A Cool Craft for the Bored Quarantine Student

Here is how to make some scrumptious looking pie charms!

By Sydni Wolpert, Staff Writer and Artist

Online and socially distant education comes with the overwhelming need for a break. As a student with an arts major, I find it refreshing to spend a little bit of time focused on a project that isn’t assigned in class. When not in a Zoom lecture or working into the late hours of the night on animation assignments, I have kept myself busy with small, pointless crafts at home. 

Today I am sharing a fun craft project that will take you back to fifth grade. Anyone can do it! 

To make pie charms, you’ll need: orange, white, tan and brown polymer clay (not wax-based), pliers, craft wire and an oven-safe dish. 

First, you’ll want to mix orange, brown and tan clay until it is a burnt orange color. Next, roll a hunk of tan clay into a ball and then smash it into a thin circle. Repeat this for your new pumpkin-colored clay, but make this circle a little bit thicker and slightly smaller in circumference.

Next, layer the two circles on top of each other, pressing them together to get out any air bubbles. Fold the excess tan clay up around the pumpkin-colored clay, smoothing it to make the edge of the pie crust.

For the braided crust on top, roll a piece of tan clay out into a long noodle. Then, fold the noodle in half and twist the ends together until they make a helix shape. Press this twist around the top of the pie. Cut and/or stretch it to fit the circumference of the pie. 

The pie is almost done! Cut it into six even pieces. 

For the whipped cream, tear off a small piece of white clay and roll it into a ball. Press that into the top of one of the pie slices and then pinch it up into a triangular shape. Repeat for every piece of the pie.

Cut off a piece of craft wire about the length of your fingernail. Use the pliers to bend one end of it into a circle. The shape should be similar to a candy cane, but with a full circle on one end. Stick the straight end into the side crust of the pie and repeat for every piece. 

Bake the pie slices in an oven-safe dish according to your clay packaging instructions, and you are done! Suppress your inner adult and use the clay charms to make Claire’s-esque accessories like earrings or keychains!