Sculpey Flowers and Necklace Tutorial

Photo by TiffanyB photography

Okay, so here is the Sculpey Flowers tutorial I promised!  I'll show you how to make a pretty rose out of Sculpey, as well as how to make the necklace below:

1.  Work the Sculpey (or whatever other brand of polymer clay you're using) until it's easily pliable.  Squish it and twist it until it is soft.  I was trying to match the color of the flowers to the color of my dress' sash, so I blended two colors together to get the color I wanted. 

2.  Take a piece of Sculpey clay and place between two layers of wax paper.  On top of the wax paper, use some sort of rolling pin to roll out the clay (I used a heavy drinking glass, because I didn't want to get any clay on my wooden rolling pin, though I needn't have worried with the clay between the sheets of wax paper). 

3.  Find something to cut out small circles in your clay.  I used a very small cookie cutter (from a set of several sizes of round cookie cutters), and two different sizes of decorating tips that I had on hand. 

4.  Cut out a circle of clay with your smallest cutter. 

5.  Place the circle you cut in between two layers of wax paper.

6.  Roll out some more, until about as thin as 1/16th of an inch

7. Gently peel the circle off the wax paper and roll up, like an enchilada, or a spiral.  Repeat the cutting and rolling out process (steps 4-6) again with a slightly larger circle.  Put it on the side of the previously rolled "spiral tube," or center of the flower.  Press down on the bottom part of the "petal" so that it adheres to the bottom of the flower center.  Shape the edges of the "petal" so that it looks more like a rose petal. 

8., 9., 10.  Repeat the cutting and rolling out process for each new petal, using a slightly larger cutter as you get closer to the outside petals.  Place the petals onto the flower center, off-setting to make it look more natural. 

11.  Shape the flower petals so they look less like circles.  Press them out so they aren't standing straight up.  

12.  Get some eye pins. 

13.  Push an eye pin through the bottom of the flower. 

14., 15.  There will be a long "stem," from all the times you squished the clay petals together.  Cut it off with scissors.

16.  Paint on a glaze (I used Studio by Sculpey Satin Glaze) with a small paintbrush. 

17.  Let glaze dry for 30 minutes. 

18.  Bake according to manufacturer's directions.  I placed mine on parchment paper on the cookie sheet just in case, so nothing would stick to my cookie sheet. 

19.  To make the necklace shown, curl and close the straight end of the eye pins with a pair of jewelry making pliers (I bought a pair for around $2 from the Walmart craft section)  and connect to the other flowers' eye pins with jump rings.  Attach to a chain with jump rings.  (I bought a chain of the length I wanted at Hobby Lobby, cut it in half with a wire cutter, and attached jump rings to each cut end). 

20.  Wear and enjoy!

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