Tutorial Flower Pendant

Hey crafters :)

Today I want to show you how you can create a very pretty flower pendant with a colour blend.

Materials:

polymer clay colour blend
pasta machine (roller also possible)
blade or x-acto knife
needle tool or toothpick
sandpaper
(leaf cutter)
ball tool
pliers
eye pin


Instructions:

Tutorial Flower Pendant

You'll first need to create colour blend sheet. If you don't know how to do this, check out my Colour Blend Tutorial.
Fold and roll out your clay sheet very long like on the picture. Make sure that the colour blend stretches out.


Roll it out really thin and long through your pasta machine or with your roller.


Then start folding the sheet as shown in the picture back and forth.




Your cane should then look like mine.




Now you need to form and stretch your cane. Take it into your hand and carefully press it and gently pull on it. It's faster if your hands are warm and the clay is soft.


Continue lenghtening it until you have your desired petal size. Roll the cane on your work surface. Make sure, the colours stay lined up.


Leave the cane as it is to have round petals or pinch the side which you want to be in the middle of the flower (for example the lighter side of the blend)

Tutorial Flower Pendant

Then cut five or six slices from your new cane for the petals.
Here I placed them into a circle to see how it looks.
At this point the petals have these sharp edges which make them look cut out.




Therefore, flatten their sides by pinching them with your fingers and you can use a ball tool to make the petals more 3D. For that, put one into your hand, press your ball tool into it and carefully wiggle it and roll it on your petal.



You can give them even more interest by creating an indent at the top. I did this with a simple toothpick. Just take a petal in your hand with the outside edge upwards and press in the toothpick. Flatten out the area with your fingers and you get a sort of heart shape.
You can also add texture with a toothpick or needle tool by dragging in some lines.

To assemble the flower, take a piece of scrap clay (like from the rest of your cane), roll a small ball from it and press it on your work surface. Then place the petals on it.



I created more indents in the middle of each petal with a tooth pick.

Tutorial Flower Pendant

Then I made some leaves to go underneath. I used my home made leave cutter (see tutorial) for this but you can also cut them out by hand. Texture them by making some lines with a needle tool or toothpick.

Roll out a sheet of clay in a colour that goes with your flower and texture it by pressing sandpaper on top. Choose a circle cutter that's big enough for your flower to fit inside and create an indent on your clay sheet as a guide. Place your leaves onto the sheet inside the circle and cut it out (you can also cut it out before).

Position your flower on top and create and indent with a smaller ball tool in the centre. Put a little ball of yellow in the centre and texture it by dotting it with a needle tool or tooth pick.

I also pressed in a swarovski crystal. Make sure that the clay around it encases the crystal, so it doesn't fall out. Or glue it after baking. Make another circle of the same size as before and texture it with sand paper. I then pressed my signature stamp into it.

I turned it around, cut an eye pin to size and bent the straight side to another eyelet. I pressed that into my back piece, added some liquid clay to bond the pieces and placed the flower circle on top.
One eyelet is for hanging the pendant and the other to attach a bead underneath.

I also made three beads to function as a closure. I used my own circle cutter to cut equal parts from a clay sheet and rolled them into balls. I pierced those with a needle tool and baked everything.

I put a cone-shaped swarovski bead on a head pin, cut the excess and bent a loop with my pliers.
This dangles underneath the pendant.
When you open the loop, or if you open a jump ring, always make sure you do this with a twisting and not pulling motion or the metal might break.



I also brushed on some white paint into the crevasses and wiped away the excess. I glazed it to protect the paint

Tutorial Flower Pendant

I threaded the pendant on a piece of satin string to be a necklace together with two other beads at the sides. Then I threaded the ends through one of my clay beads from each side (see drawing). I threaded on another bead on each end of the string and tied a knot.


If you have any difficulties of threading the cord through you bead, try bending a piece of wire and using it as a needle (see picture). You might need to use pliers to pull it through but it works :)





And here is my finished pendant. I made it for my sister :)

Tutorial Flower Pendant

So do you like this pendant? Are you gonna make one yourself? Let me know :)

Se you soon