DIY Clay Cheese Board Markers
One thing that I love year round, but especially in the summertime, is snacking on a charcuterie board. It is the perfect hostessing snack because there is typically something for everyone on the board, it is easy to throw together, and it looks beautiful too! It’s one of those food items that almost doubles as a craft because half the experience is just setting it up and arranging the board perfectly.
And while my own personal cheese board doesn’t typically need any markers to notate the cheese types (since I basically only buy the same 3 Trader Joes cheeses on rotation), it is sometimes a nice touch to mark the cheese types for guests when hosting!
I love the idea of having a set of cheese markers that you can reuse and bring out each time you’re throwing a party. I’ve seen chalkboard style markers available and also wooden sets with various cheese names. But I wanted something cuter! So I set out to make these polymer clay cheese board markers. Make your own with the easy tutorial below!
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MAKE YOUR OWN CLAY CHEESE BOARD MARKERS
Supplies:
Polymer clay (I used this FIMO pastel set)
Rolling pin or acrylic clay roller
Small cookie cutters
Letter stamps
Baking sheet
Parchment paper or aluminum foil
Oven
Safety glasses
Drill and small drill bit or Dremel tool — I used a 1.6mm twist drill bit from this set
Scrap wood
Clamp
Toothpicks
To begin you are going to cut out your shapes from the polymer clay. Work the clay in your hands, pulling it apart, until your clay has a softer more pliable texture. Then use a rolling pin to roll out a flat piece of clay that is roughly 1/4 inch thick.
Press your mini cookie cutters into the clay and pull off any excess clay from the edges. Then go around and smooth out the edges of your shape with your fingers.
I used a mix of shapes and clay colors. My flower shapes were about 1.5 inch in diameter, the circles were 1 or 1.5 inch, and the ovals were about 1.5 inch long.
Next, you are going to press in your letters to create the cheese type text. For this I just used a simple set of lowercase rubber stamps. Gently press each letter into the clay to spell out your cheese types. I included the following cheeses in my set, but feel free to customize to your favorites!
cheddar
manchego
havarti
gouda
toscano
goat
blue
parm (parmesan)
brie
Place your shapes onto a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake your clay according to your polymer clay instructions. For the FIMO clay that I used, I baked my cheese markers for 30 minutes at 230 degrees F (or 110 degrees C).
Allow the pieces to fully cool.
Once cooled, you are going to add the hole in the marker where you can stick a toothpick to stab into your cheese.
You are going to use a drill with a small drill bit (or I used my Dremel tool) to add a small hole in the bottom of each clay piece. Be sure to wear safety glasses while doing this step because the extra clay will fly everywhere.
To make the pieces more stable while drilling, I clamped them down to a piece of scrap wood so that I had something to hold onto while pressing in the drill. Be sure to drill as straight as possible through the clay marker so that the toothpick will be able to be inserted straight. You may have to make the hole then try sticking in a toothpick, then drill some more, and repeat until you have a deep enough hole to keep the cheese marker secure.
Now all that is left to do is add your toothpicks and setup your cheese board! You can easily throw away your toothpick and add a new one to reuse the markers again and again.
These cheese markers made the perfect addition to my 4th of July charcuterie board, and I can’t wait to use them for parties to come. I think they would also make a great gift for a friend who loves to host! Find out their favorite cheeses and put together a set. Gift it with a box of toothpicks or even a cute wood serving board.
What are your go-to items for a cheese board in the summertime?
xo Rachael
