Polymer Clay Pen Caddy

Steps:

1. Roll a half block of black clay through the largest setting of the pasta machine and fold in half to create a sheet of double thickness.

2. Cut a 3-inch circle from the two-layer clay using the cookie cutter or template.

3. Cut a piece of wire mesh 4 inches by the diameter of the bottle plus an extra 1/4 inch. For example, for a bottle 7-3/4 inches in diameter, you will need a 4" x 8" piece of wire mesh.

4. Wrap the wire mesh around bottle and tape the top middle and bottom of wire mesh together. Carefully slide the mesh off staple the top, bottom and middle of taped areas. Remove tape.

5. Gently press the stapled wire cylinder into the black clay circle until the bottom 1/8 inch of wire mesh becomes imbedded in the clay.

6. Brush the base of the wire mesh where it meets the clay with liquid polymer clay medium.

7. Bake for 30 minutes at 275 F and let cool.

8. Roll out two blocks of pearl clay on the second largest setting of the pasta machine. Trim the clay sheet to 4 inches by the bottle diameter plus 3/8 inch this time. Use a ruler to mark eight evenly spaced vertical lines across the sheet’s width.

9. Roll out a half block of black clay on the fourth largest setting of the pasta machine. Cut 24 black clay squares with largest pattern cutter. Evenly place three black squares over each of the eight markings.

10. Roll out a half block of gold clay on the fourth largest setting of the pasta machine. Cut out 24 gold clay squares with the medium square pattern cutter. Place one gold square over each black clay square.

11. Cut out the center of each black/gold layered square with the small square pattern cutter.

12. Carefully lift the pearl clay sheet with the black/gold squares off of the work surface. Wrap this sheet around the cooled wire form. Trim the edge of the pearl clay if the edges overlap. Blend the seam together with index finger or smoothing tool.

13. Roll out a half block of gold clay on the second largest setting of the pasta machine. Cut out 34 to 40 teardrop shapes with pattern cutter. Brush a light coating of liquid polymer clay medium along the top edge of the pencil holder. Press the clay teardrops along the entire edge, laying them scallop fashion (tip over end).

14. Repeat this step around the base of the holder with the remaining clay teardrops. Bake for 40 minutes at 275 F.