How to Make Polymer Clay Coffee Cups

Today I’m going to show you How to Make Polymer Clay Coffee Cups! These are the cutest little things, and you can change the colors to match any popular drink! If you’re new to working with polymer clay, check out my Introduction to Polymer Clay post for the basics and some tips! Let’s get started!

How to Make Polymer Clay Coffee Cups

Supplies:

• White, light brown, medium brown, and dark brown polymer clay. Or any colors you like!
• Translucent polymer clay.
• Clay blade.
• Clay roller.
• Needle tool.
• Rubber tipped tool. You can also just use your fingers.
• Porcelain tile. Or other work surface.
• Copy paper.
• Oven.

We’re using the same colors for both coffee cups, so we’re going to start by making one big batch of “coffee” clay! Grab your three shades of brown clay, and roll some of it into three balls. The medium shade should be the largest, followed by the darkest and lightest. This works for any colors you want to use, so don’t hesitate to make a unicorn drink or even a fun smoothie! Now roll those balls out into thin snakes the same length, and press them all together. Twist them like this.

Fold that twist in half, and keep twisting it. Keep doing this until you have a finely marbled snake, and then roll the whole thing into a ball!

Go ahead and cut the ball in half, and set one half of it aside to make our other coffee cup later. Now take the half you have left and roll it into a ball. Then start rolling it into a fat log shape.

Make sure the ends are flat, and it’s fairly squat. It should look like this! This is our coffee for inside the mug. Now take your white clay, and roll it out until it’s about the same thickness as a quarter.

Make sure you can lift it off your work surface, then place your “coffee” on top. Trim the bottom of your white clay straight across, about 1/8 inch away from your coffee.

Now trim the top straight across so it’s just a tiny bit above the coffee. Trim one short edge straight, and start rolling the white clay around your coffee, pressing gently. When the end meets the rest of the clay, go ahead and trim it evenly.

The two ends should meet or just slightly overlap. Take your rubber tip tool or your finger and smooth out the join. This is what the top of your coffee should look like, with a raised rim above the coffee.

Take your finger and smooth out the rim so it looks rounded like a coffee mug. Then turn it over so we can finish the bottom of the mug. Take a small amount of white clay, and roll it into a ball.

Flatten it out into a disc with your fingers, and place it on the bottom of your coffee mug. Use your fingers to smooth out the edges so it looks seamless.

And here’s the basic coffee cup! Let’s add a handle. Take a small ball of white clay and roll it into a log.

Curve the log into a C shape, and press the ends onto your coffee cup. Then take your needle tool, and blend the edges of the ends into your cup.

See how easy that is once you break it down into steps! Go ahead and set this aside to bake.

Now let’s work on our cold coffee cup! Grab that other half of mixed coffee clay we set aside earlier, and roll it into a ball. You’re going to roll this into a log again, but this time it’s going to be tapered at one end just like a coffee cup.

Make sure both ends are flat, and that it can stand upright on the smaller end. Now it’s time to use that translucent polymer clay. Grab a small amount and roll it into a ball, then into a snake. This is going to be the rim of our coffee cup.

Press one end of the translucent snake onto the big end of the coffee cup, and gently press it all the way around the top like this. Where the ends meet, use your needle tool to smooth out the join. This should be all the way around and at the very top edge of your cup like shown. This clay goes translucent when baked, so it’s great for copying the look of thick plastic.

Cold coffee goes great with whipped cream, so let’s make some! Grab your white clay and roll it into a thin snake. Then cut it into three equal pieces and roll those even thinner.

Put those three pieces together, and twist them like we did when we were marbling the clay earlier. Doing this gives a similar look to extruded whipped cream.

Blend one end of the whipped cream into the top of your coffee, and start rolling it around, pressing gently. Every layer should be slightly smaller than the one below it.

If you have extra when you get to the end, trim it off. Work the end of the whipped cream into a point, and press it into place. You’re all done! Isn’t it cute?

Now place both your coffee cups onto a piece of scrap copy paper so they don’t get shiny spots, and bake them according to the clay manufacturer’s instructions. I used Sculpey, and baked mine at 275 F for 30 minutes! If you want to turn these into charms so you can attach them to a keychain or a necklace, you can learn how to do that before you bake them in my Polymer Clay Donut Charm Tutorial!

I hope you had fun learning how to make polymer clay coffee cups with me!