Mar 22, 2013

Thinking on greenery: Complaining to friends

Good Morning folks!

I have been complaining to a few friends about not being able to make a damn flower or plant to save my mini life, I whine and moan about it... but I think its more about things we like to do and things we have to work our ass off for..

The greenery is my unicorn.

I love little plants and pots, flowers etc, I have seen how others make small plants and flowers and they never seem to turn out the way I think they should..

So after whining to my blog friend..again ;) I decided to tuff it out and just mass produce my own method of greenery.

Here are some things I learned:

Step one: If you can't make a copy of a particular species..minifanatisize it...make it your own.

Step two: Make a cheap plain cutter and change your pattern a bit to make 10 different leaves.

Step three: Mix versions of each level of the scrap clay you make for the next set of leaves.

Step four: butt pillow....and back support ;P
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Make a quick cutter out of a piece of hard foil or as I have done here shape a eraser off of a pencil into the pattern of your choice. 
 Mix translucent clay with greens of your choice. We all have lots and lots of translucent clay don't we?
Lay one green in the center of the other and kind of feather it out to get different variegated patterns
Use your nifty new cutter to cut out leaves and lay some lines or patterns into the leaf with a blade or a wooden tool. 
Shape and twist your leaf as you like or simply roll them off of your fingers in to the baking tray in different ways to make curls or bends.
 
You can always add a bit of chalk to the
leaves to reduce shine or darken the corners and add hues to the middle.
As you can see here I made 4 cutters just by twisting a bit of the metal eraser around to elongate the leaf or make a rounded pattern. Then you would press along the edges for a cut look or add veining as you see fit.
Each leftover piece of clay I had from the previous batch of leaves, I smeared into the next to make different colors or patterns.
 
Now all I have to do is make pots and turn them into plants..to be continued ;)
 
  

31 comments:

  1. wow-everything looks so beautiful so far! I think they are fabulous! I always make my flowers out of paper because I am horrible at clay- and seems whenever I do manage to make something I like in clay I manage to burn it somehow :)

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    1. Thanks honey, I am still horrible at flowers ;P but practice makes...better haha!

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  2. Lookin' good! Gimp is my unicorn, but maybe my unicorn and I can be friends eventually...
    XX
    Ruth

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    1. loll.. ahh your going to get it, gimp wasn't conquered in a day!

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  3. Flowers and leaves are perfect. I'm curious to see them assembled.
    Bye Faby

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    1. Ahh ty fabiola, I will start tonight ;)

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  4. Hey Jane, these are Really Good!!!! ? You are such an inventive person and I am really impressed with how you fashioned the cutter ( I may have to "borrow") that idea. Your flowers and leaves are better than anything I could ever do with fimo and so NO WHINING! You have shown that you are amazing at what ever you put your mind to.

    elizabeth

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    1. Aww thanks a bunch hon ;) *smirk*

      Borrow away! and when you find better let me know too ;)

      we will all learn the skills we want..just got to complain a bit ;P

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  5. Jane grazie! Proprio oggi pensavo di mettermi a realizzare dei fiori e proverò come hai insegnato tu! Bacioni Manu

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    1. Penso che fare bellissimi fiori!

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  6. Clay..oh gosh Fimo see me coming and starts to laugh. I think you did an amazing job with the leaves and flowers *claps*

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    1. Heh, you should have seen me cursing up a storm with the paper versions, you have one upped me madam >=)

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  7. Me gusta mucho como han quedado tus hojas, el molde de metal es una buena idea, gracias.
    Un abrazo

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    1. Su bienvenida. Espero que encuentres una que una buena técnica!

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  8. Your leaves and flowers are fantastic. Thank you for sharing how to. Looking forward to seeing how they turn out.
    Hugs Maria

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    1. Thanks honey ;)I will try a few ;)

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  9. Your leaves are wonderful! Im thinking of doing flowers soon, but I thought its so difficult, but I will try you tips!

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    1. Use your new pasta machine! you will love it for these ;)

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  10. Thanks for showing how. I can not figure out how to make flowers, it is so difficult and so small ..
    All your leaves are so beautiful and so lifelike. I look forward to seeing more.
    Hugs
    Wyrna

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    1. They are a royal pan in the booty, a few turn into mush *lol* but you do get a few pretty ones, keep trying hon, more practice for us both ;)

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  11. your leaves came out perfect...I learned that the more you make a certain food the better you get at it..in this case it would be leaves..they're really good

    Hugs
    M.

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    1. thanks hon, I figure my 111th might be a good set ;P

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  12. i make anything flowery from paper and use the punches available for that.
    your leafs are so lifelike! you did an awesome job and thanks for learning me new tricks :D
    and i'm with elisabeth: no wining! there really is no cause to when you can make this out of clay :)
    huggzzz
    gee

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    1. thanks hon, I will whine less and try more :P

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  13. Your like the clay wispererererer! Your leaves look great and I love the variety and variation in the colors. You always give good advise, tips, and encouragement to make me clay braver!

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    1. clay whisperer, that was some funny **** I LOL'ed

      Thanks for the props honey ;)

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  14. Looks pretty good so far.


    Ha, I always forget step 4 until it's too late. XD

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  15. amusant l'outil ! Joli travail, les feuilles et les fleurs sont parfaites. Je suis incapable de travailler cette matière, de la fimo ? (ah, ah, les traducteurs) je fais mes plantes en papier avec un fil de cuivre pour donner la forme.
    j'ai hâte de voir la suite !
    Bonne continuation. rosethé-Minima

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  16. Hi! This way of making leaves are perfect! The leaves looks very good.

    Lil in Sweden

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  18. Another super duper idea of yours and the leaves (and flower petals) look absolutely fantastic. Another one ending up in my Pinterest board!!

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