Makin's Clay® Cherry Blossom Barrettes

As those of you who follow my creative work know, I love designing with Makin’s Clay®.  Push molds are a great option to make creating amazing projects easier than ever.  While Makin’s® does carry a variety of push molds, I’ve also discovered the clay works wonderfully in any brand of mold - and I am totally enjoying experimenting with the molds from CreateAlong.com.  I used their feathers mold to create two projects earlier in April, and my new favorite is the Cherry Blossom mold I used for this project.  The branch in this mold would work with ANY flowers - as would the leaves.   The soft and pliable nature of Makin’s Clay® right out of the package makes it very easy to push into the molds and achieve great details in seconds.    A touch of Ann Butler Designers Iridescents from Earth Safe Finishes gave my flowers and leaves just the right amount of shimmer.  

Materials:

Makin’s Clay® - White, Olive, Brown 

CreateAlong.com Cherry Blossom Mold 

Earth Safe Finishes Ann Butler Designs Iridescents - Limelight, Berry 

Beacon® 527 Adhesive 

Sakura® Pen-touch™ Paint Pen - Gold  

DecoArt® Americana® Multi-Surface Satin™ - Pink Tropic 

Paint brush, scissors, zipper bag 

Metal barrettes 

Instructions:

Creating custom colored Makin’s Clay® is easy to do with a bit of acrylic paint. 

Add a small amount (actual amount will depend on amount of clay you are trying to color, and how opaque you want the color) of Pink Tropic paint to White Makin’s Clay®.     Place into a zipper bag (this is optional, but I think it’s easier to start in the bag).  Seal the bag and begin mixing the clay with the paint.   Once it begins to mix, I remove it from the bag and finish mixing it in my hands.  As you mix, the paint will lift from your hands back into the clay and when it’s completely mixed, the paint will NOT come off/out of the clay.   This entire process took about a minute and a half.

Mold 6 large leaves and 6 small leaves with Olive clay in the CreateAlong.com Cherry Blossoms push mold.  

Push mold 6 flowers with the newly mixed pink clay in the CreateAlong.com Cherry Blossom mold.  They just pop right out of the mold easily, and they hold great detail from the mold. When use your fingers to lightly push the petals inward on some of the flowers.  I flipped mine over to keep them in shape while I went to the next step. 

Mold 4 branches with Brown clay.   

Apply a very light layer of Limelight Iridescents to the leaves. 

Apply a very light layer of Berry Iridescents to the inside of the flowers.   

Use gold Pen-touch™ paint pen to add accents over the raised centers of the flowers.      

You can let your pieces dry for 24 hours if desired, but I find it easier to mount them while they are still somewhat fresh and a bit easier to manipulate into the exact shape I want on each barrette.

I opened my barrettes and placed them between the two Iridescents containers to prop them up for mounting my pieces. 

Arrange three leaves in opposite directions on the top of each barrette, mount with Beacon™ 527 Adhesive.  

Mount two branches in opposite directions over each set of 3 leaves. 

Mount flowers and small accent leaves as desired.   

Let dry 24 hours before using barrettes to ensure clay is fully dry and adhesive is fully set.