Securing Eye Pins in Your Polymer Clay Charms
Video #402: Done properly, your eyepins will never come lose. No more missing charms!
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IN THIS POST: — eye pins — head pins — charms — (Topics marked with an asterisk* are discussed in the Comments Section below).
Topics Covered In This Video:
- Since many of you have asked how to add eye pins to polymer clay charms, so today I’ll show you my tips and tricks for doing this.
- Many people just shove an eye pin into the top of a raw polymer clay charm and then bake it.
- Polymer clay does not actually bond to wire, so although the eye pin may hold for a while, it will eventually become loose and fall out.
- Some people will use glue or liquid clay on their eye pin to secure it. Although that lasts longer, it isn’t the nicest looking or the most secure method for securing eye pins into polymer clay.
- I usually make all my charms from beads with the hole running through it. That way I can use a headpin instead of an eye pin and the charm will never come off.
- If you don’t want to make a nice hole all the way through your charm, then the method I show in today’s video, of bending and twisting the eye pin, is the most secure alternative.
Will you use this little trick for adding eye pins to your polymer clay charms? Please do leave your feedback in the comment section below!
I look forward to hearing from you.
00:00:03 –> 00:00:08 Hi guys, its Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor, and today we’re talking about eye pins
00:00:08 –> 00:00:10 in Polymer Clay.
00:00:10 –> 00:00:16 Now I get quite a few requests on how to put an eye pin into a Polymer Clay charm that
00:00:16 –> 00:00:17 is more secure.
00:00:17 –> 00:00:22 Now what a lot of people do is they take a charm, like this cute little bird house that
00:00:22 –> 00:00:26 I’ve made, and they just take an eye pin and they shove it into the top.
00:00:26 –> 00:00:32 Well, what will happen is, is it may stick it first but over time, because the Polymer
00:00:32 –> 00:00:39 Clay does not bond with the metal in the wire, it will work its way loose at some point and
00:00:39 –> 00:00:44 you will lose your charm, well…you lose your charm, that’s cute.
00:00:44 –> 00:00:50 Anyways, what a lot of people do to kinda solve that problem is that they put a little
00:00:50 –> 00:00:55 glue or some liquid clay onto their eye pin and then put it in, or glue it after, but
00:00:55 –> 00:01:01 you end up with some kinda messy glue marks at the top, and if you use the super glue
00:01:01 –> 00:01:05 type product, then it’ll kinda go White at the top, and then it may still actually work
00:01:05 –> 00:01:07 its way out of the clay.
00:01:07 –> 00:01:14 So what I generally do, is I actually make all of my beads…or all of my charms from
00:01:14 –> 00:01:20 beads, I actually put the hole all the way through the charm, and then I just use an
00:01:20 –> 00:01:26 eye…a headpin instead of an eye pin, put it all the way through, like I did with this
00:01:26 –> 00:01:33 Birdhouse bead here, then it’s got the loop at the top, and it’s never gonna come loose.
00:01:33 –> 00:01:39 But some people have trouble getting a nice straight hole all the way through their charms
00:01:39 –> 00:01:43 so they prefer to still use a headpin…or an eye pin.
00:01:43 –> 00:01:47 So I’m gonna show you a really good secure way…and I’m not the only one that does it
00:01:47 –> 00:01:52 this way, but I’ve got my own little trick for it, but what we’re gonna do is I’m gonna
00:01:52 –> 00:01:58 take my eye pin and just measure it to make sure that it’s not gonna go all the way through
00:01:58 –> 00:02:05 my piece, you can make your own…I’m gonna trim the bottom here first, before I go on
00:02:05 –> 00:02:10 there, you can make your own head…eye pins, you don’t have to make them…you don’t
00:02:10 –> 00:02:13 have to buy them that way, but I have a bunch so I’ll use that.
00:02:13 –> 00:02:20 Now, what I’m gonna do before I put this eye pin in is I’m going to take the end of the
00:02:20 –> 00:02:28 eye pin and put a little 90 degree bend on it, not…I’m not gonna put too long of an
00:02:28 –> 00:02:35 end on it, I don’t want it poking out the back of my bead, so now I’ve got this little
00:02:35 –> 00:02:42 bend in the eye pin, and I’m going to press that into the top of my charm here, this is
00:02:42 –> 00:02:49 an unbaked bead, and I’m going right down until it touches and then I’m going to turn
00:02:49 –> 00:02:57 it…here I’ll pick this up actually, I’m gonna turn this eye pin and slide it down,
00:02:57 –> 00:03:04 right down into the clay, now I may have to push hard ‘cause it now, with that bent
00:03:04 –> 00:03:07 part, it’s having some resistance going in.
00:03:07 –> 00:03:14 Now, what I like to do at this point is turn it.
00:03:14 –> 00:03:19 Now I’ve got a…that little hook that’s on the end there is not only pushed down into
00:03:19 –> 00:03:27 the clay but it’s turned, and so it will not come out, once it’s baked it will not come
00:03:27 –> 00:03:32 out of the clay, and there’s no chance of losing your charm.
00:03:32 –> 00:03:34 So I hope that was helpful for you.
00:03:34 –> 00:03:39 If it was, make sure to click that Like button, I would really appreciate that.
00:03:39 –> 00:03:46 And my question for you today is, will you use this little trick for your Polymer Clay
00:03:46 –> 00:03:48 charms?
00:03:48 –> 00:03:53 And if you will, put your answers in the comment section below that would be great.
00:03:53 –> 00:03:58 And don’t forget to subscribe, we have new videos that come out every week and you’re
00:03:58 –> 00:04:00 not gonna wanna miss them.
00:04:00 –> 00:04:02 We’ll see you next time and bye for now.
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Resource Links:
- Related Video: Screw Eye Findings For Polymer Clay Pendants
- Related Video: Sculptural Birdhouse Beads Tutorial Intro
- Related Video: BeadSmith 1-Step Looper (and Big Looper) Review
- Related Article: Creating Wire Loops and Links
- Amazon: One Step Looper Tool from Beadsmith **
- Amazon: Eye Pins **
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Hi, That was great. This is something I needed to know. I really enjoy your videos and I just signed up for the news letter!! Really considering becoming a monthly member it is so reasonable! Thanks again for sharing and all the hard work you do to bring us these free tips. Stacy B.
You are more than welcome Stacy! Thank you so much for coming in here and saying that. I do hope you join us. There is so much that we can learn together! :)
This is just what I was looking for! Thank you so much. I am making some charms right now and new just sticking it in would not hold it.
Cindy,
Thank you SO much for your tutorial. I watched it about a year ago when I began working with polymer clay and had so many problems with my eye pins falling out…. this SAVED me & my business! With this trick, none of my eye pins have loosened or fallen out of my charms. The only issue i have now is to get the loop portion of the eye pin to not come open. Very rarely, I’ll have an issue where the loop of the eye pin will open up in time and the charm will detach itself from my jump ring/chain… if ANYONE has a solution for this, I’d love to know!!!
Anna
Anna, I would think if you made a wrapped eye pin it would never open up and you would never lose a charm.
Thank you SO much! This is exactly what I needed and I will most definitely use this trick!! :)
Hi Cindy
Not sure if my last message got through. I am hooked on making Natasha beads and have about 2 dozen that need baking.question is. I used a 2 inch eye pin.. Placed it in up side down from the bottom leaving me plenty of pin to make a new eye pin on top .. Will this be secure enough to prevent the charm from falling off. Or should I take these out and use the bend eye pin technique you showed I was afraid that doing it would distort the Natasha bead?
I have seen others do this put different. You have explained it and showed it better so now I know how to do it with out squashing my charm,. thank you Cindy for a great mini tut.
the other Cindy
Very helpful. Thanks, Cindy. I will definitely put this to use!
Thank you soooooo much for this tip. I most definitely will be using it on my future clay charms etc., that require a eye pin. I had tried several different kind of glues and ran into the problems you had mentioned of the glues leaving different kinds of marks on the clay and also eventually wearing off and then having the charm and eye pin separating.
Will definitely use it. Thanks a lot for the tip!
Thank you for the wonderful tip. I had been struggling with this from the time I had started making charms.
Enjoyed this! Good instructions. Will definitely use this technique.
hi Cindy,
My question is how do I turn a piece of wire into a sharp pin? I do not want the blunt end to punch a hole into my scarves, I want it to be a smooth entry. It is easier on the material which is knitted silk scarves and can be very fragile. I hope this makes sense.
Hi Teresa D. last year I made a wire pin and used some fine jewelry files. I used an 18 gauge wire and gently filed the end of the wire while turning it around between my fingers so it would be evenly done. I then took some 1000 grit sandpaper and went over it again. My last step was to use some 0000 steel wool. I had a really nice very sharp pin that went through my silk scarfs nicely. Hope this helps.
thank u…definitely sounds like something I can try…
Sounds like a great idea to me, and I will surely try it.
That’s so usefull! Thank you, I’ll surely use this info
Yes …. I was just making earrings to get ready for our annual chili festival and I will definitely use this now ! Thanks !
Awesome method, Cindy! I will definitely be trying this. And I love, love, love the little birdhouse charm!
As I can never seem to get the holes right in lentil beads, it seems that this technique might be a good alternative for placing a bail. I can’t tell you how many wonky holed lentil beads I have lying around, all the victims of my being very precision challenged. lol. Thanks Cindy.
Great idea as usual, love watching your tuts and ideas
Great tip! Thank you Cindy! I will definately use this! :)
Very cool… perhaps a slightly broader angle would make it less difficult to insert and decrease warping of the charm? It would probably be a little less strong but hopefully would still stay in place. Great tip, I am sick of super glue!!
Great tip Cindy, wish it had been there when I made all those birdhouse charms.
I really like the idea of pushing a head pin through the whole charm and looping it off. I am certainly going to use these methods from now on. Thanks again, another great Cindy tip!
Most definetly use this info
Very interesting. Passing it on to my french friends who were asking a similar question. With the video it’s much clearer than what I could tell them.
Really great info. I love the birdhouse charm.