Sunday 8 February 2015

Polymer clay flowers and knitting

I have been trying out some new flower moulds I recently treated myself to - they were originally designed for sugar paste but work beautifully with polymer (although you would need two sets if you wanted to use them with both).  They gave some lovely results and I produced lots of flowers in a short space of time. I used translucent clay with colours added, blue translucent and pearl.  They were all highlighted using mica powder, to add a bit of shine.
 The moulds I used were double sided and there is also a cutter to cut the flower shape first, then place it in the mould, add a small ball of contrasting colour for the centre, press the two sides together and voila!  A flower! They are versatile as the sizes of the flowers can be varied. I need to work on the colours a bit more but I can see a Spring flower necklace taking shape in the not-too-distant future perhaps.
The other thing I tried was pretend knitting in two different ways, both using the extruder tool.  One involved twisting two strands together, then another two in the opposite direction and then placing them side by side to create the pattern.
The other technique was more complicated and involved small loops of clay overlaid with a line which was indented between the loops with a cocktail stick.  I'd like to try these again to look like variegated wool, but I really enjoyed making them.

8 comments:

  1. They are all so beautiful, it's something I've never tried but seeing these makes me want to go out and buy some clay.
    Briony
    x

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    1. Thanks, Briony. I can highly recommend the moulds as they take all the hassle out of flower making if you're not a sculptor (and I'm not!). The 'knitting' is easy and I lost a few hours happily playing!
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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  2. Goodness how clever. The knitting ones in particular look really, really fiddly - but effective.

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    1. Thanks, EC, The knitting ones aren't as fiddly as you'd think - it's all about repeating the same steps (a bit like real knitting!). I really enjoyed making them.
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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  3. Wow! The knitted ones look really effective! I couldn't picture it when you told me about them but they look fab. Looking froward to another polymer clay play day next Saturday :-) x

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    1. Thanks, Cordelia. They turned out really well but I would like to try again using colour too. Hoorah for polymer clay play days!
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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  4. The flowers are lovely, but I am blow away with the knitted hearts!! They are just wonderful!!!! xx

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    1. Thanks, Amy. Glad you like them. They are easy to do as it is just repeating a pattern. I must try them with colour next time!
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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