Back to (Virtual) School DIY Clay Headphone Holder

Back to school time is here and though many of us are sending our kids back virtually as opposed to in person they still need school supplies.  A new addition to that list are headphones.  Zoom calls are the new classroom and unless you too want to learn third grade history or more importantly unless you want your child’s entire class (and teacher) hear you randomly break into song as I tend to do headphones are top of the list.

Please note this is a sponsored post by Sculpey.  I was compensated, but all opinions are my own.  Plus I really do break out in song on occasion changing up the words to fit daily tasks.  

Clay Pencil Headphone Holder

Tangled Wires No More

School at home is stressful enough I don’t need to add looking for earbuds or detangling said earbud wires to the list.  That is why the kids and I had the bright idea to bust out the Sculpey Bake Shop Clay and make a cute back to school themed headphone holder.  Since the holder would be made from clay the kids could just throw it in their pencil bags when they move from class to class or in this case room to room.  When they are done all the kids need to do is wrap the wires around their new polymer clay pencils and presto – no tangled wires!

Supplies for a Clay Pencil Headphone Holder

Let me take a moment to remind you that your headphone holder, wire wrapper, earbud keeper thing-a-ma-bob can be any shape you or your littles want!  I just so happen to have a thing for crafting pencils.

Building Up Your Clay

You want your clay headphone holder to be nice and thick.  I happen to have a pasta machine and rolled out the yellow clay on a 7 and then added it to a rolled out sheet of white also at a 7 HOWEVER – you can totally do this without a pasta machine.  

The point is you just want the clay nice and thick so that the kids can manhandle it and wrap their headphones around it.

Sharpen Your Clay Pencil With a Circle Cutter

Another totally optional addition to your giant clay pencil is using a circle cutter to give the effect of your pencil being sharpened!

Kid Safe Clay Modeling Tools

The Sculpey Bake Shop Clay kit also comes with it’s own kid safe modeling tool that can do the same thing.  As a matter of fact when we added the tan portion of our pencil we used the tool to cut out the reverse of the circles in the yellow so that we could combine the two pieces of clay.  Also, the plastic tool is wonderful for adding details to the clay like these stripes in the pencil.

Adding an Eraser to Your Pencil

Remember that things like the eraser, lead and tan wooden part of your pencil headphone holder need to be the same thickness as the yellow center you already created.  No need to bust out rulers (though it could be a good home school lesson) but make sure they are similar in width.

Joining Pieces of Clay

When you join two pieces of clay make sure there is a good connection using your finger or a roller.  Another trick is to add a third strip of clay like this gray piece which not only helps our clay pencil headphone holder look more realistic it also helps connect the clay.  

From Clay Pencil to Headphone Holder

What transforms this Bake Shop Clay project into a pencil shaped headphone holder is this next step.  Using either a circle cutter or the kid safe modeling tool that comes with the kit cut out two semicircles on either side of the pencil.  These indentions is where you will wrap the headphones.

Finishing Touches

The last step is to add finishing touches like my son is here.  Make sure all the places where your clay attach are smoothed over, add that black clay pencil lead and smooth out any rough edges.

Baking Your Bake Shop Clay

Following the instructions on your Sculpey Bake Shop Clay bake the pencil shaped headphone holder.  Mine was a bit on the thick side so I went over the suggested time.  Parents remember that you need to supervise this portion of the project.

DIY Clay Headphone Holder Video on You Tube

Have you subscribed to my You Tube channel yet?  You should!  I’m hoping to add more fun this fall, but I’m kicking things off with this fun how-to video for my new clay headphone holder.  You can WATCH the entire process of me making this adorable pencil shaped clay headphone holder with my kids.

Bake Shop Clay Headphone Holder

I look forward to not untangling headphone wires this fall and the kids love their new pencils they made.  Now they won’t leave all my polymer clay alone.  Looks like I need more packages of Sculpey Bake Shop Clay to keep them out of mommy’s clay.  Can’t wait to hear what you guys think of this project.  Let me know if you give it a try!

 

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