Initial Keychains with Air Dry Clay

I need some small personalized gifts for a few people, and decided that some simple keychains would be perfect. Rather than a split ring, I chose this style of finding because it is easy to attach to a purse strap or bag handle. Keychains aren't just for keys, they can also identify your bag!

Take a small piece of your air-dry clay, and roll it out flat. I used an apple corer to cut my circles. It was the perfect size, and I already had it. Lots of little nubs to sand off after drying though.

See the bits that had to be sanded?

Then a quick hole, made with a toothpick.

Next, I used scrapbooking stamps directly on the soft clay. Most I did with no ink, for one I tried ink.

Then I let them dry for a day or two. After they were dry, I got rid of those nubs with an emery board. Then I painted the fronts and backs—some with acrylics, others with simple kids' watercolors. After that dried, I used a glue pen in the stamped letters, and then added glitter.

When everything was dry and extra glitter brushed off with a big soft paintbrush, I added 3 coats of acrylic coating, 10 minutes apart.

9mm jump rings connect the keychain finding to the clay pieces.