Create Ellen Kharade's seaside-themed necklace out of metal clay and beads

What you need...

• Precious metal clay kit
  
• Stamp, Hobby Art, By The Sea (CSO 38D)
  
• Mould, Cookson: Seashore 4 Designs (700 513)
  
• Head pins
  
• Jump rings
  
• Chain, snake
  
• Crystals

instructions

1. Cover your hands and work surface with a little badger balm, then push a ball of clay into a starfish mould. Leave to firm up for a few minutes before peeling back the mould and popping out the motif.

2. Make a small hole at the end of one of the points and leave for several hours to dry out completely. Cover a playing card with a film of badger balm and roll a ball of clay into a flat sheet of about 1-2mm.

3. Press the text stamp onto the clay until you get a good impression and gently lift away. Trim the clay into a rectangle and make holes at the top and
   bottom using a cocktail stick. Leave the piece to dry out completely.

4. Sand around the shapes until smooth and enlarge the holes with a needle file. Place onto the firebrick and move the torch over the surface as before. Leave to cool down completely.

5. Scrub away the white coating with a wire brush, then, using gloves, make up the liver of sulphate solution and dip the piece until the colour change occurs. Sand the surface till smooth, then buff to a mirror finish.

6. Thread a jump ring through the starfish, attach crystals and beads and fix onto the rectangle of text. Add a few decorations to a jump ring and join to the base. Finally, attach the pendant onto the snake chain.