Summer Flowers Necklace

Design Team Member Bea Grob recently shared this fun and funky summer flower necklace made with Makin's Clay®  here on her blog. 

Polymer Clay Flower Curtain Holder

Flower Curtain Holder by Leila Bidler

For this project you will need:

Makin's Clay® Green, Red, Yellow, Black 

(I highly suggest the "Vineyard Tones" and the "Multi Color" 4.2 oz packs!)

Makin's® Clay Roller

Makin's Professional®  Cutting Mat

Makin's® Basic Tool Set

Makin's® Push Mold "Floral"

Makin's® Push Mold "Leaves"

2 small round magnets

Acrylic Paint white and gold

Soft paintbrush

Hard bristles brush

Fabric ribbon (approx. 10 inch)

Superglue

Instructions:

In this tutorial we will use two awesome Makin's® Push Molds: "Floral" and "Leaves".

I choose the flower in the top right corner and start by taking a small amount of yellow Makin's Clay® and pushing it right into the center. The best way to use different colors with these molds is to look at them from the front while you push the clay in from behind, this way you can see if you have enough, need more or if you need to take off some.

Now take one or more colors of your choice (I am using the Makin's Clay® "Vineyard Tones" and "Multi Color" purple and red here) and fill in the petals of your flower.

To make an interesting leaf or two mix two different greens from the sets mentioned above to create a variegated color blend

Proceed using the "Leaves" Push Mold as you did with the flower.

With these push molds you do not really need any release agent, if the clay is too soft just let it sit for a couple of minutes and it will come out nice and clean.

Now we need a base to put our flower and leaves on, so using your clay roller

flatten a ball of green clay big enough to hold the flower and part of the leaves and push one of your round flat magnets into it. This will be the backside where we will glue the ribbon on.

To fit the leaves and the flower nicely together put the flower on top of the biggest leaf and using your tool mark the leaf around the outline of the flower petals. Cut then off the part

that is under the flower.

Use some water to wet the base and put the leaves on, push the edges down and put the flower right on top in the center of the base.

Get your green Makin's Clay® and make a small ball the will be the counterpart of our curtain holder and push the second magnet into the center.

Let everything dry for 24 hours.

When everything is dry use some acrylic paint to highlight the texture on the flower and the leaves:

Check if the magnets are loose (they should not be, but make sure and if they are use some

superglue to glue them in. Now you also need the ribbon to connect the two parts of our curtain holder. Spread a few drops of superglue on the surface of the two parts and attach the ribbon.

All done and ready to use! 

Spring Bloom Polymer Clay Magnets

Spring Bloom Magnets by Naomi Scarparo

Spring will be here soon in Australia. I already see the first signs of flowers blooming in my garden and it inspired me to make these colourful flower magnets for my fridge and to remind myself to stop and smell the flowers...

Materials:

Makin’s Clay® - White

Makin's® Clay Roller or Makin's Professional® Ultimate® Clay Machine 

Makin’s Professional® Cutting Mat 

Makin's® Clay Push Molds - Floral Item #39005

Small, Soft Tip sculpting tool

Black Stamp Inkpad

Stamp with Quote - used ‘Have a Blooming Good Day’

Circle cutter 5cm diameter

Soft small tip paintbrush

Lumiere By Jacquard 573 Pearlescent Magenta, 557 Halo Violet Gold, 571 Pearlescent Turquoise, 554 Sunset Gold, 572 Pearlescent Emerald Green

Weldbound glue

Magnets 

Instructions:

Roll out your Makin's Clay® White, to the thickest setting on your clay machine, put some plastic wrap on top of your sheet of clay and press down firmly with the Circle cutter. This will give you perfectly rounded edges… (which I forgot to do, oops… but no big deal… just smooth the edges with your fingertips).

Ink your saying stamp ‘Having a Blooming Good Day’, then gently press the stamp into the clay and remove it leaving the stamp impression (don’t worry if the ink did not press into the clay clearly).

Using the Lumiere paints, Starting with the lightest colour - 571 Pearlescent Turquoise dab with a slightly damp small brush apply over the whole circle. 

  

Then using Lumiere - 573 Pearlescent Magenta, dot along the edges of the circle as if a blooming branch is leaning over.

Apply Lumiere - 554 Sunset Gold with a fine tip paintbrush in the impressed stamped quote. Then apply Lumiere - 572 Pearlescent Emerald Green around the base of the circle as though there is bush or shrubs around.

Allow the pain to dry. As the paint for the Quote magnet paint is drying, start making the flowers using the Makin's Clay® Clay Push Molds - Floral Item #39005. 

To use the molds

Lightly dust the push molds with cornstarch, shaking the excess off. This will help to keep the clay from sticking to the mold. Using the white clay, roll into a smaller size ball than the mold. Press the clay into the mold starting in the centre and working towards the edges. 

Tip - the clear view mold can be turned over to check for any air bubbles that need to be pressed out and to make sure that the areas are all filled.  

Remove excess clay that overlaps the edges of the mold. Remove the moulded flower gently by pressing the mold from the front side or use the clay chisel to help lift the mold out. You can clean up the edges using your fingertips and a soft pointed tip sculpting tool. 

Set some of the flowers in an arrangement that you like, an example of what I used is in a photo below. I used a mix of the 3 vine leaf and Roses (opened flower and bud). Place then together using some tacky glue or if still slightly damp a spritz of water. 

Paint the flowers using the Lumiere By Jacquard paints. I painted the flowers individually and once touch dry, I added 554 Sunset Gold to highlight areas like the centre of the flowers.

 Cut the clustered flower (pictured below) using the circle cutter, to add the top and bottom decoration, attach them sing tacky glue, and reshape if needed using the Soft tip sculpting tool.

Paint edges of the flowers and allow to dry for 24 hours.

Once dry turn over and paint the backs of the flowers. Allow to dry. 

Attach magnets to the back of the flowers with tacky glue. 

Tip - Check which side of the magnet is magnetic and ensure that it is glued facing out. 

Makin's Clay® is light weight and perfect to make magnets with as I didn’t have to worry too much about what strength of magnet is needed. I used an old business card magnet, cut into strips. 

Enjoy making your magnets to pretty up your fridge...

Dandelion Puff Earrings

Design Team Member Cynthia Gougian recently shared these adorable dandelion puff earrings made with Makin's Clay® stems & leaves.

Shabby-Chic Polymer Clay Rose

Design Team Member Bea Grob recently shared how she created this pretty, shabby-chic rose made with Makin's Clay®.  Find her instructions here on her blog.

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.  

The adults then added a touch of Beacon 527 adhesive to the top of the rings and mounted the flowers. Once they were dry, the girls were thrilled! 

Blossom Magnet

Materials:

·     Makin’s Clay®  60G Black 

·     A 2.5-inch circle cutter

·     Makin’s® Cutter Set, Flowers

·     Makin’s® clay roller

·     2 sets of 5 playing cards glued together, or the Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine® 

·     Quick drying Tacky Glue 

·     Soft artist’s brush

·     A craft knife

·     Makin’s® Texture Sheet of your choice

·     Folk Art Color Shift Paint Acrylic Paint 5129E Green Flash by Plaid®

·     Folk Art Color Shift Paint Acrylic Paint 5195 Yellow Flash by Plaid®

·     Folk Art Color Shift Paint Acrylic Paint 5132E Purple Flash by Plaid®

·     Folk Art Acrylic Paint 2966 Bright Gold by Plaid®

·     UV Resin

·     UV light source to cure resin

·     Ceramic magnet

·     Small flat back cabochons or rhinestones

Instructions:

Step 1:

If you are using the Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®,roll the black clay out at setting 3.  I used playing cards as a guide. I placed 5 playing cards glued together on either side of my clay.  Then I rolled the Makin’s ® Black clay with my acrylic roller until the thickness of the clay matched the thickness of the playing cards. 

Step 2:

Spray a texture sheet of your choice with a little water.  Place the sheet on the clay, then roll with the acrylic roller to impress the clay with texture. 

Step 3:

Use the flower cutter to cut 7 blossoms from the textured clay.  Allow the blossoms to fully dry.

Step 4:

Once the blossoms are dry paint them with the gold paint.  Only one coat is needed.  Allow the paint to dry.

Step 5:

Paint the blossoms with purple flash, then allow to dry. 

Step 6:

Brush lightly with yellow and green flash.

Step 7:

Apply UV resin.

Step 8:

Use a toothpick to pull the resin to the edge of the blossoms, then cure.

Step 9:

Cut a 2.5 inch circle.

Step 10:

Apply glue to blossom.

Step 11:

Place the first blossom in the center of the 2.5 inch circle.

Step 12:

Arrange and glue the rest of the blossoms around the center blossom.

Step 13:

Use a craft knife to trim the clay from the outside of the blossoms.

Step 14:

Glue cabochons to the center of each blossom.

Step 15:

Apply glue to the magnet.   

Step 16:

Glue magnet to back of blossoms.