Schemes for flowers made of polymer clay. How to make flowers from polymer clay (plastic modeling). Making flowers from clay

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 make 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.

Designed specifically for making flowers cold porcelain(one of the types of self-hardening polymer clay). 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 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 products are coated with acrylic paints.

Ready-made self-hardening clays are only available in white, gray or terracotta colors. But baked polymer clay (plastic) has a wide range of colors. In addition, it may include glitter, filler that imitates metal or stone, and 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 restoring their original shape after deformation. 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 figurines are placed on a ceramic tile, old earthenware, or a metal baking sheet 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.

Useful tips

Polymer clay - a relatively new and very popular material, which is very malleable and allows you to make unique products. We have already talked about what interesting flowers are made from polymer clay, and today I would like to talk about another very popular product: jewelry.

DIY polymer clay decorations. Sausages made of polymer clay

Sausages made of polymer clay- these are blanks for future jewelry, including beads, from which thin pieces are cut plates-drawings. "Sausages" also called "canes" or "kanes"(English) cane).

We offer you a master class on how to make a very beautiful black and white sausage, which can be used to create stylish and very original jewelry.

What you will need:

- White and black polymer clay

- Knife or metal plate with blade

- Ruler

- Extrusion press

Let's get started:

Take two identical pieces of white and black clay and roll them into two squares 8 by 8 centimeters thickness approximately 0.5 centimeters.

Place one layer on top of the other and then divide them into two equal parts. Do this procedure again. You should end up with something like this striped "sandwich".

Squeeze the resulting rectangle so that you get elongated round sausage.

Then twist the sausage with your palm to get spiral. Simply press the sausage onto the table with your palm and roll it in one direction. Do this very carefully so as not to damage the drawing.

If you cut the resulting product in half, there should be here's a drawing:

Place the sausage inside clay extrusion press and squeeze out a thin long sausage.

In cross section it will look like this:

Thinly slice the sausage drawing up a drawing:

As a result, you can use the drawing for a variety of original decorations:

The simplest sausages made from polymer clay master class (video lesson):

Polymer clay beads

Multi-colored beads, which can be used to make a wide variety of jewelry, can be made from multi-colored polymer clay. If you don’t know the specifics of their manufacture, it seems as if the design was applied to these products using paint, but only multi-colored clay was used.

See for yourself.

What you will need:

- Self-hardening polymer clay of 5 colors (in this case white, gray, green, brown and yellow, but any others are possible)

- Knife or metal ruler with blade

- Rolling pin and board for clay

- Rubber gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints

Let's get started:

In order to get a design in the form of a daisy, first you need to “make it up” from clay of different colors. Take white clay and roll it into a sausage about 8 centimeters and diameter 4 centimeters.

Roll out a plate of gray clay about 2 millimeters.

Wrap the gray platinum about halfway around the white cylinder, cut off the excess knife or ruler.

Take green clay, roll it into a plate and also wrap the first piece on top of the gray layer. Trim the resulting sausage, remove excess from the sides.

Using a ruler, make cuts on the white part of the piece as shown in the picture. First in the middle, then two more cuts on the sides, so that between them there is approximately same distance.

Then insert the cut out rectangular pieces of the gray plate into the cuts.

Squeeze the resulting sausage, but not too hard, so that all the parts stick together and between them the air layer has disappeared. With your hands you can form the shape of the future petal. The photo shows a petal in the form truncated triangle. The entire sausage reached a length of approximately 30 centimeters.

The length of the sausage depends on how many petals you wish to receive. For example, for this flower the author of the master class is going to make 9 petals, so the length is 32 centimeters, that is 3.5 centimeters for one petal. Divide the sausage into 9 parts.

Let's start making the center of the chamomile. Take yellow clay and roll it out into a sausage length 5 centimeters and diameter 2 centimeters.

From brown clay, roll out a plate with a width of approximately 6 millimeters and completely wrap it around the yellow sausage.

You should get something like this chamomile:

Fill in the empty spaces between the petals pieces of green clay:

Wrap the chamomile completely in the rolled out green plate.

Squeeze chamomile sausage so as to release all the air between the parts.

Then you can start slicing. If you have some of the chamomile sausage left over, save it for future products. wrapped in film without air access. Cover the clay ball with daisies cut from the sausage, then smooth it out.

You can make several options beads:

Polymer clay decoration master class. Beads (video lesson):

Hairpins made of polymer clay

Very simple hairpins can be made using invisible and polymer clay. Here's one option:

What you will need:

- Polymer clay of the desired color

- Invisibility pin

- Glue

Let's get to work

Roll from a piece of clay small ball, and then crush it into a round disc with your fingers.

Pinch the edges to get petal. Make as many petals as you wish.

Connect all the petals together. If you have fire clay, bake the flower to harden the clay. Then you can stick it on a bobby pin with using a piece of thick fabric.

With this simple technique you can make a variety of bobby pins:

By the way, hairpins can be made using ready-made flowers and base accessories. You can take advantage of the master classes from the article Flowers made of polymer clay.

Here are some examples:

Polymer clay earrings

Very simple earrings can be made from clay, foil and wire. They are ideal for winter outfits.

What you will need:

- Self-hardening polymer clay (white and pearlescent)

- Knife

- Accessories for earrings (wire, rings, hooks)

- Foil

- Molds

- Sequins

- Needle nose pliers

Let's get to work

Roll out the clay to the desired thickness (approx. 3 millimeters). Divide the white piece into three parts. The fourth will be pearlescent color. From them you will cut mugs for details. Place foil on one sheet.

Using round molds with a diameter of approx. 5 millimeters cut circles from each sheet.

Cut the wire into lengths of approximately 7 centimeters. Place each circle on a wire. Do this very carefully so as not to make a hole in the circle in an unnecessary place.

Wrap the shiny circle again foil.

Roll some of the white circles in glitter.

Make as many details as you wish. The author of this master class used 13 parts for each earring. Allow the clay to dry and harden.

Wire tip on each piece bend it into a loop using needle nose pliers.

Shorten some parts wire.

Connect the parts in pairs different colors and different lengths(one part remains without a pair).

Connect the parts of one earring using wire ring.

Attach accessories for earrings.

Original earrings made of polymer clay (video tutorial):

Polymer clay pendant

What you will need:

- Self-hardening polymer clay (black)

- 2 sheets of aluminum foil (gold and silver)

- Drop shape

- Cutting blade for working with clay

- Shiloh

- Pasta machine or rolling pin with a board for rolling out a thin layer

Let's get to work

Roll the foil into tight ball. This will be the central element of our pendant. This core will allow the product not to be too heavy. You can make the center out of clay, but if you wear such a pendant for a long time, it will remain on your neck. imprint from the chain.

Roll out using a pasta machine or by hand thin layer of clay and cut out an even circle. Wrap it around a ball of foil. Remove excess clay.

Once the ball is ready, pierce it pin for jewelry through.

Roll out a sheet of black clay to a thickness of approximately 3 millimeters, cover it with a very thin layer gold foil and squeeze out drop parts using a mold.

Then start attaching the drops one by one to round base future big shot. Don't worry if the thin layer of gold cracks, it will give a special stylish look to your product.

Cover with drops all over bump until the very end.

If you are using baked clay, bake the product at recommended temperature. Once it has cooled, attach the chain.

Modeling from polymer clay. Pendant (video lesson):

Polymer clay beads

We invite you to get acquainted with unusual technique creating jewelry using polymer clay, balls and wire using the following example of creating beads. You can make entire sets in the same way: beads, earrings, bracelets, pendants.

What you will need:

- Self-hardening translucent polymer clay (several shades)

- Small rubber balls

- Thin wire

- Scissors

- Accessories for jewelry (pin with loop, chain)

- Pasta machine or rolling pin with a board for rolling out a thin layer

- Pin

Let's get to work

1. Inflate rubber balloons desired size. You can make balls of different sizes, as shown in this master class, or the same ones. The number of balls will determine the size of the product.

2. Twist several segments wire as shown in the photo to make a loop.

3. Place a loop on the ball where it is tied knot.

4. Wrap the ball with wire to make it net.

5. You should end up with a covered ball wire mesh.

6. 7. Remove excess wire ends using scissors.

8. Roll out very thin sheet made of translucent polymer clay.

9. Completely wrap the clay sheet around the ball. wire mesh.

10. 11. Pop the ball inside with a pin and pull it out out through a small hole.

12. Press the clay inward to make a little dented sphere. Do this very carefully so as not to damage the thin layer of clay.

Let the clay harden thoroughly, and then use special paints to apply desired drawing.

Polymer clay video. Beads

Polymer clay bracelet

This original bracelet is made using an old glass dish with floral relief pattern. Perhaps there is something similar in your kitchen.

What you will need:

- Baked polymer clay (desired color)

- Metal forms for bracelet

- Glass saucer with relief

- Nail polish of different colors

- Satin wide ribbon

- Scissors

- Pasta machine or rolling pin with a board for rolling out a thin layer

- Glue

Let's get to work

1. Roll out the clay into a long strip approximately 0.5 centimeters. Use a saucer to draw a design. You can use any molds that you have in stock.

2. Using scissors or a clay blade, cut out an even rectangular strip width, which is slightly larger than the width of the metal bracelet mold.

3. Wrap clay around a metal mold.

4. Fold edges of clay inward. Then bake the product until the clay completely hardens.

5. If desired, you can paint the product nail polish. To hide the metal shape inside, you can glue satin ribbon.

DIY polymer clay. Bracelet (video tutorial)

Polymer clay ring

We offer you a master class on making very simple but original polymer clay rings in the shape of a bow.

What you will need:

- Polymer clay (desired color)

- Blade

- Pasta machine or rolling pin with a board for rolling out a thin layer

- Sequins

Let's get to work

Knead the clay in your hands so that it becomes more pliable, and roll out a plate with a thickness of approximately 0.5 centimeters.

Use a blade or knife to cut details for the bow: two rectangles (one wider, the other narrower). Fold the edges of the longer one inward, and wrap the other rectangle around the first piece.

You should end up with something like this bow:

Make it out of clay ring, then attach a bow to it. In order for the ring to fit you, you need to wrap it first around own finger and adjust to the desired size. Don't worry if there are fingerprints or imperfections on the ring. By using sequin this problem will be masked.

Cover the ring glitter and let it harden.

Polymer clay for beginners. Ring (video lesson):

Polymer clay rings photo

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 from of this material create original jewelry, souvenirs, flowers. Wedding bouquets are excellent made from polymer clay, 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.

Helpful tips when working with clay

First, wash your hands well, as clay perfectly absorbs various contaminants. Keep your work area clean too. Gather your hair or put a scarf on your head. Apply talc to the clay - this way you will prevent debris from sticking to it. Calculate the amount of clay correctly, because colored clay has a short shelf life. If the clay dries out, do not lose heart, but simply add regular cream to the material for hands, but not a lot. Be careful with clay products - they are quite fragile. Store the packaging with the material only when it is closed. To ensure that the clay serves you for a long time, place 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.

Flowers made of polymer clayCallies

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 utility 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 straighten 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 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 strip for the pestle wider and apply brown color to its tip. Using a needle, curl the edges of the smaller petals. Straighten the paper clip and attach the flower to it, starting with the pistil and stamens. Next, attach the petals symmetrically.

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, place a ball on your left palm and apply pressure with the thumb of your 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.

Which clay is best?

Flowers made from polymer clay cannot be distinguished from real ones!

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

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 products are coated with acrylic paints.

Rules for baking plastic

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 figurines are placed on a ceramic tile, old earthenware, or a metal baking sheet 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.

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.

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 the clay using a 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.

Hello dear readers. Here is the second edition (the third edition is available in PDF) of my very first article on the topic of polymer floristry. Since the day I wrote this article, a lot of water has passed under the bridge. I learned a lot of new things, rethought some important points for me, and even changed my opinion on something almost radically. In this article I will try to tell you as much as possible of what I know about this fascinating activity - creating artificial flowers from cold porcelain, polymer clay or even ceramics.

Flowers. How much joy they bring us. They are given as gifts for the holidays, they are bought simply for the soul, and they are grown on windowsills. But no matter how beautiful they are, cut flowers fade sooner or later, and potted flowers sometimes require such painstaking care that not every person can handle it. For many years, people have replaced natural flowers with artificial ones, trying to solve the problem of the fragility of natural flowers. They made them from stone, clay, paper, fabric, leather... And in our time, flowers made from cold porcelain and polymer clays, created specifically for polymer floristry, are becoming most popular.

Despite the fact that many people are hearing about cold porcelain only for the first time, it appeared in the middle of the last century. Many sources prefer to pay tribute to the first discovery specifically in Argentina, but there is a lot of information that it was “discovered” at approximately the same time everywhere. After all, cold porcelain itself is a simple material to make - it is based on starch and PVA glue. And only over time, when florists turned their attention to it, it began to be refined and improved in pursuit of softness and elasticity. Why is a composition that essentially has nothing to do with porcelain (starch + pva) called cold porcelain? Everything is very simple and no frills. Dried mixture in its own way appearance resembles porcelain, and since the material does not require firing and dries on its own quite quickly, it was given the name “cold porcelain”.

I won't go into a boring story or comparative characteristics. I just want to say that today more and more polymer clays are appearing, which are similar in composition to cold porcelain, and even surpass it in technical qualities. But if you are just starting to be interested in polymer floristry, and are not sure that you are ready to spend an impressive amount on studying various types of plastic, as well as on purchasing a solid mountain of tools, then cold porcelain is what you need. The thing where polymer clays are unlikely to beat this simple mixture is price. Factory-made polymer clays are sold for relatively large amounts of money. For example, at the time of writing this article (beginning of 2013), polymer self-hardening clay Modena from the Japanese company Padico in Moscow costs 550 rubles per 250 grams, Sukerukun (Japan) - 900 rubles per 200 grams, Clear (Japan) - 450 rubles per 100g. Thai clays, which I put one step lower in quality, and also due to the absence or presence of a dubious non-toxicity certificate, cost from 300 to 450 rubles. While the material for making porcelain at home will cost you 5-10 times less. It all depends on what materials you buy and what effect you want to achieve. Of course, over time you will understand that the price problem is solved by purchasing clay in bulk for a year at once, but only those who decide to sell their products come to this. And even then, the price still remains higher, but you save in something else - the time you spend on the cooking process and your health, which few people think about, neglecting simple safety measures when preparing cold porcelain.

Second no less important quality– elasticity during sculpting. High-quality cold porcelain has an extraordinary elasticity of the material, which remains even when the clay begins to dry out a little and only particularly expensive clays (for example Sukerukun, Clear) can compare with it. This is very important, especially in cases where the master has to work for a long time with one piece of cold porcelain due to inexperience or due to the increased complexity of the product being created. Many masters do not pay attention to this point and consider accuracy an excess. I'm not going to argue with them. Everyone is free to follow the path that he likes best. I prefer the path of grace, precision and tenderness. With each of my new products, I slowly but persistently move on it and do not regret the time spent on all this accuracy. Because I see the joy in people's eyes when they receive my flowers and decorations, and this is the best indicator for me that I am doing everything right.

So, the time for lyrics has passed. I assume that since you started reading this article, you have heard something about artificial flowers made of polymer clay, flowers made of cold porcelain, ceramic floristry and the like. And you were wondering how to try to do something like this yourself? What is needed for this? How to start? Where? For what? How!!! Personally, I was overwhelmed with these questions when I realized that there wasn’t that much information on the resources I knew. No, of course, if you set a goal, you can always find what you are looking for, but how much time was spent in order to isolate what is paramount and what is not so important to begin with. I think that many creative people We are familiar with the excitement that overwhelms us when we are fired up by a new idea. Without really knowing the technology and the essence, we go to the store and buy everything related to our chosen topic, and only after some time we realize that about two-thirds of what we bought is either simply not needed, or will not be needed soon. When I started writing this article, my first goal was not so much to talk about cold porcelain, polymer clays and polymer floristry in general, but rather to show what a novice master might need in his first steps. How you can make do with scrap materials and keep costs to a minimum in case your passion passes. After all, not everything we want to try suits us.

I want to say right away that if you are planning to move along the path of polymer floristry, then you simply must have unlimited patience, well-developed finger motor skills, as well as a desire for neatness. And if you dare to look towards white porcelain... Then you need patience, speed and accuracy like air! The absence of any of the components does not deprive you of the right and opportunity to engage in this creativity. In no case! But you must understand that realistic flowers are obtained only with the lion's share of patience, accuracy and dexterity of the fingers. Although all three of these qualities develop beautifully in the process. So, probably, the main thing is desire. Well, we have plenty of it!

Polymer and ceramic floristry

Artificial flowers made of porcelain, cold porcelain and polymer clays began to appear in our lives not so long ago. But every day more and more information is leaking out and becoming available. I would like to start, perhaps, with the fact that at the very beginning I, like many other people, was misled by the fact that cold porcelain and self-hardening polymer clay belong to ceramic floristry. This misconception was instilled in us by the first company to appear in Russia that sculpted flowers from polymer clay. Why such misinformation and confusion was created, I do not know. Perhaps the people who launched it really wanted to bring ceramic floristry to the CIS countries, but realized that distributing it to the masses is even more difficult than polymer floristry.

One way or another, remember that ceramic floristry is flowers created from clay, which must be fired. That is, made of ceramics. The most common material is white porcelain and certain varieties of it, which have very good elasticity. But, due to the high complexity of the modeling technique itself, the small circle of consumers (prices for such compositions reach hundreds of thousands of rubles) and the need to have a kiln on hand, this type of creativity is very rare, but I can assure you that the results are amazing.

With a big, very big stretch, cold porcelain, which as such is not porcelain, can be classified as ceramic floristry. Although, personally, I attribute it more to polymer floristry, which, in fact, is what we are talking about when we say “Flowers and decorations from cold porcelain” or “Flowers from self-hardening polymer clay.” Polymer floristry is the creation of flowers from various types of polymer clays. Whether it's baked polymer clay or self-hardening clay. Moreover, the degree of realism of polymer colors depends solely on the polymer clays you choose. Well, or, from the recipe for your cold porcelain. Some of them are not inferior to polymer clays in their properties and durability. But personally, I wouldn’t risk cooking these at home. I don’t recommend it to you either!

Cold porcelain and its analogues - self-hardening polymer clays

Since this article was first written, I have studied a huge variety of polymer clays and realized that my first conclusion was correct - there is no need to describe one hundred and one polymer clays in this article. But, perhaps, I will still tell you about a few of them as the ones that I remember the most. In all other cases, if you wish, you can go to search engine and spend a couple of hours/days/weeks studying this material. You can spend money and buy yourself different types of clay, in practice, finding exactly the material that is most suitable for you. And here and now I will only briefly tell you what I consider necessary and what I am sure of.

First of all, it’s worth noting that all clay (in the future, let’s also call cold porcelain as one of the “brands” of polymer clay, although this is not true, but it’s easier for the story, and this does not contradict generally accepted concepts) can be divided into soft and hard, porous and smooth. There are many more various classifications, but for me they are not relevant. As I have already noticed, when it comes to sculpting techniques, people like to work either with very soft, elastic clay, or with harder, rubbery clay. My personal opinion is that elastic, soft clay allows you to make more realistic compositions that are closer to real flowers. My mind rears up when I get my hands on a clumsy rubber material that can be used to make decorative flowers, but nothing like the real thing. Someone may disagree with me, but this entire article is my personal conclusions and reasoning, which does not claim to be tutorial and common truths. I become my experience and my opinion. How to use it and what to learn from all this for yourself is up to you. So, it is for this reason that almost 80% of polymer clays are immediately eliminated. I didn't buy all the clays in a row. I read reviews about them, looked at works made from them, looked available videos. I just want to point out one thing. When buying clay, remember that almost all (or even all) of them are afraid of freezing. For this reason, do not buy clay by mail in the winter. If you want to try clay for the first time, buy it during the warm season or purchase it directly from the store. The clay will not die in the bag for a couple of hours in the cold. Frozen clay, after defrosting, loses its elastic properties and becomes “oaky” or “rubbery”. Some of them can be revived by mixing in water or glycerin cream, but in both cases the result will be, frankly speaking... a hundred times worse than the worst cold porcelain. Perhaps I’m exaggerating a little, but one way or another, flowers made from clay resuscitated after freezing do not look so “fresh.”

But let's return to our properties. The second attribute that is not unimportant for me is the texture of the material itself. I like the clay to have a smooth texture, reminiscent of Fimo polymer clays for firing/baking. That is, essentially, like very soft and elastic plasticine. For this reason, I immediately discarded two popular brands for ceramic floristry, Claycraft by Deco and Hearty by Padico. These clays have a more porous texture than I would like, although I do have the Hearty line, which I use in special cases where roughness and paperiness are needed. In addition, Claycraft is too fragile, and if you have to choose between it and cold porcelain, then the second is both cheaper and stronger. Although, if I choose between smooth polymer clays and cold porcelain, I will choose the first. Why? Because recently I believe that the polymer base is more flexible and durable. But if your main question is price at the initial stages, then I don’t see any reason for you to chase a well-known brand that you can replace with something that you can prepare yourself cheaper? The main thing is not to forget about safety precautions!

Of all the purchased polymer clays today, I liked Modena by Padico and Sukerukun clay. The second clay is just a dream! However, its price significantly reduces the excitement. The advantage of both clays over cold porcelain is that after drying, these clays become waterproof and flexible, which cannot be said about cold porcelain, although flexibility can still be achieved by adding rare types of PVA glue or elasticizers to the mixture. Modena clay is inferior in elasticity during modeling to cold porcelain and Thai polymer clays such as Thai Clay, Modern Clay, etc. But, in my personal opinion, no clay can surpass the elasticity of Sukerukun. Perhaps this alone justifies its cost. Although, it seems to me that the price, which is almost twice as high as that of Modena, is due to the dubious transparency of the clay. Yes, undoubtedly it is the most transparent, but do not expect to get currants or grapes from it. Unreal. That is why, due to such different properties of clays, I use combinations of different types in my compositions.

For jewelry, I always use only waterproof and flexible clays. The main clay for jewelry is Modena. In cases where this clay does not cope with its elasticity, I use Sukerukun. I use the well-known waterproof clay Luna Clay in cases where I need, on the contrary, a rigid structure in decoration or compositions.

For flower arrangements I use Thai clays, or rather one - Modern Clay Blue. It is softer and more flexible than Modern Clay Green, which can be obtained from blue by “weathering”.

When I started sculpting, my arsenal was limited to Modena Clay. I want to honestly tell you that even now I can safely get by only with it. But here only curiosity and the desire to experiment, to learn something new come into play, and therefore now in my box of clay there is a whole heap of various packages “of all the colors of the rainbow.” I’m scared to even think how much money was spent on this...

So. Well, now the main question! Where can I buy! It is already clear that cold porcelain can be welded yourself. Fortunately, there are an endless number of recipes on the Internet. The main thing here is not just to find a recipe, but also to see what comes out of it. Be careful and make sure that the photographs posted in the recipe were taken by the author from cold porcelain, cooked according to this particular recipe, and not collected from all over the Internet, which is more beautiful. For example, my tulips from Modern Clay Blue are now circulating on the Internet, showing the result of sculpting from cold porcelain without cooking. I very much doubt that something close to similar can happen there...

Self-hardening polymer clays can also be bought in the store. The best place to search is our native and unique Internet. Just enter the name of the brand of clay you are looking for and the word “buy”, and you will find many useful results. If you really try, you can search on Japanese and Thai sites. Clay is much cheaper there. But delivery will only pay off if you order a large batch. So, just a year in advance.

By the way, earlier in this article there was information about Fleur clay, which, as they say, is still the same Modern Clay. I still remain of the opinion that Fleur is inferior in quality to Modern Clay. And I don't plan to change it. At least until frozen or old clay with broken package seals stops appearing on the shelves. Of course, you can also find it from other sellers defective goods, but Fleur is found here (at least in Moscow) more often than other polymer clays. Not to mention the fact that its price is twice as high as Modern Clay... In general, just be careful when buying clay, even in a tight package it should sag well under your fingers. And Modena is even more so - it completely flattens out at the corner. However, I am in no way saying that the “fresh” Fleur itself is bad material. It's just very difficult to find. Even if you buy directly from this company's store.

But regardless of the brand and the freshness of the clay, it must be stored in an airtight condition. Cling film allows air to pass through, so in addition to it, it is best to wrap the clay in plastic wrap. Then even the tinted pieces will last quite a long time.

Secondary materials and tools

The purpose of this subsection is not to list you all the existing options for tools and materials, but to tell you what will be useful to you at the very beginning, and what can be replaced with it.

Paints

The most basic of the secondary materials, which is difficult to refuse, is paint. Paints are applied on top of the finished product; they are also added directly to the clay, giving it the desired color. Professionals use oil paints because, unlike acrylic paints, do not contain water and do not dry as quickly, and therefore do not speed up the hardening process of the clay, and you do not need to tinker with them much, like with pastels, after which everything around is covered with a thin layer of colored dust. Also, when tinting with oil paints, you can make beautiful and smooth transitions that cannot be achieved when working with acrylic.

You can use both the cheapest oil paints and expensive ones. The only difference is that cheap paints can sometimes have unexpected effects on the clay. For example, many are faced with the fact, and I also experienced this, that the blue colors of Sonnet and Master Class, when added to cold porcelain in a samovar, lead to the appearance of a very unpleasant odor in the clay. This smell disappears after drying, but working with such material is unpleasant. Or, for example, a sonnet contains such an amount of linseed oil that it simply pours out of the tube instead of paint. You have to constantly monitor the process, and this is not always possible. One of the recommended firms is Winsor & Newton. Oil from this company can be bought in almost any art store. These are the paints I use. My color palette is quite large, since I paint pictures with the same paints. To get started, you can buy an inexpensive, small set of oil paints from Sonnet of 12 colors. It doesn’t cost much, and if you don’t like polymer floristry and don’t find another use for the oil, you won’t be so sorry for the money you spent.

I also use water-soluble oil from Winsor & Newton, but only for toning and texturing already dried products. This allows me to avoid using solvents and thinners, which then give me such a terrible headache. Adding such oil to clay reduces its elasticity time. Even in a sealed bag, the clay begins to lose it over time. But adding regular oil paints, on the contrary, increases elasticity. After you add a little color and mix the clay well until the shade is uniform, wrap it in film and let it sit for about five minutes. You can even warm it a little in your hands. Then stir the clay again and you will see how elastic it has become.

Please note that there are two types of white in oil paints. Zinc and titanium. In polymer floristry, zinc white is mainly used. They retain the porcelain quality of the clay and, in small portions, even transparency. Titanium white completely kills transparency, and also makes the clay look like plastic; in addition, such clay very quickly loses its elasticity during sculpting and often even begins to crumble. But sometimes you will still need titanium white.

Glue

Almost all flowers are made in parts, and these parts then need to be somehow connected. Usually, the most common PVA glue is used for these purposes. However, it is worth remembering that PVA glue perfectly connects raw material to raw or dried material, but two dried pieces of clay most likely will not be connected using PVA. And then you will need something more reliable. The simplest solution is super glue for a second or moment. They grip instantly and firmly. Especially fingers with clay... Usually both PVA and super glue are available in every home, and if they are not there, then purchasing them is not a problem.

Many florists use latex glue instead of PVA. Outwardly, it looks like PVA glue, when it dries it becomes transparent, and is specially designed for working with plastic. Although, like PVA, it is difficult to connect two dried parts made of cold porcelain or polymer clay. Personally, I don’t see much point in buying this glue in the early stages. If you decide to sell your work, then it’s worth looking for similar glue. I buy a large bottle and pour myself a little at a time. Since latex glue has a habit of drying out, becoming tighter or completely drying out. Because you always forget to close the glue jar while sculpting.

Wire

Most flowers are based on a wire frame. Depending on the size of the flower, the wire can be either very thin or as thick as a pencil lead. Perhaps this is a tool that is difficult to replace with something and which you will need sooner or later. And usually sooner rather than later. Therefore, if you are planning to get into polymer floristry, then you definitely need to probe the soil of your city to see where you can buy wire. You can buy it at construction markets and craft stores (I bought my first wire at a beading store)... I think you can find many more places if you try hard. In specialized floristry stores, the wire is sold in coils. Usually in green or white. To be honest, this winding is of no use to us. More inconvenience, most likely. But such wire looks more beautiful and is more pleasant to work with, although sometimes the winding has a habit of getting shaggy and untwisted at the ends, and it has to be glued, which, of course, is a little annoying. Personally, I prefer unwound wire. I really like the dyed wire that bead stores sell. Moreover, such wire is also cheaper.

Tape Tape

This tricky tape is not sold in every city. Several years ago it was difficult to find even in Moscow. Perhaps only in rare specialized floristry stores. Now things are simpler. In polymer floristry, tape is needed to connect parts to the frame if they are mounted on wire. Double-sided adhesive tape tightens all the wires very well, turning them into a neat stem, which can then, if desired, be rolled in clay. But even without running in, such stems already look pretty good. Without tape you will have a hard time. If you have no way to buy tape... well... then you'll have to improvise. You can try using construction paper tape. This, of course, is still a substitute, but it’s better with it than without anything at all. The main thing is, don’t forget to roll the stem afterwards, otherwise the flower won’t look very beautiful.

Tape comes in different colors. We will need the green ribbon most of all, but you can also buy brown if you find it or any other if you don’t find the colors you need. Better with tape than without it!

Cling film and modeling mat

I believe that it is not worth explaining the necessity and essence of these two items. You can do without them, but the film will help preserve your clay for a long time, and the mat will organize your workspace and allow you to keep it clean while you work. If you're really desperate, you can buy a paper cutting mat (they're usually green with centimeter dividers) and an airtight container for polymer clay wrapped in cling film. This will provide an additional guarantee against drying out and will organize the dozens of colorful pieces that will accumulate over time.

Scissors, wire cutters, side cutters, etc.

You will have a hard time working without small scissors. At first, ordinary nail scissors will suit you, but in the future I strongly advise you to find and buy small scissors with straight and long, thin blades. The thinner and longer the steel, the better. I had to spend several weeks before I could find the scissors I needed at an affordable price in the next store.

You will also find it useful in the future:

- round nose pliers - if you are going to make jewelry using fittings
- tweezers - sometimes the parts are so small that your fingers begin to seem thick and clumsy, and you can also quickly make loops on a thin wire with tweezers
- side cutters - for cutting thick wire
- pliers - for straightening and bending thick wire

Most tools can be easily found in any home. And if you don’t have them, then, in my opinion, it’s time to get them!

Stacks

The last series of important tools are stacks. Unfortunately, most sculpting stacks won't work. Here you need your own specific stacks. But over time, perhaps you will buy something from ordinary sculptor stacks, depending on your desires and needs. Our two main stacks look like this:

Knitting needle

In the form of a stick with balls at the ends

If you have the opportunity, it is better to immediately buy such stacks. Different sizes and more! If you have a sane person in your head, it's best to first understand what kind of stacks you'll need.

The first basic stack looks a lot like a thick knitting needle. On one side the diameter of the circle is 1.5-2 mm, and on the other 4-5 mm. Despite its size, I can even roll out miniature lilacs and forget-me-nots with this stack. A smaller stack that I bought later and looks like a thin knitting needle is used by me to create very small flowers, for example, heather or miniatures. In general, to summarize, I want to say that first you should try out some available materials, and only then, based on this knowledge, buy yourself a stack. Although there is not much variety among them. As a substitute, you can use a knitting needle, a Japanese kitchen stick, or even an awl. For example, I started with sewing.

The second stack of balls seems indispensable, but it is not. Just find a strong stick (brush, pencil, thick wire) and glue smooth beads of the size you need to it. For example, for a very long time I used a cold porcelain ball mounted on a wooden stick. Only much later did I buy myself a set of different-sized stacks and, in fact, I didn’t feel much of a difference. Well, besides the fact that iron tools are still better than a light brush and an equally light ball.

A useful tool, in my opinion, is a roller knife. I remember studying it in surprise, not knowing where to use it, but then it turned out that with such a knife it was very good to cut out the necessary shapes from a rolled out layer of clay or to make indentations in the clay for rolling a stem. However, you can do just fine without this tool, but if you buy it for yourself, it definitely won’t be superfluous. The main thing is to buy steel immediately, not plastic.

Molds and cutters

This is where you can pour your money endlessly. Molds and cutters make the life of a florist much easier, but if you don’t have a bottomless bag of gold, then you should think ten times before buying a mold or cutter.

A mold is a texture imprint from a petal or leaf of a living flower, which we use to give a realistic resemblance when sculpting. It will be difficult to do without molds, but many flowers can still be sculpted without them, so don’t rush to buy molds. Firstly, they are expensive, and secondly, you can make them yourself.

To do this you will need:

- plasticine.

- epoxy or the most common silicone sealant.

- the leaf from which you want to make an impression.

First, roll out a piece of plasticine and attach a leaf to it. This way you will get a print. Around this print, stick more plasticine in the form of sides. Pour the prepared epoxy resin or silicone sealant into the resulting “container” (do not forget to carefully level the sealant so that it fills all the recesses). Let dry and remove the plasticine. That's the whole story. You can also order two-component silicone paste from the USA, which is suitable not only for creating various impressions, but also for making baking molds. So if you are also involved in decorating cakes, then you can safely create molds for yourself in this area. To create such silicone mold, you need to mix the two components and make an impression on the resulting mass, which is very similar to our polymer clay. After a few hours, the silicone will completely harden. And the mold can be used. Also, in summer and spring, you can simply use live foliage as molds, but closer to autumn, I still advise you to take care of the supply of necessary molds.

As for cutters - molds for flowers and foliage, I personally think that they kill the vibrancy of a flower, but sometimes you still can’t do without them. Identical, boring petals do not look very natural where nature allows disproportions. If you use cutters, do not forget to work on each leaf and petal after this, adding individuality to it, changing the shape a little. Cutters are very expensive, and many craftsmen make them by hand from tin cans, cutting them into strips and then shaping them into the desired shape. Some cutters are quite useful, but most can still be dispensed with or use cardboard patterns that can be applied to a rolled out piece of clay and then carefully cut out with scissors or a roller knife. You won't need cutters for the first few days, so you can safely forget about them.

Pasta machine
I won’t tell you which car is better to choose and how to use it. I can only say one thing - most pasta machines are simple machines for rolling out the most ordinary dough of different thicknesses. You won't need a paste machine for quite some time, but if you want to speed up the process of sculpting flowers whose petals and leaves need to be cut out with cutters, then a paste machine will save you a lot of time. Not only that, it will roll out your layer of clay evenly and, no less important, it will not leave your fingerprints on it. Don't forget that unlike baked plastic, our polymer clay is very sticky and can get wrapped around the rollers of your pasta machine. Therefore, it is best to roll the clay in a special film or “file”. Both can be bought at any polymer floristry store along with a pasta machine.

Cream
At my master classes, I often come across the fact that always at the very beginning, when I talk about tools, the question arises ahead of time: “Why do you need a cream and what kind?” Firstly, there is a misconception that cream can restore clay. I must say that I myself believed in this for a long time, until I realized in practice that the main meaning of the cream is completely different - it is used in cases where your clay sticks too much to your hands and tools. It also helps a little, very little, to restore the elasticity of the clay, but not its ductility. These are slightly different concepts. To restore the clay itself, you need to mix into it what it lost when it became hard, namely water. Cream, as a more liquid substance than the clay itself, can partially restore elasticity by replacing water, but in large quantities the cream leads to disruption of the structure of the clay. And great disappointment on the part of the creator.

Which cream is right for us? Yes, absolutely anything containing glycerin. I used Velvet Handles for a long time, and then I bought a pleasant-smelling Pond’s cream, which is available in large quantities in polymer floristry stores. Perhaps its main advantage is the wide neck of the jar.

Well then. That's probably all I wanted to say about the materials. As you can see, I spoke very briefly and little, but it seems to me that I said the most important thing:
- which clay is best to start with?
- what paints are best to buy?
— what tools may be useful in the beginning
You will find out the rest yourself, gradually learning techniques, tricks, and tricks.

In the next part I will tell you about.

In the meantime, you should stock up on the materials necessary for it:

In the meantime, you should stock up on the materials necessary for it: Polymer clay (you can weld it yourself or buy Modena, Modern Clay, Thai Clay polymer clay)
Set of oil paints “Sonnet” 12 colors small, brushes No. 1, 2, 4 (synthetic or kolinsky, preferably flat or oval), N8 (fluffy round brush made of very soft synthetic), thinner
Wire No. 28x12 - 22 pcs (wire for beads of medium thickness is also suitable, it should withstand the weight of the flower and not bend in half from it)
Wire No. 18x12 – 1 pc.
PVA glue (or latex glue)
Green or brown tape
Nail scissors (preferably with straight tips)
Basic stack (or something that can replace it, such as a spoke)
Patience and good mood!

If you have any questions, please ask! If I know the answers to them, I will definitely share the information.

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