This is a step-by-step tutorial with photos which will guide you through the steps of making a polymer clay DIY door name plaque (a.k.a. door name sign).
Nothing says “This is MY room!” like a name plaque on the door. However, if you try to do a Google search for “How to make a polymer clay door sign”, then the results show lots of ready-made signs for sale, but not many tutorials on how to actually create one for yourself. So the article below shows how to make a door sign using polymer clay, that could have your name or initials on it, or even the name of the room (like “kitchen” or “bathroom”, etc…)
You will need:
Tools
- Clay roller or pasta machine
- Piece of white paper
- Ruler or something with a straight edge
- Pencil or skewer
Optional:
- Two toothpicks
- String or ribbon for hanging the plaque
- Letter-shape cookie cutters or moulds
Polymer clay
(The quantities below are approximate. You might need slightly more or less of each colour. Also, choose your own colours! I just happened to have these colours around, but maybe you have some clay that you want to use up, or maybe you have some favourite colours that you prefer to my examples…)
- About a quarter of a standard-sized block of white clay (approx. 14g)
- Quarter of a block of blue clay
- Quarter of a block of purple clay
- Scrap clay (equivalent to one standard-sized block)
Step 0) Condition the clay
As always, you should condition the clay before you start to work with it. (Read this post to find out how (and why) to condition polymer clay.)
1) Roll out the scrap clay to approximately 18cm x 8cm. (If you have a long name, maybe make it 20cm x 6cm, and if you have a short name (or just use initials) then try 10cm x 8cm.)
2) Trim the edges off, so it looks neater. This is now the base of the plaque.
3) Roll out the blue and white clays into long thin worms.
4) Twist the two colours together and roll them even longer.
5. Bend the long stripey worm in half.
6) Twist the two halves together.
7) Keep rolling, bending and twisting until the clay becomes ‘marbled’, with swirls of the two colours.
8) Squeeze the marbled worm/s of clay into a roughly rectangular shape.
9) Roll the marbled clay flat.
10) Measure the piece of marbled clay against the scrap-clay base, too see if it will cover the scrap clay. If necessary, roll out the marbled clay a bit flatter so that it will cover the background.
11) Cover the scrap clay base with the marbled clay.
12) Trim off any excess parts of the marbled clay, and they can then be used to fill in any gaps where the scrap clay is showing through.
13) Roll the piece flat and trim off the edges. This is now the background of the plaque.
14) Create the letters for the name plaque
(Step 14a demonstrates making letters with cutters, and Step 14b shows how to make the letters ‘freehand’.)
14a) If you are using cookie cutters or fondant icing cutters then roll out the remaining piece of clay to about 2mm thick. (Tip: Putting toothpicks either side of your clay means that when you roll it out the clay will be the thickness of the toothpicks (which are usually around 2mm thick))
14b) Making letters by hand
If you are making the letters by hand, first of all gently scratch all of the letters into the background piece of clay. (Tip: If you go wrong you can roll the clay flat again and have another go at scratching the letters.)
(Then roll out a long worm of the remaining colour of clay.)
(Bend the long thin piece of clay into letter shapes, using your scratched designs as a guide for shape and size. Then gently press the letters onto the background clay.)
15) Make holes in the top corners of the plaque.
Finished piece:
I hope you found this tutorial useful. Have you tried it? How did it go? Let me know on Twitter (@PolymerKay) or Pinterest (PolymerKay) or via the comments or Contact Us page.
If you haven’t got any cutters and would like some, I bought mine on Amazon. I can’t find the exact ones that I bought, but they look similar to the ones in the link below: