DIY knobs using polymer clay

In one of the furniture we thrifted, there were these knobs which do not serve any purpose. They were just for the aesthetics.They were old and rusted and totally 8 knobs per door. I do not want to spend a lot for these knobs and also don't want the glossy spray painted gold look instead I thought the knobs with some design embossed will look will be good on the cabinet. So I decided to use my favourite medium - polymer clay to give them a little update. I will also show you 3 options that you can use to update your old knobs using polymer clay. Let's get started. 

Material Required :

Old knobs

one 1 oz block of polymer clay (for 8 knobs)

Acrylic roller or anything similar to roll the clay

Craft knife

Any textured sheet or small cookie cutters or toothpick (optional)

Black Acrylic paint (optional)

Paper towel(optional)

Oven to bake the clay

Step 1: Clean the old knobs with a damp cloth and allow it to dry. Roll a sheet of polymer clay onto the surface. I'm using a tile as my surface and pasta machine to roll the clay. But you can use an acrylic roller or anything round in shape to roll the clay. Make sure it in even. 

Step 2: Place the knob upside down on the rolled sheet of clay and cut the clay around the outline leaving half an inch allowance using the craft knife. Cover the knob using the clay. Make sure there are no air bubbles. 

Step 3: Now there are two options you can do to add character to these knobs. 

1) Use Small cookie cutters to create shapes like flowers : Here I used a tear shaped cookie cutter and build a flower shape on the top of the knob. I used a toothpick to add details on the petals and flower centre. 

2) Use a toothpick to carve designs on the clay covered knob : Here I used a toothpick to carve the design on the knob. I carved the design that is on the furniture door in which we are going to use the knobs. 

Step 4: Bake the knobs as per the instructions on the package of the clay. I used sculpey premo polymer clay so I baked the knobs at 275F for 45 mins. Allow it to cool and your knobs are ready. 

Embossed Clay knobs : 

The materials required are the same but the steps are little different. I showed the above two ways as an option for you.You can select whichever method suits your design and style

Step 1: Roll a sheet of clay as shown in step 1 above. Use any textured sheet to create an embossed effect. Here I'm using a flower patterned textured sheet to match the designs on the cabinet I'm using the knobs. The textured sheet I'm using is from Sculpey brand.  Place the sheet upside down on the sheet of clay and use the roller to make the impression of the design even. 

Step 2: Remove the sheet and place the knob upside down . Trace around the outline leaving half an inch allowance using the craft knife. Cover the knob the embossed clay circle. Make sure there are no air bubbles. 

Step 3: Bake the knobs as per the instructions on the package of the clay. I used sculpey premo polymer clay so I baked the knobs at 275F for 45 mins. Allow it to cool and your knobs are ready. 

Step 4: This step is totally optional. I felt the embossed design did not show well. So I applied a coat of black acrylic paint and removed it immediately using a paper towel to achieve an effect as shown below. Left is after applying the paint and right is without the paint. Which one do you like better? 

As you removed the paint, you can use the knobs immediately.  

BEFORE

AFTER

Here is the complete picture of the cabinet. 

So what do you think about this inexpensive idea of using your old knobs to make new knobs? Don't be overwhelmed with the tools I used. You can use any round object lying around the house as a roller for your clay or get those plastic tubes with caps for $1 to use as a roller.(I got mine at A.C.Moore) And the same applies for textured sheet, you can use any textured item to make these embossed patterns such as stamps or even those textured paper coffee cups koozies can be used. Let me know what you think in the comments below. As always I will be happy to hear from you.

You can also check this below post for detailed stamping tips and ideas. 

How to make a stamped clay jewelry

Other polymer clay crafts you might like:

 DIY Faux Agate Coasters

Office Supplies Makeover

DIY Embroidered Clay Rings

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Floor Lamp Makeover

While we were in the process of hunting for furnitures, we scored a floor lamp for $5 in a garage sale. The lamp was in perfect condition but the metal parts and glass tray in the middle had a lot of scratches and worn out. These kind of lamps retail for $100 to $250. I was sure I can give this floor lamp a new look by spending way less money than the retail price. Let's see how I did.

Materials Used :

Spray Paint - Metallic copper & Black

Galaxy printed fabric

Glass etching Cream

Star Adhesive Stencil 

Black acrylic paint

Hot glue gun

Scissors

Step 1: Whenever you do a makeover that has a lot of assembling, do take some close up shots of how the parts were assembled before you dissemble them. It will be a lot easier when you are reassembling. As a first step, I disassembled the whole lamp and laid the metal pieces in a drop cloth ready for spray painting. 

Step 2: Except one part, all the other parts were scratchy so I thought there is no need for a primer or sanding and I spray painted directly on the metal parts. In one of the metal part which had smooth finish on one side, the spray paint came off like a sticker. So I sanded that part a bit and spray painted again. Lesson learnt!! 

Step 3: I decided to spray paint the glass tray black on one side as I did not like the look of a plain glass in the middle of the lamp. Also made some star stencil with my silhouette machine and etched stars on the other side to match the theme. I did mess up a little bit while etching the stars but it is not very noticeable unless I point out. ;) Can you guess ?

Step 4: Last thing to tackle is the lamp shade. It was in a beige color with a some kind of plastic on the top. I removed the plastic so that I got a plain shade to work with. I painted the inside black and allowed it to dry. To cover the lamp shade, I just rolled the shade over the fabric and marked the edges with white crayon one side at a time. Repeated the same for other side.Cut the fabric with one inch seam allowance on all sides. 

Step 5: Then draped the fabric over the lamp shade and pinned the sides with straight pins. Made a stitch to secure the sides and draped the fabric back on to the shade. Used binder clip to prevent the fabric from moving on the top and hot glued the base by folding edges of the fabric inside for a cleaner look.Repeated the same for the top. The lamp shade is complete. Assembled all the parts together to complete the makeover. Isn't it amazing?

Night look of the floor lamp - Isn't it gorgeous?

Hope you like this makeover. Share with me the comments below on what do you think of about this makeover. If you were given this lamp for makeover what pattern will you go for regarding the lamp shade? This galaxy print was totally my hubby choice. He did a pretty good choice, right? ;) At first, I was like "No way!!" But now I like how it turned out. I'm sure this is going to be a center of attraction in out living room. What say? 

Want to know more about lighting? You might like this,

Bookshelf makeover - How to add curtains to bookshelf

Some of you might know that we moved from Newyork to North Carolina and for those who do not know, it is going to be 3 weeks since we moved . We are currently in furniture hunting mode and we found a good deal for two book shelves in a garage sale. It was not too bad in condition but had few holes that the owner said he drilled for the cords to pass through. We thought we could tackle those holes and bargained both the shelves for $20 (Pretty good deal, right?) . The person said he will deliver it for free which was another reason why we said, yes. But ideas for makeover already started pouring in my mind and I got two rolls of contact paper from dollar tree while coming back home. It took a couple of days for the person to deliver the bookshelf. To the surprise, contact paper I got wasn't enough for the bookshelf and I needed two more. You know what I could find the same pattern anywhere in the dollar tree ( I tried nearly four different ones). Finally, I got a new roll from the target.

Again, the same happened with the fabric. I had a color and pattern in my mind but when I was searching for it in the fabric store my husband showed me the Llama pattern fabric and I couldn't say no. I was in a dilemma for sometime as I had a totally different idea in my mind and now I can't settle for this fabric even though it is cute. But at last, I settled for Llama which I liked to say it as "Lalama" :P I have no regrets as it turned out great than expected. Lets see how.

Materials Required :

Americana decor chalky finish paint
Contact paper
Fabric for curtains
Sewing machine
Varnish
Paint brushes
Nails
Hammer
Curtain rod
Curtain holdbacks(optional)
Painter's tape

Step 1: Disassemble the shelf and wipe it clean with all purpose cleaner.
Step 2: Paint 2 coats of Americana decor chalky finish for the whole shelf expect for the back portion. In some places, it took three to four coats to mask the stains that were already there.

You can see the color difference of shelves with(Bottom) and without a coat of white paint (top)

Step 3: Once the paint is dry, attach the contact paper to the back portion of both the shelves. I just used a piece of paper folded in thirds to block the holes while sticking the contact paper. For the more detailed procedure of how to stick the contact paper, you can see here. 

Step 4: As I thought the fabric I got to make curtains for this bookshelf(Llama printed fabric) had many colors and the bookshelf seemed to be too plain.To bring a balance, I decided to create a pattern on the trim of the bookshelf. For this, I used washi tape(That is what I had on hand) but you can use painter's tape. I made a pattern similar to chevron(as the trim was small for a whole chevron pattern

) as the fabric had chevron in it. 

Step 5: Paint the pattern in desired colors. I used 3 to 5 coats of acrylic paint for the triangles and gray chalky finish paint which had leftover from Dressing table makeover for chevron pattern. I used black sharpie paint pen to outline the pattern on the trim. Completed it with a coat of varnish(Soft touch varnish from Americana decor) 

Step 6: Now it is time for curtains, the whole idea for curtains is that I had all my machines (silhouette machines, sewing machine, laminator) on the table top in my previous craft room and it gets covered in dust quite often so I thought if I cover this shelves with curtains I can use them to store my machines and also prevent them from dust. For this, I hammered nails into each corner of the trim to make curtain rod. 

Step 7: To make the curtain rod itself, I used the materials I had in hand to make as curtain rod but if you are buying stuff mainly for this I advise you to buy some strong and thick wire to act as a rod or a curtain rod itself. Here, I folded a leather cord to form a loop and secured it by winding a piece of wire. Repeated the same on the other side.

Step 8: To sew curtains, I just folded 1 inch to create a passage for curtain rod on the top and stitched. Folded and stitched the sides & bottom as I did here. Once I put the curtains, the rod sagged a little bit, so I hammered a thumb tack in the middle to give a support. (I did not want a nail in the middle so opted for thumb tack, sagging problem solved!) 

Step 9 : Still one more thing to do but it is optional, to keep the curtains away you need a curtain holdbacks. For this, I hammered a nail on the sides and used a bulky rubber band which I purchased while trying to figure out how to make this Camera lens buddy. Surprising how things this like this come in handy in a way you never imagined. That's it !! The colorful and cute bookshelf is now ready to hold all my craft supplies. 

Hope this post inspires you for your next makeover. If you have access to sanding machine you can sand it before painting furniture with stains as I did not have one (or the proper place to do) I used a normal sand paper to do it but it did not help very well. As the chalky finish paint can be used for the surfaces without sanding it helped me to mask the stains.Let me know if you need  any clarifications or suggestions in the comments below.

Do you like this makeover? If you have handled this, what would you do differently? Share with me in the comments below. As always I will be happy to hear from you. If you implement this idea and want to share a picture with me? Please do so in any of the social links mentioned above in this website(Top right corner).

Some other makeover project that you might like:

Kitchen Cabinet Storage Makeover

Thrift Store Table Makeover

Dressing Table Makeover with Chalky Finish paint

Floor Lamp Makeover