Spring is in the Air - Week 12

I love spring!  The new flowers starting to bloom and trees starting to bud make me wish I had a "green thumb", but I don't.  I can't seem to keep any plants alive, maybe it's because I forget to water the poor things!  This week I thought I would make a flower necklace to celebrate the first week of spring (no watering necessary).

 As usual, I gathered all the supplies I might need.  Molds, clay, cookie cutters and tools.

 I started with two shades of green and a white and kneaded different amounts of each together to make some pretty shades of green for the leaves.

 

 I pressed balls of clay into the mold.  The mold is made for working with cake fondant so it is a flexible silicon and the clay popped right out!  I trimmed the edges to neaten the leaves up.

 I repeated the same steps with all the clay colors and then baked the pieces in a 275 degree oven for 15 minutes.

 To make the clay look more like jewelry, I used gold and patina colored guilder's paste to give the pieces some interest.

 I also added some turqoise glitter and clear embossing powder and put them back in the oven for 2 minutes.  The heat made the embossing powder melt into a clear glaze.

 I assembled all the pieces together in a pleasing arrangement and then used hot glue to make them stick.  I added chain and a clasp to complete the necklace.  I think it turned out pretty gorgeous and I can't wait to wear it out!

A close-up look, I love how the green leaves and the bird look so vintage.