So the time has come to tackle the boutineer's — err Boots'nEars? Umm no, no Butineers? Spell check wants me to type “Mutineers” but I know that's not right. Although I would make some mutineers if I could. Oh screw it… lapel pins aka boutonnieres!
The idea is to use sculpy clay to create fiddlehead ferns. These ferns are mad $$ in real life for the real flower, but they came out awesome in sculpy clay.
So I got purple, black, and brown sculpy clay and started rolling! Here's how I made fifteen unique fiddlehead fern boutonnieres on the cheap and easy…
Each clay has four strips per package and I used one piece of each color to knead together the correct eggplant tone. Made a few little 2-3 inch “snakes” (which is about my sculpting extreme for talent) and rolled them up, baked em' in the oven and voila — better than ever fiddlehead ferns for my craft. I also got some light moss green felt, thread, thin wire, crimp beads, ribbon, purple and pearl beads, green flower tape and the obligatory “small bag of gears” from Ebay. I wanted to add a little steampunk onto my pins. And out came the must have go-to-it glue gun!
I cut the felt into small leaf shapes with little slit holes in the bases. Then I wired up my gears and beads on thin wire cut about 6″ long. I folded the wire through the hole and basic stitched the pieces together so my leaf had some backbone. I started at the bottom and stitched up, keeping the wire in place between each stitch and working the thread between the beads.
So that when I got to the top I could easily slip in the baked sculpy clay fern head.
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And then stitch that down to the leaf too.
They were easy to assemble at this point. I cut flower tape and also a short piece of ribbon.
Wrapped the flower tape on first and glue gunned the purple ribbon into place next.
You can see I also added little jag cuts to the edges of the felt to get a more ‘leaf' like presentation once the pieces where stitched down and secured.
And because I have a HUGE amount of these to make I made a little assembly line of them and went to town, making 15 in all. One for the groom, five groomsmen, four dads, four moms, and the Officiant. All together they made a passel of pins, each one a little unique!
These are awesome!! Wonderful job combining the felt, beading and sculpey…. I love everything about it!
Theses are lovely! I really like how they all came together- they look just fiddleheads!
I may have just had a “baskets” moment with the mention of sculpey… they’re lovely!
Love it! Also, for the less creatively inclined, I found fake versions of these curled ferns at michaels for pretty cheap. They are fuzzy (maybe a different variety?) But the fuzz is easily removed.
How long did you bake them? I baked mine for the recommended fifteen minutes at 275 degrees but it was still super bendy. Even after thirty minutes, it’s still super pliable.
I’m making these bouts with some fake billy balls made out of small painted styrofoam balls. Love the idea!
How breakable is the clay once you’ve baked it? Could I make complex sculptures out of it and trust them to withstand travel?
What was the total cost including all supplies? Was the glue gun necessary, or are there less expensive things you can use? They look fantastic! These would also work inside cylinder vases with a single fern leaf and a floating candle for centerpieces (what our plan is!)
According to the Amazon reviews, it doesn’t quite harden all the way and still stays somewhat pliable. They recommended baking it at 275 for 15-20 minutes, though I have never worked with clay. Would love to hear more tips!
http://www.amazon.com/activity-birthday-party-completed-party/forum/Fx2IUQ6GFLQ3U9Z/Tx3THF6DELWQ8ZX/1/ref=cm_cd_dp_aar_al_a?_encoding=UTF8&asin=B0016N6CMU