Easy Flower Rings - A Kid Friendly Craft

Easy Flower Rings by Cindi McGee

Someone recently asked me if there was a simple polymer clay project she could do with a group of young girls at an upcoming birthday party. I knew Makin's Clay® was the answer. Non-toxic, safe for all ages, soft and easy to work with for little hands, stays flexible, air dries so no oven needed, etc. Perfect for kid's crafts. Then it was time to think of a project. I stumbled upon this post by Mark Montano on Facebook, and immediately knew - this was the answer! Flower rings. Ring blanks are inexpensive, and adjustable for various finger sizes which is another benefit. Often, when I'm working with Makin's Clay® I will use "extra" clay with a variety of push molds to make embellishments for future projects. Among my favorites are the floral and leaves push molds. Versatility to the max. If you had extra pre-made flowers, they could also be used for this project. In this case, I thought she could let the kids to the molding themselves also. So, they molded, let their flowers begin to dry a bit, then added the finishes. An adult helped with gluing the flowers to the ring blanks. Then they just needed a little patience to let their rings completely dry before wearing them (that was the hardest part, assorted 6 year old girls being expected to have PATIENCE!).

Materials:

Makin's Clay® - Assorted colors
Makins'® Floral Push Mold
Adjustable ring blanks
Beacon 527 Adhesive (for adult use)
Optional: metallic or glittery paints or rub on finishes - what's better to a group of young girls at a birthday party than SPARKLE?

Instructions:

Open the selected colors of clay. Store any unused clay in an airtight container with a damp paper towel or moist towelette to help ensure freshness for future use. Push the clay into the selected shape. You can trim away excess clay after removing the flower from the mold, but I find it easier to try to be sure there is little excess before removing from the mold. Being that Makins'® push molds are clear, you can see exactly where your clay is on both sides of the mold. These molds are flexible, so simply bend and pop your image free.

Let the flowers begin to dry slightly, just to ensure there isn't distortion when adding the finishes. We just used fingertips to apply a light coat of the chosen finishes to the surface of the flowers.