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Materials: 
- Premo Sculpey #5093 Ecru
- Sculpey III #1018 Copper
- Sculpey III #093 Beige
- Translucent Liquid Sculpey
- Sculpey Acrylic Rolle
- r 3/8" diameter wooden
dowel - 8" long
- Decorating Chalks (Craft
T)
- Pressed ferns, greenery,
and/or flowers
- Cording for hanger
Directions:
-
Condition clay thoroughly. Mix all three colors together, allowing
some of the light and dark to show through. Roll out an irregular
rectangle with the acrylic roller to about ¼" thick. The width of
the rectangle should be about 6" wide and the length will depend
upon your fern or pressed flower materials and placement.
- Place
the wooden dowel at the top of the clay and roll downward, covering
the dowel completely with the clay, leaving about 1" on either side.
- Curl
one edge of the clay to resemble a scroll. Crimp the sides and bottom
of the clay also, almost like you would a pie crust. Insert jpeg
0232) To begin "aging" the clay, use the Craft T Decorating Chalk,
and a cotton ball. Go around the edges of the unbaked clay to make
the scroll look old and worn. I chose a tan colored chalk forst,
and then used a burnt sienna color last.
jpeg 0231)
- Now,
make two equal size balls of clay for the ends of the dowel. They
should be about ½" in diameter. ( I used dark brown Premo left over
from another project for mine.)
- Press
the balls onto the ends of the wooden dowel. Slightly flatten all
four sides with your fingers. Bake the scroll according to manufacturers
instructions (275 degrees F for roughly 20 minutes per ¼" since
this is a SIII/Premo mixture) in a calibrated oven. (Test oven's
accuracy by using an external thermometer.)
- After
cooling, you may find that the balls do not want to adhere to the
wooden dowel. If so, after your project is completely finished,
simply apply a tacky craft glue to the inside of the clay balls
and push back onto the wooden dowel for permanence.
- After
completely cooling the scroll, begin placing the dried plant material.
The Liquid Sculpey will act as the adhesive for the ferns and/or
flowers. The fern fronds need a small amount of Liquid Sculpey spread
over the back of each one for a good bond with the clay.
- After
running a bead of Liquid Sculpey down the middle of the back section
of the fern, then proceed with all of the fern fronds. Using the
tip of the Liquid Sculpey bottle, simply bend back the front and
squeeze out a small amount of the medium onto the fronds and press
down.
- Repeat
this same step with the larger leaves and flowers. There is no need
to completely cover the back side of the plant material. I have
found that the thicker the leaf and flower material is, though,
you do need to use more medium on the back and the front.
- After
you have placed your plant material, begin covering the surface
of the placque with Liquid Sculpey. Using a soft bristle brush,
lightly brush from the inside of the fern fronds to their tips.
Repeat on all fronds until covered. Do this on any additional plant
material.
- The
surface of all the plant material should appear shiny, as shown.
Put placque back into the oven and bake according to instructions
on Liquid Sculpey package.
- After
completely cooling, tie cording on either side of the dowel. Your
project is ready to display.
NOTE:
Instead of purchasing pressed plant material, you may choose to press
your own. This can be done by gathering leaves and flowers on a dry
sunny day and placing between white sheets of paper or even in an
old telephone book. Next, place a heavy book on top of this. Leave
for at least 2-3 weeks. Ferns always press very well!
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