Air Dry Clay Keychains {Monthly DIY Challenge}

It’s hard to believe (for me, at least), but it’s time for another round of the Monthly DIY Challenge!  Each month some of my favorite blogger friends and I team up to create projects based on a common item or theme.  In the past we’ve used items like metallic paint and fabric, but this month we’re using air dry clay (basically, PlayDoh for grownups)!  For my project, I made air dry clay keychains.  

Before I give you all the details on how to make your own air dry clay keychains, here’s a sneak peek of my friends’ air dry clay projects.  You can find links to all of them right at the bottom of this post, too!  

Supplies Needed to Make Air Dry Clay Keychains

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• Air dry clay
• Air dry clay embossing set (this is the exact one I have, and I LOVE it!)
• Needle or some other object capable of poking a hole through the clay
• Large jump rings
• Key rings
• Optional: tassels, charms, or other embellishments
• Acrylic paint
• Metallic wax (I used this gold color and this rose gold color)
• Small paintbrushes
• Small pliers
• Rolling pin

How to Make Air Dry Clay Keychains

Let me start off by saying this project was really fun!  I did it with my kids one afternoon, and they were SO excited to be using some of my craft supplies.  I could definitely see this being an awesome project to make with older kids as a camp or scouting activity.  They would love it!

So first, I took a chunk of clay and rolled it flat and about 1/4″ thick.  

I used the shape cutters from my air dry clay embossing set to cut out several shapes and sizes.  

Next, I had fun using the letter embossing tool, the shape embossing tools, and the textured pattern pieces to make all different kinds of designs on my shapes.  

Once I finished embellishing all of my shapes just the way I wanted them, I found a random tool in a drawer and used it to poke holes near the top of each shape.  (Any idea what that thing is?)  TIP: when you do this, make sure you poke the holes near the top of the clay, otherwise it will be very hard to fit jump rings through the holes once the clay has dried.  Some of mine were a little too far down and they were unusable as a result.  Womp womp.  

Next came the hard part.  I had to wait just about two days for my creations to dry!  That felt like an eternity.  For a person who has real issues with patience, this was a test.  

Luckily, I survived the two day clay-hardening period, and lived to paint my clay creations with all different colors of acrylic paint.  Once the paint dried, I applied metallic wax to some of them for some added shimmer and shine!  

Finally, I added a jump ring through the holes in each piece of clay, and then attached the key rings to each.   

On some of the key rings I added some cute tassels, too!  I kinda love them and want to put tassels on everything.  

So easy and so fun.  If you can get past the waiting 48 hours for the clay to dry, you’re golden.

I really enjoyed using air dry clay and am excited to try it out on another project soon!  If you liked this project, too, I’d love for you to pin it so you can find the directions later!  

And now go check out what all of my blogger friends made with air dry clay, too!  I know they’d love it if you stop by and visit.