Barbara Quast - Making Miniature Flowers with Polymer Clay

Making

M INIATURE

FLOWERS

with Polymer Clay

Barbara Quast

About the Author

B arbara Osterhus Mitchell Quast was born in Brooklyn, New York, into a family of Scandinavian descent, and has a brother and a sister. She is married to Army Colonel (retired) John Quast, and has one married daughter, Christine McElroy, and a grandson, Andrew.

She earned a bachelor of science degree from S.U.N.Y. at Oswego and a master of science degree from Brooklyn College. Barbara has been a nursery and elementary school teacher, a product manager for a computer company and is an artist, a craft designer and the sole proprietor of Barbara Quast Creations.

Barbara enjoys creating decorative home decor, gift and jewelry items. She enjoys the pleasure of working toward the mastery of many different art and craft skills. She also finds joy in teaching others, while at the same time, learning from them.

She is an ambassador for Plaid Enterprises and a member of the National Polymer Clay Guild, the Society of Craft Designers and the Society of Decorative Painters.

Making Miniature Flowers With Polymer Clay. Copyright 1998 by Barbara Quast. Manufactured in China. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published by North Light Books, an imprint of F&W Publications, Inc., 1507 Dana Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio 45207. (800) 289-0963. First edition.

Other fine North Light Books are available from your local bookstore, art supply store or direct from the publisher.

02 01 00 99 98 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Quast, Barbara.

Making miniature flowers with polymer clay / Barbara Quast.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-89134-821-2 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Polymer clay craft. 2. Flowers in art. I. Title.

TT297.Q37 1998

eISBN: 978-0-89134-821-4

731.4'2dc21 98-10111

CIP

Edited by Kathryn Kipp and Joyce Dolan

Production Edited by Michelle Kramer

Interior and cover designed by Candace Haught

Cover photography by Pamela Monfort Braun/Bronze Photography

Interior photography on

and by Greg Grosse Photography

Dedication

To my mother, Helen Palmquist Osterhus, who, by example, has lovingly taught us to appreciate God's blessings through faith, the importance of family, the goodness of people, the mystery and beauty of nature, the joy of lifelong learning, the wisdom in books and the personal pleasure in the happiness and laughter of others. She is still teaching us.

Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge my cherished family for their love, support and encouragement: my husband, John Quast; my daughter and her husband, Christine and Mark McElroy and my grandson, Andrew, (Drew); Christine, Andy and Danny Foland; Betty, John and Laural Osterhus; Thelma MacKay; Rebecca Quast; Kathy MacKay; Beth, Steve, Alison, Janine, Justin and Ryan Shea.

Thank you to my wonderful mentors and friends, especially Jean Chancelor, Vickie Brown, Ann Polizzi, Joan Pompa and Jean Fregeau.

A special heartfelt thanks to creative and talented editor Kathy Kipp, who has guided me with her expertise from the beginning of this book and who made it fun to write; to content editor, Joyce Dolan, for her knowledge and diligence in bringing it all together; to production editor, Michelle Kramer, for skillfully piloting this book through production; to designer, Candace Haught, for her special artistic talent; and to senior editor, Greg Albert, who saw the value in a book about polymer clay flowers.

Table of Contents

Introduction

M odeling polymer clay flowers has been a great source of pleasure for me for years. You, too, can create beautiful miniature flowers and leaves from polymer clay by following the simple step-by-step instructions in this book. You will see how surprisingly easy it is to create a bit of the loveliness of nature with your own hands.

Polymer clay is produced in a myriad of gorgeous colors that can be combined and recombined to form a spectrum of visual wonder. A flower's lifelike beauty can be sculpted from this medium because the clay can be pressed almost as thin as a real petal.

Since polymer clay can be baked in a regular home oven or toaster oven, no special kilns are needed. The clay itself is an inexpensive medium, and adults and children can enjoy the pleasure of creating with it.

The flowers are suitable for small arrangements, pictures, decorative boxes, picture frames and other home decor items. Beautiful jewelry, hair ornaments and other adornments can be sculpted. The floral miniatures you can make become wonderful handcrafted gifts that will be treasured by all who receive them.

MATERIALS & TECHNIQUES TO MAKE

Polymer Clay Flowers

A ll you really need to make polymer clay flowers is an oven or toaster oven, a baking pan, toothpicks and clay. In this chapter, I'll show you more supplies you can use and some of the basic techniques for working with clay.

Before you start the projects, read through the entire step-by-step instruction and assemble all the supplies needed for each project.

HOW TO USE THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THIS BOOK

1. Please read all of the instructions for a project before starting it.

2. The instructions are similar to recipes for cooking. Following the exact sequence of steps in the instructions can be crucial to the ease of using the clay and the quality of your final project.

3. A circle template is a useful tool in determining the sizes of the unflattened and flattened balls of clay. The diagrams of the in the instructions, can be photocopied and used as a guideline.

Materials

Supplies for making polymer clay flowers and leaves are available from retail stores, such as M.J. Designs, Michael's, Pearl, A.C. Moore, Ben Franklin, Total Crafts, Frank's Nursery and Crafts and Wal-Mart. See Sources for Materials in the back of this book for further information.