My daughter received a letter from her Kindergarten teacher this past week. In the letter we learned a lot about her new teacher. The thing that stuck the most with my daughter was that the teacher LOVES pigs. In fact, she owns TWO pet pigs. As soon as she read this she ran to get her crayons and a piece of paper and drew her teacher a picture of pigs. She then asked if we could make some piggy earrings. Since I have been playing a lot with my clay lately, I figured it would be a quick and easy enough project. I love the result, and so does my daughter!

Pig Earring Tutorial

 Know someone that loves pigs? Follow along below to make your own pair of DIY Clay Pig Earrings!

First, we need to condition the clay. This simply means to roll, massage, and squish the clay until it is warm and easy to work with.

Pig Earring TutorialRoll two balls of pink clay (I realize mine looks purple, but it really is pink!) – about 1/4″ in diameter. Using your thumb, apply even pressure to each ball to create a flat circle.

Clay Pig Earring TutorialClay Pig Earring TutorialTo create the nose: Roll four more balls about 1/4 the size of the first – set two aside for the ears. Again, flatten them with your thumb and then shape them into a vaguely oval shape.

Clay Pig Earring TutorialPlace the noses onto the head and lightly press in place.

Clay Pig Earring TutorialUsing a pointy clay tool (like my professional lingo?) or a tooth pick, create the nostrils.

Clay Pig Earring Tutorial

Now let’s create the ears. Grab the two small balls you made earlier. Cut each in half, roll into a ball and flatten so that you have four small flat circles. Now shape them into pig ears – see picture above.

Clay Pig Earring TutorialPlace the ears on the pig head like above. The wide part goes along the edge of the pig and the narrow part folds down and over the front.

DIY Pig EarringsLastly we need to make the eyes. Using a tiny amount of white clay, roll into a ball. Above is a picture of the eyes compared with the ears. Flatten the white balls.

Clay Pig Earrings Tutorial

Use an even smaller amount of black clay to create a small pupil, place in the middle of the eye and press lightly. This may take a few tries to get it looking right.

 Clay Pig Earrings Tutorial

Place the eyes above the nose and between the ears, lightly press into place.

Clay Pig Earrings TutorialClay Pig Earring TutorialWe’re done making the piggies, now we need to add the eye pin. I trimmed my eye pin so that it was a little under 1/4″ long and then inserted it through the top of the pigs head.

Bake the pigs according to the directions on the box – mine went in for 3o minutes at 275 degrees.

DIY Clay Pig EarringsOnce they are done baking and have cooled, attach the earring findings and you’re done!