In the 1930s, Germany invented an amazing material for creating extraordinary products – polymer clay. At first, dolls were made with it, but in the 60s it rapidly gained popularity, after which clay began to be used to create various sculptures and compositions.
Now they are creating from this material original jewelry, souvenirs, flowers. Excellent from polymer clay wedding bouquets, so clay has become an indispensable material for wedding celebrations.
You too can learn how to make gorgeous crafts from this wonderful material. In order to create your first masterpiece, you will only need to familiarize yourself with the material below.
Tools for modeling from polymer clay
- Surface to work on. You can take a flat and perfectly even board made of glass or plastic, tiles or ceramics.
- Knife. Suitable for both stationery and construction. Have spare blades on hand.
- An acrylic rolling pin is very convenient for rolling out clay.
- A syringe and various attachments with which you can make various stripes and floral elements.
- Forms for cutting out shapes (cutters).
- Stacks.
- Polymer clay.
- Varnish for polymers.
- Brushes of different sizes.
- Toothpicks.
- Napkins.
- Fittings.
Before starting work, the clay needs to be kneaded well.
- First, wash your hands well, as clay perfectly absorbs various contaminants. Keep your work area clean too. Tie up your hair or put a scarf on your head.
- Apply talc to the clay to prevent debris from sticking to it.
- Calculate the amount of clay correctly, because colored clay has a short shelf life.
- When the clay dries out, don’t lose heart, just add regular hand cream to the material, but not too much.
- Be careful with clay products - they are quite fragile.
- Store the packaging with the material only when it is closed. So that the clay will serve you through long time, put a damp cloth there.
Polymer clay at home
If you do not have the opportunity to purchase ready-made clay in the store, then below is a recipe for making this material at home.
You will need: baby butter, flour (1 teaspoon), regular white glue (1 teaspoon), cornstarch (1 teaspoon).
Combine starch, glue, add flour. Stir until the mixture resembles clay. Next, add five or six drops of oil to prevent the clay from sticking to your hands. To make colored clay, take some of this material in your hand, drop a little acrylic paint and knead it in your hand.
Polymer clay flowers
Calla lilies
For those who are just starting to work with polymer clay, it will be easiest to make calla lilies. This is a very simple craft and can be done in a matter of minutes. And if you decorate the resulting flower with beads and thread a special hook into them, you will get gorgeous earrings.
Take a couple of clay flowers, a toothpick, a stationery knife, rubber gloves and beads.
Make a sausage out of the clay pieces, then roll them around one another. Roll the resulting product into a ball. Do these manipulations until you get a marbled color. After this, use a knife to cut the ball into two equal parts.
Make a rounded flat plate and slightly extend its edge, which you pin with your fingers. Carefully roll up the opposite edge (like a paper bag).
Straighten the edges and correct them. You should end up with a pop-up bud. Use a toothpick to make small holes and insert the earring and beads into the flower.
Lily
Lily is more difficult to make than calla lilies, but the result is worth it!
Take clay of the color you like, a bottle or rolling pin, an awl or a large needle, a knife, paints (preferably watercolor), brushes, paper clips.
Put gloves on your hands, take a piece of clay, roll it thin, outline the petals. Draw the boundaries of the petals with a needle. You should end up with three large and three small petals. Small petals will be in the center of the flower.
Cut out the resulting petals using a knife or scissors. Draw veins on the petals - it looks very beautiful.
Let the resulting components dry, and then start making the center of the flower, namely the pistil and stamens. Roll out the clay and cut into thin strips. Make the pestle strip wider and apply it to its tip. brown. Using a needle, curl the edges of the smaller petals. Straighten paper clip and attach the flower to it, starting with the pistil and stamens. Next, attach the petals symmetrically.
Rose
Roses are considered the most sought after flowers, even if they are made from polymer clay. To make this beauty, take polymer clay and put gloves on your hands.
Make a sausage out of a piece of clay, cut it into pieces, from which you make balls of various diameters. Nine balls will be enough if the rose is small.
Make oval petals from the balls. To do this on left palm put a ball on which we apply pressure with our thumb right hand. Forming a petal. We make the edges of the petal thinner and the base denser. We do this with all the balls. After that we collect the rose. Make the middle of the flower - roll one petal into a roll. Next, attach the petals to the center from smallest to largest. Make sure that each petal covers the middle of the previous one.
The rose is done. It is perfect for decorating various accessories. It would look great as a refrigerator magnet.
Orchid
After you have practiced making a rose and calla lilies, you can start making exquisite flower– orchids. To work, take clay, a flat board, gloves, a rolling pin, wire, a special form for cutting, a knife, brushes, paints, molds, a stick with a rounded tip.
Using a stick, paint a piece of clay and make a small protrusion in the middle. Use a cookie cutter to cut out a cross - this will be the middle of the flower. If there is no shape, then draw the core yourself. We take the resulting part in our hands and bend its upper tip inward. Using a stick, we bend the remaining pieces in the same way.
We take the wire and bend it in the form right angle. We put the middle of the flower, coated with glue, on the tip of the wire. Make the middle part of the flower sponge from a small piece of clay. To do this, make a grain out of it and cut it a little with a knife. Place it on the wire in the middle of the sponge. Color your flower lip.
After this we make the petals. Roll out a painted clay piece that has a protrusion. Place the blank on the mold and cut off the excess. We attach the wire to the base. We make five more petals in the same way. Draw dots on all petals. Take all the petals, lip, connect. It turned out to be a gorgeous orchid!
Crafts made with polymer clay are gaining popularity every day, and the type of ceramic floristry is developing. They sell well and are highly rated.
It is worth noting that modeling from this type of material is in demand not only among needlewomen. Children are becoming more and more interested in this type of art. This activity is very exciting, with its help your child will actively develop and relax. Children will be very happy to help you make crafts and decorations.
Learn to create masterpieces from polymer clay, and a new world of art will open up for you, with the help of which you can create chic jewelry and even have additional income from your work!
117 photos of color examples
This hairpin, with delicate peony, lilac flowers and blackberries made from polymer clay, will become a trendy decoration for a summer hairstyle. The hairpin is quite light, despite its bulk appearance, so it won’t weigh down your hair noticeably - its comfortable wearing is guaranteed by a good foundation, and the decor itself definitely won’t hurt. In our master class, anyone can make such beautiful flowers from polymer clay, even a novice needlewoman, including those who have not yet worked with polymer.
To create flowers from polymer clay in this master class you will need:
polymer clay in peach, pink, green, light green, white, black, maroon, lilac, yellow;
acrylic paint green and brown;
art pastels in raspberry and orange colors;
wire 0.8mm;
wire 1mm;
green tape;
quick-drying glue;
metal clip-clip 12cm;
rolling pin for polymer clay;
breadboard knife;
thin knife for polymer clay;
pliers;
brush;
universal mold with petal texture;
mold with raspberry leaf texture;
mold with peony leaf texture;
Flowers made of polymer clay: detailed master class with photos
Peony flower made of polymer clay: master class
Knead peach-colored polymer clay and roll it into a layer 1 mm thick. Cut it into strips 2 cm wide. Cut narrow triangles along the edges of the strips so that deep notches form on the strip.
Take a wire 1 mm thick and cut a piece 5 cm long from it. Since we will have one peony and one closed bud, we will need two such pieces. Form balls with a diameter of 1.5 cm from the foil. Bend the ends of the wire pieces with pliers, grease them with glue and put the foil balls on them.
Stick fluffy peach-colored tufts to the bottom of a ball of foil on a wire, and lift the ends up so that the foil is not visible. Make several rows of these bunches in this way.
Now we sculpt the petals for the flower pink color. To do this, roll out pink polymer clay into a layer 2 mm thick and use a breadboard knife to cut out peony petals with slightly wavy edges. The length of the petals is about 1.5-2cm. The number of petals depends on how lush the peony you want to get. I needed about 15 petals.
Take a petal and press it along the edges with your fingers to make it thinner. Moisten a mold with the texture of a peony or rose petal with water, place the petal on it and press down. Process all the petals in this way.
Place the peony petals on a sponge or a special mat and treat their center with a rounded dowel so that they become concave.
Stick the petals to the underside of the fluffy peony core in several rows.
And to make a peony bud from polymer clay, take a wire with a ball of foil and cover the ball itself with several petals.
Scrape the raspberry-colored pastel with a knife and apply it with a brush to the underside of the bud and peony. Notice how the open peony is positioned. It must be in an upright position. I placed a square of cardboard on the peony wire so that the cardboard would support the peony petals from below. And I clamped the wire with the peony with a wooden clothespin. In this position it can be baked later.
Lilacs made of polymer clay: master class
To make lilac flowers, form from clay lilac color droplets 1 cm long. Cut the wide end of the drop with a blade or thin knife crosswise into four parts.
Insert a narrow stack into the center of the cut and roll out each part on your finger using the stack to form a flower with four thin petals.
Cut the wire 0.8 mm thick into pieces 4 cm long. Use pliers to bend small loops at the ends of the pieces. The number of segments should be the same as the number of flowers you need. In this case there will be 13 of them. Roll out thin flagella 0.5 cm long from yellow polymer clay, and put them into bundles of 3 pieces. Attach one bundle to the loops at the ends of the wire pieces.
Take a lilac flower from polymer clay, use a toothpick to make a through hole in it and through the hole put the flower on a piece of wire with yellow stamens. When the stamens are in the center of the flower and the wire is not visible, lightly press the flower from below and roll it between your fingers so that it sticks to the wire. Similarly, place all the other flowers on the wire with stamens.
Blackberries (or raspberries) made from polymer clay
Now let's start sculpting the blackberries. To do this, prepare 5 more pieces of wire 5 cm long, bend loops at the ends. Place an egg-shaped lump of black polymer clay with a diameter of 0.7-0.5 cm on the loop of each piece.
Roll a lot of balls about 3mm in diameter from black and maroon polymer clay.
Now stick these balls around the lumps on the wire, use black and burgundy balls mixed to make the blackberries look more natural. When the berries are collected, use a plastic knife to make a small vertical groove on each bobblehead. Insert the wire bases of the berries into a hemisphere of crumpled foil and bake them along with the peony and bud in the oven for 10 minutes at the temperature indicated on the clay package.
Leaves for flowers made of polymer clay
For the leaves you need to prepare the stems. To do this, cut a 1 mm thick wire into 10-12 pieces 6-7 cm long. Place a ball of green clay on the piece and stretch it evenly along the wire so that half of it is covered with a layer of green clay. Prepare 4 more stems in the same way. Cover the remaining sections with light green clay.
Roll out the light green clay into a layer 2 mm thick and cut out 5-7 blackberry leaves from 2 to 3 cm long. Use a knife or other suitable tool to cut small notches along the edges of the leaves.
Using a mold with a raspberry leaf texture, print veins on the leaves.
Cut out peony leaves from green clay and also make veins on them with a suitable mold.
Take one peony leaf and attach the end of a wire covered with green clay to it; its end should reach approximately the middle of the vertical vein of the leaf. Now pinch the leaf from the bottom so that the leaf is fixed to the stem. In this way, stick all the peony leaves to the stems, and stick the blackberry leaves to the light green stems. Place the finished leaves on cotton wool rolls.
To make sepals for peonies, roll out green clay thinly and cut out the sepals suitable size with a knife. Apply orange pastel to the ends of the sepals.
Place the sepals on the sponge, tinted side down, and work them with dumbel.
For blackberry sepals, mix light green clay with a piece of white, roll out thinly and cut out a strip 1 cm wide. Using a knife, cut the strip into narrow triangles.
Cover the stems of the berries with the same clay from which the sepals were cut out for them. Then stick 5 triangles to the berries near the base of the stem, bend the ends of the triangles up. The stems in some places can be tinted with orange pastel.
Now insert the polymer clay blackberries into crumpled foil, stick the sepals to the pre-baked peonies and place the bud on the foil, and place the open peony on the cotton wool. Bake peony flowers, berries, lilac flowers and leaves according to the clay instructions.
After baking, cover the raspberry leaves with green or dark green acrylic paint, and when the paint dries a little, wipe it off with a damp cloth: this way the paint will remain only in the recesses of the veins.
Tint the ends of the raspberry leaves with brown paint.
Assembling hairpins from flowers and berries from polymer clay
Collect lilac flowers in bunches of several pieces and connect them together using tape.
Now you need to collect the bouquet. To do this, take a small raspberry leaf, wrap another leaf around it, then wrap a sprig of lilac and a couple of blackberries. And then wrap the leaves, berries and flowers with tape in the desired order to get the composition you like. Cut off the excess wire at the end of the composition with wire cutters and wrap the cut with tape. Secure the end of the tape with glue.
Prepare 2 pieces of 0.8 mm wire, 8 cm long. Attach your composition to the clip-pin and tie it with wire to the upper half of the clip in two places - at the beginning and end of the branch. Cut off the excess wire; Bend the ends inward, under the leaves. Then wrap the places where the composition is attached to the hairpin with a narrow strip of tape. And in the place where the composition comes into contact with the hairpin, drop a few drops of liquid quick-drying glue and wait for it to dry completely.
A hairpin with flowers made of polymer clay (peonies and lilacs) and blackberries is ready! Summer is coming - let's prepare for it in advance!
Ekaterina Starkova (Luna) specifically for the site
Polymer clay is an amazing material, reminiscent of plasticine, from which it is convenient to make a wide variety of crafts. Invented in Germany back in the 30s of the last century, polymer clay became a very popular material in the mid-sixties, and the trademarks founded in those years (Fimo and some others) continue to sell successfully to this day. We invite you to get acquainted with this wonderful material for crafts.
In fact, you can do everything from polymer clay that you can do from ordinary plasticine, but flowers and various floral arrangements, for example, wedding bouquets or decorations, are especially good from it. So let's focus our attention on the colors. 
Before you start classes, you should know
Some features of clay and working with it:
- be sure to store the material in a tightly closed package; placing a damp cloth there will help maintain the plasticity of the clay for a longer period of time;
- calculate the required amount of material as accurately as possible; it is useless to leave excess “for later”;
- if you still haven’t followed through and the clay has lost its softness and began to dry out, experienced craftsmen advise adding a small amount of any hand cream to it;
- you should start work with well-washed hands and clean work area(this clay tends to absorb dirt from hands and other surfaces);
- talc applied to the surface of soft clay will prevent all kinds of debris from sticking to it. 
DIY clay
You can make an analogue of polymer clay with similar characteristics yourself. It may be wise to practice with homemade clay first.
Wheat flour, PVA glue and corn starch should be taken in equal parts and mixed thoroughly, achieving maximum similarity of the resulting mixture with clay. Add a few drops of baby oil and the material will not stick to your hands.
You can give the clay the desired color using acrylic paint, add a small amount of it to the “clay” mass and stir well. The amount of paint added can be used to adjust the color intensity.
Necessary tools and working conditions
First of all, take care of a flat working surface: you will need a perfectly flat and fairly strong flat surface, which is often used, for example, ceramic tiles with a smooth surface or a sheet of tempered glass.
The main tool for processing polymer clay is a sharp knife. Construction and office knives are popular today; be sure to stock up on replacement blades.
Other things necessary tools You can include a rolling pin for rolling out clay, various stacks to give the desired shape and relief, toothpicks, a set of brushes, acrylic paints (for single-color or homemade clay), polymer varnish, wet and dry wipes.
We would like to draw your attention to the fact that polymer clay is sold in two types of hardening: self-hardening and requiring heating to 100-130 o C (at home, usually in the oven). Carefully read the description on the package or ask the seller.
Let's get started
Like any other work, modeling from polymer clay requires a gradual complication of the work performed according to the principle “from simple to complex,” acquiring the necessary skills at each stage and further developing them. Therefore, as the first model, we will choose something simpler - calla lilies
, for example, will be easy to do even for beginners. 
Roll a piece of clay into a ball, then roll it out into a flat, round shape. Pinch one edge with your fingers and pull it out a little, roll the other edge like a paper bag. Straighten the resulting flower a little, unscrew the edges. Insert a toothpick into the middle and make a hole in the base. Make the yellow center by rolling up a “sausage” of the appropriate size and inserting it tightly inside the flower. 
Rose
Outwardly it looks much more complicated, but in reality it will not be difficult to make. Make a sausage out of polymer clay and cut it into 9-10 pieces, from which roll into balls, which then flatten in the palm of your hand into a round petal plate with uneven edges, which should be a little thinner than middle part petal From contact with the palm, a skin pattern should be imprinted on the surface of the clay, which will serve perfectly as the structure of a rose petal. Roll one petal into a roll, attach the rest around the first and subsequent ones in a circle, “building up” the flower and making sure that each subsequent petal begins somewhere in the middle of the previous one. To give maximum realism to the resulting flower, turn the upper edges of the petals outward. 
After practicing on these two models, you will get a feel for the material, its properties, susceptibility to various kinds of manipulations with it, etc. Then you can take on the implementation of more complex ideas and creative ideas.
Carefully study the structure of each flower, a model of which you want to make from polymer clay, noting individual elements and their relative position. Use stacking spatulas to shape, reproduce structure and fine strokes using piercing tools, a knife, hard brushes, etc. Learn to think freely and creatively, take a creative approach to each stage of working on a flower and remember that there is no single technique for processing polymer clay; look for the most convenient methods for working with this malleable material. And you will see for yourself how exciting this activity is!
Looking at these artificial flowers, you never cease to be amazed - they are absolutely life-like! What's the secret? How can you create such beauty? It turns out that polymer clay is capable of such miracles. But material is not everything to achieve such a result. If you want to sculpt beautiful flowers from polymer clay yourself, you need to consider the following points.
Which clay is best?
There are several types of polymer clay, and not all of them are suitable for creating flowers. That is, of course, you can sculpt them from any clay, but the effect and quality will be different. Not only flowers are made from polymer clay, but also dolls, decorative figurines, and jewelry. Each case has its own clay that is best suited.
Flowers made from polymer clay cannot be distinguished from real ones!
To create naturalistic flowers, light self-hardening clays are used (there is no need to bake them, they harden themselves in the air). In terms of their plastic properties, they resemble marshmallows: they stretch easily and roll out thinly. The most famous self-hardening clay for creating flowers is ClayCraft Deco made in Japan. It is especially recommended for beginners in sculpting. It contains cellulose, which is why flowers made from it are light, matte and thin, like paper. They cannot be washed - only clean with a dry brush.
Cold porcelain (one of the types of self-hardening polymer clay) has been developed specifically for making flowers. With its advent, such a direction of creativity as ceramic floristry was formed. Flowers made from this material are so naturalistic that in photographs they can hardly be distinguished from the real thing.
Ceramic floristry is a separate direction of creativity
You can buy ready-made cold porcelain - for example, brands Modena, Modern or Fluer. Or you can prepare clay for sculpting flowers yourself: it’s very simple. Here is one of the recipes.
We will need:
- corn or potato starch
- PVA glue
- baking soda
- petrolatum
Starch (two tablespoons) needs to be ground with a teaspoon of Vaseline (it’s most convenient to do this in a ceramic plate or shallow bowl). Add a good pinch of soda to the resulting mixture and mix. Now we begin to gradually introduce glue until the “dough” becomes elastic enough, but not too thick or tight. If you overdo it, dilute it with glue. Knead the lump by greasing your hands with Vaseline. Porcelain is ready for use. After sculpting from it, no additional processing is required - you just need to let it dry. Finished goods are covered acrylic paints.
Ready-made self-hardening clays are only available in white, gray or terracotta colors. But baked polymer clay (plastic) has a wide color scheme. In addition, it may include glitter, filler imitating metal or stone, be translucent or fluorescent colors. Figures made from it should be baked in the oven (but under no circumstances in the microwave!) or simply boiled like dumplings to give them hardness. The finished products are very durable, and thin parts are flexible, easily recoverable after deformation. original form. So, for example, a petal no thicker than a millimeter, bent almost in half, will not break, but will return to its original position. Valuable quality for polymer clay jewelry. But this result is obtained only when it is fired correctly.
Rules for baking plastic
If you have chosen baked polymer clay as your modeling material, you can only welcome your decision. Plastic products do not lose their shape, are not afraid of water and do not fade over time. They can be polished, varnished, or coated with acrylic paints. The plastic itself is very easy to use. It is as easy to sculpt from it as from plasticine; it can be rolled out, baked and cut out into parts and figures with scissors or a knife.
The only difficulty is the baking process. If you underexpose or overexpose it, all your work will be in vain. But if you strictly follow the instructions, this is not a problem.
Before going into the oven, the figures are placed on ceramic tiles, old earthenware dishes or metal baking tray covered with baking paper.
For better “baking”, flowers (or other products) need to be placed on toothpicks or pins and stuck into a wad of foil.
Strict adherence to temperature conditions is the main condition for successful “baking” of thermoplastics. You must adhere to exactly the level specified by the manufacturer. In one case it may be 110 degrees, in another – 130.
At a temperature lower than required, flowers and other crafts made from polymer clay turn out brittle and very fragile, and at a higher temperature they darken and become glossy. A significant increase in temperature leads to complete deformation of the product, it spreads and begins to release toxic gas.
It is important not only to sculpt it beautifully, but also to bake it correctly!
An oven thermometer will help you monitor the correct temperature.
It’s not scary if you keep the product in the oven a little longer than expected at the required temperature, but if you don’t keep it in the oven, it may begin to crumble over time. A timer will help you stick to the time frame exactly.
When firing clay, take precautions: remove children from the kitchen and open the window for ventilation, put all food in the refrigerator or under plastic wrap, do not “bake” clay with food. After firing, wash the oven thoroughly, wash your hands with soap, wipe off any clay stuck to your palms with a sponge soaped with dishwashing detergent (after this you need to throw it away). In its “raw” form, thermoplastic is not toxic, but when heated, everything changes.
How to sculpt flowers from polymer clay
In addition to the material, to make flowers from polymer clay you also need to have:
- Latex gloves or finger pads. It is not always convenient to work in them, but fingerprints will not remain on the products, spoiling their appearance. Gloves should be your size - they fit tighter to your fingers and interfere less with your work.
- Knives. To cut out petals and other parts of a flower, it is better to use a sharp stationery knife; a blade will also do. They allow you to avoid deformation of the product when cutting.
- Stacks. To draw veins on the petals and leaves of a flower, you will need toothpicks, knitting needles or special metal stacks, which can be found in Drawing supplies stores.
- Rolling pin. You can roll out clay glass bottle or a special glass rolling pin.
To sculpt beautiful flowers and floral arrangements, you don’t need to have any special artistic abilities, but perseverance, patience and skill will come in very handy.
You can start with the simplest thing - modeling a rose from clay for jewelry.
You will need: baked pink polymer clay and rubber gloves.
Roll a sausage out of clay and cut it into pieces - future petals. Form them into petals of different sizes.
Forming flower petals of different sizes
Twist the middle of the flower from the smallest petal, attach the rest from the smallest to the largest - in a circle.
Use a pin or toothpick to make a hole in the finished flower so that you can then attach accessories to it (a chain or hook for an earring).
“Bake” the product in the oven, observing temperature regime and firing time specified by the manufacturer in the instructions on the clay packaging.
When simplest technique mastered, you can try to make a more realistic flower using various special devices: molds for cutting out petals, molds for petals and rose cups, wire for artificial flowers, green tape for stems, a stack with a round tip. Using a stack with a ball at the end, the edges of the petals are thinly rolled out, and with the help of a mold they are given a similarity to the texture of a real rose flower. In this case, the petals are glued with PVA glue to the drop-shaped base of the bud. A five-pointed flower cup made of green clay, the ends of which are cut with a knife for realism, completes the beautiful picture.
Polymer clay is a unique material of its kind that allows you to create products of amazing beauty and subtlety. From this material you can create small sculptures, jewelry, decorative elements for mirrors and vases. It is also used to make original bouquets for brides and flowers for interior decoration.
Photos of flowers made of polymer clay amaze the imagination and create the impression that only experienced professionals can handle such products. However, when the right approach and knowing some tricks of working with materials, you can create delicate, beautiful flowers yourself.
Material
So what is polymer clay? In handicraft stores it can also be found under such names as plastic or cold ceramics. Polymer clay is a plastic material consisting of a polymer such as polyvinyl chloride.
Thanks to the properties different types of this polymer, plastic is divided into 2 types: baked and self-hardening. The first type of plastic requires heat treatment at a temperature of 100-130 ̊ C. Self-hardening clay does not require heat treatment and hardens at room temperature.
Also, similar clay is divided into 3 more types: heavy and light plastic, as well as cold porcelain.
Heavy plastic after drying resembles natural clay and is used only for the manufacture of massive products.
Light clay rolls out well into thin layers and has a delicate consistency, which allows it to be used for more delicate work.
Cold porcelain was specially created for making artificial flowers. Plants made from this type of plastic have a very natural appearance due to the consistency of the material, its plasticity and flexibility.
Before purchasing polymer clay, you must clearly determine for which products the material will be used. Afterwards, study the pack of the selected plastic - it will contain instructions describing the work for beginners. It will help you understand which of the plastics in front of you is baked or self-hardening.
Before purchasing, be sure to check the shelf life of the plastic and the integrity of the packaging. Material with an expired expiration date or damaged packaging quickly loses its elasticity and becomes unsuitable for use.
Safety precautions
Each master class on flowers made of polymer clay should begin with studying the safety rules when working with this material.
Despite manufacturers' statements about the safety of polymer clay, it contains phtholates, which can negatively affect human health if the material is handled carelessly and carelessly. It is best to work with polymer clay while wearing thin latex gloves. When working with plastic, it is not advisable to eat or smoke.
If you bake polymer clay in home oven, then after polymerization of the products it is necessary to clean it well. It is best to place a deep dish filled with water and set the oven temperature to maximum for 10-15 minutes, then turn off the gas and leave the door open for 20-30 minutes.
Be careful not to exceed the baking temperature of the material. If the polymer clay does burn, you need to turn off the gas, open the windows and leave the kitchen until it is completely ventilated.
Tools
To properly make a flower from polymer clay, you need to have tools in your arsenal, without which working with it will be difficult or completely impossible.
First you need to take care of organizing a flat surface for sculpting. It is best to use a flat plastic board or tiles. It is strictly forbidden to use boards for cutting food if it is intended that they will come into contact with food again.
For cutting various elements from polymer clay and dividing it into parts, you need to purchase a scalpel or a stationery knife. The ideal choice would be to purchase a special construction knife with replaceable blades different sizes and shapes.
To roll polymer clay into thin layers, you must use a rolling pin. A clear acrylic rolling pin works best.
For making drawings on polymer clay and giving petals and leaves from artificial material natural terrain requires a set of stacks. You can also use special stamps and texture sheets for this purpose.
Also take care of your purchase cling film– when exposed to air, polymer clay loses its plasticity within 10 minutes, after which it becomes unsuitable for work.
Making flowers
To quickly learn how to sculpt flowers yourself, you need to start with simple work to understand the basics of working with such capricious material.
For beginners, it is best to start learning how to make simple flowers such as callas. To make this flower, you need to take clay of two matching colors, latex gloves, a stationery knife and stacks. Instead of stacks, you can use simple toothpicks.
Roll both pieces of plastic into long sausages and wrap one of them around the other. After this, roll the clay and one ball. Divide it again into 2 balls, and then into 2 sausages. Tear them into 3-5 pieces and roll into 1 ball. This will help you achieve a marbling effect.
Using a stack, pierce a hole in the base of the funnel - insert a pestle made of metal wire and beads into it.
For more complex flowers, the petals must be cut individually with a knife. To give flowers a more natural look, you can give them structure using molds or stacks.
You can also use acrylic paints to tint plastic. Beautiful ideas for flowers and their production can be gleaned from sites dedicated to the production of similar products.
Photos of flowers made of polymer clay
