An Experiment - A Petal Necklace

I have an idea about making flowers from polymer clay and I know I will have to experiment to get the idea to become a reality.  I want to use translucent clay with some color and I want to control the shape of each petal.  I’m also thinking large rather than tiny.  I want the petals to glow as the light comes through.

Ready for the oven

I began by using Premo translucent clay and Premo 5504 Fushia.  I conditioned each one separately. The fushia was rolled on a 4 setting and the translucent clay between 2 pieces of rag paper on a 5 setting.  The translucent slab went down first.  Then I sliced the fushia into 3/8” strips and layed them criss-cross on the translucent.  My multi colored fushia, gold, and copper foil went down next and another slab of translucent on top of that.  I rolled all that on a 1 setting and then cut the petal shapes.  I made a general paper pattern and kept cutting it smaller as the petals got smaller.

Planning the Necklace

I also made a long coil and cut beads from the fushia clay. 

Getting ready for beads

Deciding how to attach the petals is tricky.  The last time I made ‘money plant’ discs of translucent clay I used a thin wire frame to give the discs structure.  I did not want to do that this time.  So I rolled the points thinking I could string through the loop for the necklace.  Turned out that was not strong enough.

Detail of Connection

After curing the petals, I used copper wire with brass tiny beads and made the wire wrapped loop.  I hoped the wire would give the petal enough structure to be secure. 

The beads were strung and I really like the way the petals fall and move.  I like the way the light comes through the petals.  And I love the colors and patterns. 

Light coming through the clay - photo taken at night!

Next test is wearing the necklace.  And as you can see in the last picture, one of the petals broke.  So my connections need to be stronger to support the cured clay better.  I’ll be experimenting with other ideas to correct this design weakness.

Broken Petal

 

Experimenting is all about learning!