Whimsical & Decorative Clay Flowers




These easy to craft clay flowers are perfect for a whimsical and colorful decorative touch that's sure to be noticed  Group a variety of designs together to make a beautiful bouquet.   Made from air-dry clay, this tutorial was inspired by a
tutorial seen at Michaels.com that used "Model Air" terra cotta clay to make the flowers.   I have re-phrased the tutorial to suit all types of air-dry clay plus, as often happens, project instructions at Michaels.com tend to disappear frequently so re-posted is 'safer' than linking!  ;-)

Select a variety of your favorite pre-colored air-dry clays (or pre-tint the white clays with acrylic paints, paste colorants or pigment powders).  If you prefer, instead of pre-tinting, you could make these out of white or terra cotta clays and paint them after they dry.

Use dowel rods for the flower stem.  Paint as many as you need in your choice of greens (acrylic paint).  Paint some light green and some dark green to add variety.  Set aside to dry completely.

Using an acrylic roller or a pasta machine, roll clay out to a 3/16" thick sheet. For 3 flowers, cut out three 'base' shapes using a flower-shaped cookie cutter or clay cutter.**  Cut out circle shapes and stack them on top of some of the flower shapes depending on your choice of design for each.
(**Note: Tutorials for making your own cutters will be posted soon.)

Press a dowel rod "stem" into each of these shapes.  Sandwich the layered shapes over the dowel rod.

If you want to let the flower "base" dry at this step (optional), you can use white glue to add the additional layers in the following steps.

Using acrylic roller or pasta machine, roll additional clay out to a 3/16" thick sheet. Cut out  more shapes using a slightly smaller cookie cutter than your 'base' shapes.

Roll out more clay as needed.  Cut out more shapes using a slightly smaller cookie cutter than your second layer shapes.   Keep layering more shapes on top using the photos shown here for design ideas

Add texture details with clay tools as desired.

Allow to dry completely. If you didn't use pre-colored or pre-tinted clay, paint your flowers as  desired once they have cured.


Tips:  Add ribbons around the stems and gemstones to the flowers for a mixed-media look

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