So, this is only part one of this project, but I wanted to get my video up and out to y’all.

The last project was a wild success, turning out a clay flower I had no idea I could make.  Now, Martha ups the ante by requiring that you make a dozen or so clay flowers, of different kinds, in order to adorn a girl’s headband.  Phew.

I started by simply making another flower, this time one that has color and therefore requires tinting the white clay with acrylic paint.  I liked how the marigolds looked in the Encyclopedia’s tutorial, so that’s what I decided to make.  I colored the clay orangish-red.

Making this flower was similar to the gardenia, except I would say it was trickier because the petals are smaller and it requires more of them.  While I only made eight petals for the gardenia, the marigold calls for sixteen.

I devised a system for forming the petals that seemed to work for me.  I tried a bunch of different ways, and finally settled on this method as the easiest and fastest.

First, you take a small piece of clay, about half the size of a pea.  (I know, it’s small.)

Roll it into a ball.

Smoosh it two ways at once: squeeze the top flat with one hand, and squeeze the bottom half (with a little less pressure) flat but perpendicular to the top part.

That will form the main shape of your petal.  Now, continue to flatten the top part until you like its shape and it’s nice and thin, like a real flower petal.  Then, flatten the bottom part parallel with the top so it ‘s all on one plane. The result is that the top is wider and flatter than the bottom, which has only been flattened a tiny bit.

You should end up with something that looks like this (brace yourself, I drew this in PSE):

Hmmm.  Maybe I shouldn’t have used the brush tool on that “drawing.”

Then, you just start layering the petals together.  You should have four creating a round (put two opposite each other, and then put one in between on either side).  From there, you just add more petals in the blank spaces.

And now, for your enjoyment, here’s the stop motion video of the process.

Fabulous music again from Kevin MacLeod.  He’s genius in composing music that fits my videos perfectly.  This one’s called “Scheming Weasel.”  LOVE.

And here’s a better look at the finished flower:

That’s part one, because I’m in the process of making the flowers.  I have to make a buttload of them and then attach them to the headband.  Attachment will be part two, coming soon.

If you have any suggestions for flower types to make for the headband, let me know in the comments.  I have instructions for a rose, ranunculus, peony, and daisy.  What do you think?

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