I made recently. I've been wanting to try out polymer clay for years and finally got around to it. I bought clay in black, white and gold with the plan of doing a marbled look. I read some tutorials online and set to work twisting and rolling the colors together. It took some trial and error but I love how these beads turned out. 

I read somewhere that beginners usually don't mix it enough so I mixed and mixed. And then it became a muddled mess. So I started over, did the mixing a little less and it was perfect. Then I formed the clay into blocks and used a knife to cut smaller rectangle shapes. I must say it's not easy to cut perfect boxes. I'm sure it just takes practice. To turn the little boxes into beads, I pushed a toothpick through the center. Some beads turned out better than others and no two are the same. 

I made these necklace 2 different ways. For the one on the left, I inserted an eye pin through the middle then bent the straight side to make a second eye/hook. I then attached chain to either side and a clasp to the ends. The bead on the right had a really big whole and I was able to run the chain all the way through the middle. Then I just added a clasp at the end.

And here's a little roundup of DIY necklaces. I shared the rock neck on the left on Instagram a few weeks ago. I used this tutorial by Fall for DIY and a sandstone I found on the beach. The necklace on the right is an older one that uses the same construction method as the second necklace. And bonus, I have a tutorial for it right here.

Have you used polymer clay before? Have you made any jewelry lately?