Russian doll clay pendant

Here's a fun colourful Russian doll pendant to brighten up a dull January!

This pendant is a great clay project for beginners, because it just uses the most basic clay colours! I'd recently decided to get some Kato polymer clay, a brand I'd been meaning to try for a while, so I just bought the primary colours plus black and white, which is just what's needed for this pendant.

1. After warming up the white clay, roll it out (I used a pasta maker on a thick setting).

2. Draw a Russian doll shape (you could draw round a Russian doll) and use this template to cut the clay to shape.

3. I pressed some textured paper to the clay to give it texture, but you can leave it plain if you like.

4. Make dots around the face and body with an embossing tool or pin head, and remember to make a hole at the top.

5. Add the details in different colours of clay. The flower, dots, cheeks and eyes are made with small balls of clay. The eyelashes are teeny tiny sausages of black clay. The top lip is a sausage shape with a small dent in the middle, and the bottom lip is a smaller sausage shape.

6. Bake the clay.

7. Add some gloss varnish to the facial features and flower.

8. Add a jump ring to the top, and hang it from a cord or chain.