Polymer Clay Color Recipes | Curiosity Cactus Flower (Premo)

1B – Curiosity
2B – Lime Margarita
3B – Cactus Pollen
4B – Rosita

This gorgeous cactus flower photo was taken by Jeanne Collins from her back yard in Arizona. Jeanne follows this blog and is also a subscriber at the members library. Last month in another post, she brought up some great ideas about doing custom color palettes. Here's how our conversation went:

JEANNE: Beautiful colors! I'm glad you can envision colors. Nature is a great source for inspiration and living in Arizona I enjoy the earth tones of the desert, the wonderful colors from our cactus and wildflowers, the color influence from Mexico and of course the sunsets. Trying to duplicate them is a tough one for me. Have you ever considered doing a southwest color palette? Wouldn't it be fun to do a series on colors from around the world, tulips from Holland, the waters of Aruba, colors from the rainforest! Wow one could stay a wake all night just dreaming up colors. As a very new clayer I find your website very informative, you're a very gifted person.

CINDY: Jeanne doing color palettes from around the world is a wonderful idea! I'll have to dig through my husband's photos of Europe and see if I can find ones for inspiration. If you have any colorful Arizona photos I could post I would be happy to make up a palette for everyone with it.

JEANNE: I will go through my photos and send you some. Another idea would be doing a wildlife series, tropical birds, lions, tigers etc. I would be very interested in learning how to make canes in animal skin designs for a "Safari" look. :) What do you think?

CINDY: That would be great Jeanne! There are all kinds of animal print canes that can be done. Am hoping to make some tutorials on those sometime!

Well as you can see by today's post, Jeanne did send some cactus flower photos. The actual recipes for each of the 4 colors in this B-Series custom palette will be released during the month of May [Volume-012]. Everyone who is subscribed to my Polymer Clay Guest List will be able to download them for free.

By the way, the cactus in today's photo is commonly know as the Curiosity Cactus. And it's Latin name is Cereus Peruvianus Monstrose.

For those of you who are not very familiar with cactus', they are prickly desert plants that bloom after there has been heavy rains in the spring. They are a oasis of delicate beauty in a harsh and hostile environment. Breathtaking to behold!

Can you imagine what it would be like to have such a stunning flower in your own garden? Jeanne sent a few other cactus flower pictures as well. I will use them for additional color palettes down the road. So stay tuned….

Thanks again Jeanne for sending your pics. I know they will be such an inspiration to everyone here!

The colors I chose for this Curiosity Cactus palette, were based on the flower's petals and the brightly colored stamens:

• Curiosity (Recipe 012-1B)
• Lime Margarita (Recipe 012-2B)
• Cactus Pollen (Recipe 012-3B)
• Rosita (Recipe 012-4B)

"Curiosity" is the deep pink of the outer petals and"Rosita" is the soft delicate pink of the inner petals. "Lime Margarita" is the vibrant green in the flower's center and "Cactus Pollen" is the dusty yellow at the tips of the stamen.

Remember, if you would like to receive these Polymer clay recipes for free during the month of May, then be sure to subscribe to my Polymer Clay Newsletter.