Jewelry Lovers

Flowers make ideal subjects for clay jewelry. Their delicate and fragile structure can, with a little practice, be fashioned into delicate pieces to be fitted onto brooch mounts or on a smaller scale onto ear-ring or ring mounts. Make them to match fashion’s romantic mood of the moment and to complement your prettiest clothes.

The rose brooch

Use your fingers to press out a strip of clay about 15cm (6in) long and 2cm (tin) wide. The edges should be slightly uneven, as this adds to the natural effect.

Begin rolling up the strip tightly at first to represent the centre of the flower, then more loosely to represent the outer petals. Continue rolling until the flower is complete, then pinch off the remainder of the strip.

Moisten the inner edge of the strip and press it firmly against the flower to secure it. Turn the rose over and, with a moistened fingertip, flatten the back to make a smooth surface.

Leave the rose to dry, then paint it. When the paint is dry, use an impact adhesive to secure the mount or finding in place on the back.

Flower brooches

Begin by taking a small piece of clay and rolling it into a small ball, approximately 1 cm ($in) in diameter. Gently press the ball flat so that the edges do not crack. Press the clay more firmly at the outer edges than at the centre to achieve the delicate, wafer-thin appearance of flower petals. They are then quite easy to attach to the central petal.

The centre of the rose is made by rolling a petal into a tight curl, but enough clay should be left at the bottom with which to hold the rose while working. Each petal is pressed then pinched around the centre bud. Continue building up the rose in this way.

The leaves The leaves are made by pressing the clay out thinly then cutting them to shape with a craft knife or penknife. Take a pin and mark the edges of the leaves to give a crimped effect. Finishing Cut the underside of the rose (the part you have been holding) off flush, so that the mounting pin will have a flat surface to adhere to. Put the rose aside to dry completely. When dry, paint the desired colour, mixing the paints to give a ‘faded’ effect.

Leave the paint to dry. When completely dry, coat the flower in varnish and glue the ear-ring or brooch mounting pin onto the back with an epoxy resin.

For a cluster of roses, make the roses smaller and press them into a round centre of clay.

For the basket of flowers, roll the clay out flat and cut out the basket shape. Make the wicker marks by pressing a pin into the clay. Make the tiny roses and leaves as before, then press them into the basket using a little water to moisten the clay if necessary. To finish, paint and varnish.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Modelling flowers