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DIY Faux Agate

Faux AgateDIY1
Faux AgateDIY2

I’ve been so looking forward to sharing this project with all of you. After my first venture into polymer clay I realised what a wonderful and versatile material it was. It got my mind ticking over. I wanted to see how far I could take it. Can I transform a cheap and accessible substance into something precious and desirable? I had a ton of ideas, many of which I’m still planning on experimenting (and hopefully will be showing you all) with. If you like the look of this one, here’s how to do it:

Materials

Polymer clay | Glitter glass | Glue | Baking paper

Instructions:

1. Work pieces of pink, blue and white polymer clay, each into a ball around 2cm wide. Work two larger pieces of translucent polymer clay into slightly larger balls.

2. Mix the pink and blue together to make purple. Take a small pea sized ball from this and mix with one of the transparent balls.

3. Take the lilac, translucent and white ball and pop them in the freezer for an hour.

4. Grate the whole translucent and the whole white ball, but only half on the lilac. Put the other half of the lilac aside and roll the grated clay up into another ball, freeze again, and then finely grate.

5. Roll this into another ball and roll out.

6. Take a piece of grease proof paper and scrunch up into cylinder. Wrap the mixed piece around it as many times as in will.

7. Roll out the leftover lilac, roll that out and wrap it around next.

8. Then lastly take the rest of the purple and wrap that around as well. Roll this gently in between your hands. Don’t make this into a perfect circle, use your fingers to create indents and odd shapes.

9. Heat in the oven for around 30 minutes on a medium to low heat. Leave to cool and with a sharp scalpel knife carefully cut off thin strips.

10. Cover the inside with glue and sprinkle with crystal glass. Leave to dry and cover the rest of the slice with a glue such as glossy accents to give it that polished look.

It’s quite a process, but it makes loads of pieces. I’ll be putting up an awesome earring tutorial to give you an idea of what you can do with them. And of course you can create different colours and contrasting colourways. But lets take this one step at a time! What other precious stones do you think would look good?

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Comments

    • DIANE says

      Hi, Love this technique. Have saved it to give it a go. However, I have a question. If I can’t get cristal glass what would you suggest as an alternative?

  5. Francesca Stone says

    Hi Sam
    I found my crystal glass from a seller on Etsy. It was a fantastic shop, and I was even sent some free samples. But sadly the shop has closed, but as soon as I find somewhere else I will update the post. Try searching Etsy supplies for now and please let me know if you find a good seller!

  10. Fern says

    I’ll bet you could do this with a mixture of fondant and gum paste. Don’t bake it but cut the slices before it dries too hard. Use gel paste or water as the “glue” and sanding sugar for the crystals. It would be edible!

  14. Natashalh says

    Absolutely beautiful! I always fail at polymer clay and I actually just got rid of my last few bits, but now I wish I hadn’t! My oven doesn’t hold it’s temperature well and gets way hotter than the set temperature. I have a thermometer to check it, but it doesn’t even hold its incorrect temp!

  22. Lisa says

    Whoah whoah whoah – freeze and grate? Who knew such a thing was possible!
    And I need to get me some of that transparent polymer clay. I didn’t know that existed.
    This is a great diy – loving your blog xx

  29. Tintin says

    Haha!Great stuff!I know ,I am a little late with my comment,but this is fantastic!
    I am truly impressed by this creativity!
    As a goldsmith I have to say”Chapeau” to all those DIY-ideas you show on you tutorials-but that one is my favorite..
    I bet there are many who like the clay agate even more than the real stones ;)
    Maybe you can find some more inspiration on my tutorials:
    http://www.tumblr.com/blog/sentiment-schmuck

  32. Pearl says

    Very clever!! And also lightweight compared to the real thing. Will share on my blog so others can come visit.

  34. Alexandra says

    What a neat idea! I haven’t toyed with polymer clay in years, but this is definitely something to try out when I have some extra free time. The crystal glass makes for a great finishing touch.

    • fran says

      Wonderful! Thanks for reading Alexandra :) I’d love to see a picture once you’ve made it. Tag me xxx

    • fran says

      Hey Naluka! Thank you. I can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work with cold porcelain. If you try it let me know how it goes :)

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