Improving on Nature

Hibiscus in my South FL front yard

So the title is a little outside (inside?) joke.  Mother Nature manages to outdo the best  artists and crafters, but part of the human condition is trying to keep up with  her and learning as much as you can.  So during a recent online carving class for metal clay, a medium that has alternately been an obsession and a neglected child, I decided to make a flower.

A rough materials list for the this project includes Art Clay fine silver, liver of sulfur gel, Premo polymer clay and an assorted variety of clay shaping tools.

Stage One is making a drawing and a template of the size of the petals. (metal clay can shrink up to 20 percent.)  After the petals are cut out, the are formed over–almost anything–but in this case it’s a cocktail straw.  After the clay dries, it’s is set into hibiscus shape over another form made out of polymer clay.

The second form was a tiny ring–the final flower would end up at .75 inches.  The polymer clay forms are baked in a toaster /craft oven according to the directions on the package.

The next step is forming and attaching bails.  In order to make the the bails more delicate, I learned to bevel both the top and bottom edges.

 

All of the parts are put together with slip, and then adjusted on the back plate and the bail(s) are added.  It’s fired in a 1650F kiln for at least an hour.  It comes out as fine silver.  There are all kinds of finishing protocols, but I polished this on my lathe and added patina.