Polymer Clay Tutorial

This little tutorial is for those new to the medium Polymer Clay and should explain a little how those little flowers end up on  beads, pendants, tins, pens, etc.

1. Roll a log of clay and cut of straight on both ends.

2. Cover the log with thin sheet of darker clay, I used a dark purple.  Reduce the covered log by pinching       and rolling. You end up with a long thin log.

3. Cut the log into even pieces, these will be the flower pedals. I cut 7 pieces, but it could be any number. Roll another log in a different color, this will be the center of the flower.

4. Arrange you flower pedals and the center that it looks like a flower.
5. fill in the gaps with translucent clay. This will become see through ones it is baked in the oven. After the gaps between the flowers are filled, I usually put a thin sheet of translucent clay all the way around the flower.

6. This is the difficult part and requires a little practice: Reducing the flower cane.
 This is achieved by pinching the clay length wise turning it a little do the same again until you went around one time, roll a little to make it smooth again. Do the same again. This takes some time and patience. You might feel the temptation to pull it while pinching :-)  -Worst thing to do, it will distort the flower. Once you have it down to the size you like, cut very thin slices of you cane. The thinner the slices the less visible the translucent clay will be.
7. Layer the the slices you cut of on a sheet of clay, I used teal.

8. Now you are ready to cover almost anything. Some examples are wood, plastic, glass.
9. You can also cut out shapes with cookie cutters to make pendants.

Your piece is than baked according to the manufacture by 275 degrees F for 20 minutes. Ones it is cooled down it can be sanded with wet sandpaper and polished, or it can be varnished with a water based finish.