Bold Spring Flowers Pendants

Bright, bold, colorful spring flowers - layered for dimension - make this pendant a great option to wear with your spring and summer clothes.   These are colored with alcohol inks so they have a bit of a "watercolor" feel, you could substitute acrylic paints for a more opaque effect. 

Materials:

Makin’s Clay® - White 120g 

Makin’s® 

• Clay Tools
• Clay Roller 
• Clay Cutters - Round 
• Push Mold - Floral 

Makin’s Professional® Cutting Mat 

Alcohol inks - Assorted colors

Rubbing alcohol 

Fine paintbrushes 

Plastic wrap

JudiKins Diamond Glaze™ 

Satin cording

Instructions:

These instructions are for 2 pendants.  Adust your measurements accordingly to make 1, or more than 2 pendants. 

Roll 3/4 of 120g package of white Makin’s Clay® with clay roller to about 1/4”. 

Use remaining white clay and Makin’s® Floral push mold to create assorted flowers and leaves. 

 

Arrange flowers and leaves so that they are touching one another closely, and some are overlapping slightly, to cover entire surface of rolled clay.

Place plastic wrap over flowers.  Use 40mm cutter to cut two circles.  Tip:  Using plastic wrap  beneath the cutter creates rounded edges on the cut shapes. 

To color the pendants, use fine paintbrushes and assorted shades of alcohol inks.   Add a small amount of rubbing alcohol to a dish, and then, working one color at a time, add 1 drop of each color of alcohol ink to the alcohol to dilute and reduce the intensity of the color, and carefully paint each flower and leave. 

Use pointed clay tool to make hole in top of pendant for cording. 

Let dry 24 hours. 

Apply a coat of JudiKins Diamond Glaze™ to seal inks and add a glossy finish.  

Add satin cording.  

Spring Daisy Pendant

Spring Daisy Pendant by Cindi McGee

This quick & easy Spring Daisy Pendant would be a great project for any age group and would be fun for a summer camp workshop.  Switch up the colors and you could simulate many kinds of flowers with similar petals - purple Echinacea Cone Flowers, Brown Eyed Susans, or fantasy flowers in unexpected colors. 

Materials:

Makin’s Clay® - Multi-Pack of Primary Colors 

Makin’s® 

• Clay Cutter Set - Round
• Clay Tool Set 
• Roller & Cutter Set 

Makin’s Professional®

• Cutting Mat
• Ultimate Clay Extruder® - Disc #3 or #7

White satin cording 

JudiKins Diamond Glaze™
Fine paintbrush 
Scissors

Instructions:

Mix the entire package of blue Makin’s Clay® from the multi-pack, with about a 1” ball of white to create a slightly lighter shade of blue for the background.  

Roll to about 1/4” thick and cut with 40mm Round Clay Cutter. (Tip:  place plastic over the clay to be cut and it will give you rounded edges.)

Insert remainder of white clay into the Ultimate Clay Extruder®.  Using disc #7 or #3 (holes are the same size), extrude white clay. 

Cut into equal pieces about 1” long.  

Roll each piece into a ball, then form an elongated “teardrop” shape. 

Begin placing the teardrops onto the blue background.  The goal is to create the petals of the flower, leaving an opening for the center.  Use the tip of the clay tool to impress a line from the pointed end of each petal and ending just before the outside end of the petal themselves. 

Roll a ball of yellow clay about 1/2”.  Place onto the center of the flower and press gently to flatten slightly.  You still want it to be raised up from the petals.  

Use pointed end of tool to create tiny pinpoint impressions all over the surface of the yellow clay to mimic the texture of actual daisy centers. 

Use tool to create small hole for the satin cording at the top of the pendant between two of the petals. 

Use side of tool to gently impress a pattern around the outer edge of the blue clay. 

Let dry 24 hours. 

Apply Diamond Glaze to the front of the pendant. Let dry, apply on the reverse side and let dry. 

Add white satin cording and a slip knot closure, or add a metal closure.

Mixed-Media Birdhouse

Design Team Member Steph Ackerman recently shared this charming birdhouse with molded Makin's Clay® bird accents.   Makin's Clay® is the perfect choice for creating custom embellishments for any project!

Always Wear Your Invisible Crown Shadowbox Assemblage

Always Wear Your Invisible Crown Shadowbox Assemblage
by Iris Rodriguez

Hello Makers!

I like inspirational quotes. I’ve always thought of a quotes as tiny burst of wisdom wrapped in a phrase; that pack a big punch of sense. So that is why I got inspired to make a little assemblage piece with a quote.

Materials:

Small Shadowbox
Makin's Clay® Red, Brown, Blue, Natural, Yellow, Green, Black
Makin's® 

• Florals Push Mold
• Roller and Cutter Set

Makin's Professional® Cutting Mat
Cardstock Paper
Black Inkpad
Gold Mica Powder
Blue Mica Powder

White Gesso

Blue and White Acrylic Paint

Clear drying adhesive 

Paint brush

Making the Shadowbox

Use a small box, box lid or small shadowbox, I used a lid from a box, measuring 5” x 5”. Paint the box with white gesso and blue acrylic paint.

Making the Bird

To determine roughly how much clay you will need to make the bird, take a small chunk of clay, make a quick teardrop shape and measure it inside the box. Add or break off clay as desired. Then sculpt the bird. I used a picture for reference. The basic idea for sculpting a bird is as follows: 

1. Start out by making a teardrop shape
2. On the pointed part of the teardrop sculpt the tail
3. On the rounded end of the teardrop, shape the head by sculpting a mound upwards
4. On the head, sculpt the mouth, by simply making triangle shape
5. For the eye roll a tiny piece of black clay into a round shape and place on head

6. For the wing, make a teardrop, then flatten with the clay roller

Note:  Fresh clay sticks to fresh clay without additional adhesive.  If needed, moisten clay with a touch of water before adhering, or if preferred, use a clear drying adhesive. 

Making the Crown

To make the crown, roll out a small piece of yellow clay using the clay roller.

Measure the circumference of crown on the bird.

Cut the length and width to size.

Then with a sharp cutting tool, cut out the triangles or zig zag shapes.

To give the crown some bling, dust on some gold mica powder.

Making the Tree and Flowers

To make the tree, roll three different size log shapes of various sizes with brown clay. Always use odd numbers for branches.

Using the logs, measure them inside the box, until the tree shape and size is satisfactory. Then attach the logs (branches together), by blending together with a little water.

To make a bark texture, use the dull size of a cutting tool to make striations.

For the flowers, push the clay into the Floral Push Mold.  The molds are flexible, so you do not have to wait until the clay has dried to remove the elements.  Trim any excess clay from your molded shapes.

To make pink clay, blend Natural or White with Red.

Let all your pieces cure for at least 24 hours.

Putting it all Together

Print the quote on cardstock, or stamp it. The quote looked lonely at the bottom, so I decided to jazz it up with the baroque (swirl) shape from Makin's Clay® Florals Push Mold. I used part of the shape and cut out the rest. I also brushed on some blue Mica Powder.

Assemble and glue all the pieces together.