Sorry for no updates, I've been kept busy with vacations and commissions! I'll try to take progress photos of commissions so I'll have something to post :)
For now I have a little tutorial on a pair of sunglasses that I made! I saw some photos of Dolce & Gabbana's fashion show and they had these amazing sunglasses with 3D flowers around the corners. I'm not know for my expert fashion sense, but I know what I like when I see it. Unfortunately I couldn't find any info if they were going to be released, when, or for how much (I probably couldn't afford them anyways). So when I can't buy something I try to make it! You can find photos of them if you google "Dolce & Gabbana gold floral sunglasses".
I bought a cheap $10 pair of sunglasses to use, so that if it didn't work out I wouldn't ruin something expensive. There were a few pairs in the show, but I liked the pair that had gold flowers on a large rounded square frames. The frames were copper looking metal, but I wasn't able to find anything that specific. Other than that all you need is some sculpey, and if you have one lying around a needle tool!
The flowers have to be pretty small to be a reasonable size to fit on the glasses. I recommend starting out making a larger size rose and working your way down, once you've made about ten of them you'll feel like a pro! For the size I'm working on start with a little ball this size.
Squish the little ball between your fingers once and pull them apart, you don't want the clay to stick to your fingers or you will ruin the petal when you try to take it off!
Keep squishing it until it's as thin as you can get it without it tearing apart, I keep switching from one hand to the other to keep it unstuck. Since I decided to do this with my fingers the flowers will end up with my fingerprints in them. If this bothers you you'll have to either wear gloves or press the petals between wax paper.
Now you start making the center of the rose, get it on one of your fingers and start rolling from one side.
When it's all rolled up you want the center of the roll to be a little lower than the outside, if that makes sense? If your petal was round to begin with it should happen automatically.
Carefully stick this onto your needle tool, this helps because otherwise there is very little to grip without ruining what you've already made. It's not too firmly on there, but enough that it won't fall without being bumped.
Carefully pull the edges of the petal out and down a little, so that it's drooping downwards. if you look at a rose the edges of the petal are turned down. Now you have the center of the rose to build from!
Now add another petal! I usually use a little bit more clay than I did to make the center, but it's personal preference. Instead of making a circle make it an oval, otherwise you would have to make a million petals.
Sorry for the blurry photo it was difficult to photograph my dominant hand ^^; Gently place the petal against the side of the center, placing it so that it's slightly higher up than the center. You want the center to be sunken in the flower, not poking up and out. Press only enough that it sticks but doesn't deform the center, then carefully wrap the rest of the petal around. I usually pinch the bottom and roll a little to be sure it's fully connected.
Again fold the petal down, this time you want to create almost a 'point' in the center. To get this shape fold down either side so that it almost folds into a corner and very gently pinch to get it to the right shape. It's hard to explain!
Another petal!
And another! I usually end up with four petals including the center. You can continue and make as many as you would like, but I had to limit the number of petals to keep the size down!
Part two tomorrow, painting the roses and making some sunglasses!
