1. i started with a 1/2" x 36" wooden dowel. my knitting gauge only measures up to a size 15 needle and this dowel was just barely bigger than that.

2. i decided to make my needles 15 inches long, so i was able to get two needles out of the dowel. (the leftover six inch dowel will come in handy later.)

3. with a knife, i whittled (away from myself) to form the point of the needle. if you're using a smaller dowel that will fit into a pencil sharpener, that will work for forming your point.

4. with fine sandpaper i lightly sanded the point to smooth out the rough cuts i made. i also sanded the length of the needle, but not too much since i didn't want to decrease or make irregular the needle's width.

the sanded points.

5. now onto the polymer clay toppers! i found a sculpy clay kit on sale that included 8 blocks of clay and tools!

with my first color, i worked the clay by squeezing it between my hands into a ball shape.

6. with my leftover dowel, i rolled the ball of clay out into a flat square (about 1/16" thick). repeat steps 5 & 6 for any additional colors you're using.

7. i decided to make a spiral design for the toppers so i layered my two colors on top of one another.

then i trimmed away any excess to form a clean edge on all sides of my clay.

8. i rolled with a slight pressure over the clay to ensure that the layers were sealed.

9. next, i rolled the clay into a jellyroll and rolled the clay back and forth between my fingers and the table to seal the layers again.

10. with a razor blade, i cut of thin slices that were about 1/16" thick.

slices ready to go!

11. with my scrap pieces of clay i formed two balls that were about 3/4" wide.

12. i placed the slices onto the balls and lightly pressed them down. when the ball was covered with slices i rolled it around in my hand to close up any gaps between the slices.

13. with the dowel's flat end i gently pressed an indent into my clay ball. it went about 1/4" deep.

14. i pre-heated my oven to 275 F (but that temperature varies, so check your clay's instructions). i put the balls onto the ends of the needles and layed them across a baking pan, making sure the balls didn't touch any surfaces during baking. i baked them for 30 minutes.

15. after the clay finished baking and cooled, i glued the balls onto the ends of my needles with silicone sealer. the glue is just barely visible on the dowel.

16. to finish, i rubbed wax/parchment paper over the needles to shine up the wood and make it smooth. (i read somewhere to do that, didn't come up with that one on my own.)

notes: one thing i don't like about the needles i made is that the balls turned out to be pretty heavy and uncomfortable to use.

i've used them to make a small project one and i did like the size stitch they made, but next time i'd make the toppers smaller or lighter.

currently, they reside as decoration.

:: questions, comments, suggestions ::