I have been making a lot of roses these days for this coming Valentine's Day, roses are one of the most challengeable objects for myself to make. My journey into rose making started mid last year when I saw beautiful handcrafted realistic roses made from clay online and I was really amazed by this beautiful piece of art. So I told myself to give it a try, I started making miniature roses but they weren't pretty at first. I went through a lot of research and gathered all the useful tips, finally I am happy with what I have achieved and discovered and now would like to share them. This is just a quick walkthrough/ tutorial because it was also my first trial out for a larger scale rose, and I just took photos of my steps. I hope you find this helpful, please leave a comment if you would like to share your own experience in making clay roses.
This is the rose that I made for this quick walkthrough, I did not know where to hang it to air dry... the drawer handle was the last option I could think of.
Ever since I discovered cold porcelain clay, it has been used in a lot of my projects. The best thing about it is that you can make it yourself, it is easy and the ingredients are cheap. Cold porcelain clay is a great polymer clay alternative. I have always been avoiding polymer clay because of the expensive price and I do not want to use my oven for small things. I mainly work with air dry clay, and Hearty clay is one of them. However it is also very expensive and I need to buy them overseas, the shipping prices are very high these days. Therefore cold porcelain clay is now one of my favourites, this clay can produce very durable results and I just love the smooth matt finish. The clay is very soft to work with and can be easily coloured.
Above is a short introduction to this clay. I realised the text is hard to see for some people, so please click CC if you need captions.
Here are some of my roses I made with cold porcelain clay. The first rose on the left I made it awhile ago, and the next two I made just few days after. I am really happy with my third attempt, the result looks good but I still have many things to improve on.
So here I am just going to do a brief introduction on how I made my clay, I used the microwave instead of the stove to cook it. If you need the stove version, you can find many of them on YouTube.
*** Please scroll down to see trouble shooting and FAQ if you are having troubles making this clay***
You will need :
Important notices: * Please stick closely to these ingredients,no substitution and you must use the amount it is required. * You cannot make it in the oven. You can make this clay in a microwave, or cook it in a pot on the stove. There are some tutorials on YouTube demonstrating the stove method. 1 cup (240ml) of cornstarch/ corn flour
1 cup (240ml) of PVA glue (school grade white glue, any brand would do)
2 tablespoons of vinegar/ lemon juice/ lime juice
2 tablespoons of baby oil/ cooking oil
Lotion
First prepare a microwave save bowl and put in all the wet ingredients.
Add the corn flour.
Mix till a gooey texture.
Pop in the microwave for 15s, and do it for 3 times. Between these intervals take it out and mix it. I have a 1100W microwave, the cooking time depends on the power, so start with a short duration for the first time.
You will start to see the top turn into a matt finish, and the clay is getting hard.
This is after the third interval, the clay starts to form lumps.
Prepare a cooking wrap sheet with lotion, this will prevent the clay sticking to your hands and the working surface. Be careful, the clay is very hot!
Keep kneading till it's cooled down and forms into a shape.
Don't overcook, the clay is perfect with a peak when you pull it apart. If the clay breaks when you pull, it means you have overcooked it.
Wrap it up and store in the fridge (I normally leave it overnight).
Above is a tutorial I made with red food colouring. The amount of ingredients were different due to more water contents from the food colouring, however, the processes are the same. I know some of you were having troubles making the clay, I hope this video helps. Also, you can make all sorts of different colours by using this method! Please subscribe to my channel as well :-) !!
Troubleshooting :
I have received many questions about this clay, sorry I can't reply to everyone's questions. So here are some troubleshooting tips:
* My clay is still sticky
1. Did you use corn starch or corn flour? You can not use anything else other than those two ingredients.
2. What's the watts for your microwave? If it's under 1100W, you might need to add more intervals and cook more.
3. When you knead it, if it becomes sticky, add more corn starch or corn flour. If you are confident enough, you can always put it back in the microwave for a few seconds just to warm it up (however this is really risky, I suggest you just add more cornstarch/ corn flour)
4. If you put it in the fridge to rest and the next day it's sticky, again, mix in some dry ingredients (corn starch/ corn flour) in.
* I overcooked my clay
You can always make an under-cook batch and blend them together, it always worked for me!
* My clay cracked when dried
This is a really hard question, because it has never happened to me before. It really depends on the temperature and the humidity of your area. Avoid putting it directly under the sun, and place it in a well ventilated area in room temperature.
* My clay can't stick together when I put the pieces together
This is a tricky question, because it really depends on the consistency of your clay. My only suggestion would be blend in some PVA glue to your clay so it's 'stickier'.
FAQ :
* How long does it need to take it to dry?
It depends on the thickness and the volume of your creation. It normally takes 1-2 days to dry for a 3cm round ball, however, please keep in mind that this depends on the humidity and the weather of your place.
* Do I need to put in the fridge to rest?
Nope, you don't need to. I have experimented and put it in room temperature wrapped with cooking wrap, and it's totally fine.
* How much does this clay weighs?
It's heavier than normal paper air-dry clay, I have to say, it weighs around the same as polymer clay. (Still need to confirm)
* How durable is the clay?
The clay dries rock hard! It's very durable for jewellery making, and sculptures. However thin pieces around 2mm-3mm will break (if that's your intention to break them), but other than that, this clay is very sturdy.
* Does the clay dry matte?
Yes, it does! The clay dries to a beautiful matte finish, with a little hint of gloss. You can see the example of a dried work here, and I added a satin varnish over them.
* Is this clay water proof, do I need to glaze it?
Same as other clay, you can wipe it with a damp cloth, but do not 'soak' it in water. If you want longer durability, you can add varnish it- either matte, satin or gross. It depends on the purpose and the look you want to achieve. Eg. If you are just going to put it as a display you might want to leave it as it is, unless you want the shininess from the gross varnish.
Hello! I'm Lisa, this is a blog dedicated to my love for cute stuff, food and crafts. I want to share discoveries, techniques, and inspirations of this cute world I am creating.
