DIY Return Gifts!!

Return gifts are special and always remain as memory. There are a ton of ideas however, traditional ones are unique looking.

I have one such item to share that you can make from Polymer Clay. When I first saw on FB page – It’s clay world, I was really impressed and wanted to make something similar. And the time was perfect, just before Varamahalakshmi Pooja 2014.

So, I couldn’t wait and made couple of sets for friends and was very overwhelmed by the compliments 🙂 This is how my poly clay thamboolam set look 🙂

These fridge magnets are amazing and I lovveeee them!!

For each set there is a blouse piece(blue color), flowers, haldi n kumkum, beetal nut and leaves, flowers, bangle, muruku, choc barfi, banana and one half of coconut.

To make the miniature banana, followed a miniature fruit tutorial on youtube and made flowers with a fondant flower plunger.

The technique used to make the coconut is:

Step 1 : Take equal proportions of brown and white clay and roll it flat.

Step 2: To shape, use a marble or bake scrap clay into a tiny ball. Dip the clay ball or marble into corn/rice flour and lay the white rolled clay and cover with brown clay. Shape it as shown below.

Step 3: Use a toothpick to create the coconut texture and make 3 hollows. If needed refrigerate for few mins to hold the shape.

Step 4: Bake the pieces for 10 minutes @ 275F /130 C. Once cool trim off the edges with a sharp blade.

Step 5: To get more realistic look, use gloss varnish or clear nail polish to glaze the white part.

Rest pieces are handmade.

Lastly, to assemble, I picked dipping sauce cups from Vietnamese store and glued with super glue 🙂

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and please don’t forget to leave your thoughts.