Australian Icons Inspired Jewellery Using Polymer Clay

In this video Australian Icons Inspired Jewellery using Polymer Clay, we explore the work of Australian jewellery designer Molly Coombs Marr.

Molly Coombs Marr is a jewellery designer and maker who loves all things Australia. Her works vary from native Australian Flora and Fauna to iconic Aussie snacks like fairy bread and Bubble O’ Bills. Her jewellery is hand made and represents the quirky side of Australian culture.

We begin by using polymer clay and mixing colours for our designs. We mix two colours of the polymer clay together to create different tones. We begin our work on baking paper so that it does not stick to the table and when we are finished with our work we can easily transfer it to an oven.

We decide how many pieces we are going to break our design in to before constructing our work. We begin with the base of our work which is our largest area. We model the clay in our hands and use our tools to shape the piece. We then construct the smaller pieces of our design.

To attach our pieces, we gently push our small shapes into our large base and use our tools to assist. Once we are happy with how our shapes are constructed we use our polymer clay tools to press in different textures. If we are using jump rings with our design, we ensure that we poke small holes into some of our shapes to attach the rings.

Once we are happy with our design we bake our work in a 130-degree oven for 15 minutes to harden the polymer clay. When the clay has cooled we add jump rings, earring studs or a chain to complete our jewellery piece.

This range of video lesson plans are designed for teachers and can be shown to students. The videos come with downloadable PDF Lesson Plans that can be incorporated into a teacher’s curriculum plan. These lessons are also adaptable to suit at home learning.

Lesson Plan:

Lesson Plan: Australian Icons Polymer Clay