Rose Pendant Necklace – A Summer Polymer Clay Jewelry Making Project
Sculpted Fimo clay rose bead jewellery created with warm colors of the season:
The flowers are blooming. Birds are chirping. Time to make some beautiful summer rose jewelry inspired by the bright and sunny days here in Vancouver Canada.
Well I finally have a project to show you, made with the summer colors from my sunflower polymer clay recipe post. There have been many different beads and millifiori canes that have come out of that palette.
Mod canes, spliced canes, a leaf cane or two and a few flower ones. But I have also been experimenting a little with some sculpted rose beads.
Not to be confused with rose beads made from the actual petals of a rose. These roses are the 3D kind. Small sculptures that closely resemble the shape of a real rose.
Lately there has been a lot of wonderful flower brooches and pins selling on Etsy. Large ones the size of your palm… as well as tiny ones about the size of a peanut. There have also been many beaded rose chokers and short necklaces that remind me of the jewellry of flamenco dancers.
With this summer color palette containing a fair amount of translucent clay, it is well suited for making flowers. My mother is crazy about yellow roses so I thought I would make her a rose out of the yellows in the palette.
First a stripy blend was created with the bright yellow and the darker yellow clay recipes. This striated blend is my own twist on the Skinner Blend. I'll have to show you this special variation of the Skinner Blend technique one of these days.
Wearing gloves, each petal was cut and carefully formed. In my opinion there's nothing worse than a beautifully sculpted rose with fingerprints all over it!
The translucent clay in the recipe gives the petals a realistic look like no opaque clay can. For me it really makes a huge difference. So I always use translucent Fimo or Premo in my flower beads.
One thing that most people do on rose beads, is cut off the back where the petals come together like a point, and make it flat. For this bead since it was fairly large, I wanted a more realistic hip and calyx.
So first a 'rose hip' shape was formed from the petal base. Thick slices from a leaf cane of the summer green colors, were elongated and the edges were serrated to look more like rose leaves. These rose leaves were then placed over the hip and smoothed into place.
Because a sculpted bead like this is tricky to sand, extra care is needed to make sure the surfaces are smooth before baking.
This bead could be strung several different ways, so the hole was pierced through the center and out where the stem would be. This way it can slide onto a wire for a rose necklace; Dangle as a rose pendant; Be used as a brooch or even glued onto the end of a flower stick pin.
This rose pendant jewelry turned out to be a very fun polymer clay jewelry making project. The fact that it was created with a pretty summer palette made it even better! Can't wait to give it to my mom… a yellow rose whose beauty will never fade away!
Filed Under: 05: Techniques, 06: Bead Shapes, 11: Bead Projects by Comment. 
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Comments on Rose Pendant Necklace – A Summer Polymer Clay Jewelry Making Project
9:49 pm
Well done Cindy. Know your Mom will treasure it.
MJ
4:24 pm
Thank you MJ! It is always nice to read your kind words!
Cindy Lietz's last blog post..Rose Pendant Necklace – A Summer Polymer Clay Jewelry Making Project
6:05 pm
Hi! Thanks for stopping by my blog, glad you enjoyed it!
You have some really interesting stuff on here – i love the lentil beads, just gorgeous.
Dot
7:03 pm
Thank you Dot! I'm glad you came over to our polymer clay world!
I just love your illustrations… especially the robots… they are really really cool!
Cindy Lietz's last blog post..Fimo Nail Art Designs – Making Polymer Clay Canes To Fit Fingernails
12:39 pm
I absolutely adore this. Yellow flowers have a very special meaning to me and my father who died nearly 12 years ago. THis is such a wonderful idea, and, if you don't mind, I may have to try to make one for myself… I wouldn't sell it of couse :) Never an idea that's not my own.
Again, exquisite work. I'm sure your mother will adore it!
5:46 pm
Thank you so much for your kind words!! I would love to see how your rose turns out. Let me know how it goes!!
Cindy Lietz's last blog post..Premo Clay Flower Pendant Necklace Project with Vintage Glass Beads
12:47 am
Hi Cindy…
Your Rose is just perfect… I love making roses but they are not as nice as yours… and one big problem I run into is burning them… of course they are supper thin petals most of the time thinner then pasta machine setting #6… can you help me with the baking time please? How long should they be baked? My biggest worry is if they are not baked at the right temp or right time they can crack? Please help me…
Thanks :)
Tannumoni (Tania)
**PHOTOS ADDED: The following link will take you to a Spotlight Article featuring some pictures of Tania's beautiful work: Rose Bead Jewelry
3:05 pm
Thank you Tannumoni for your questions! If your rose petals are very thin you may find they has less chance of burning if you bury them in a dish of cornstarch. The cornstarch under and over the petals will protect them from scorching.
To learn more about baking beads on a bed of cornstarch, click the link by my name.
7:15 pm
Cindy, your rose is stunning! If I ever get that good, you can bet I'll be selling PC roses on Etsy — and I will give you credit for inspiration and tutoring! I'm sure your mom loved it. It's always good to have something to aspire to!
5:28 pm
Thank you Sue… that is sweet! Would love to see you become a big success! Lady Bren did! If you click the link by my name you will see a post about her.
9:11 pm
Thanks, Cindy. I tried to find Bren's work on Etsy but no luck. The rose pendant you showed on your site was lovely. I don't know if I'll ever get to the selling stage (although my DH would love it if I did, lol) but I've sure learned a ton of great stuff from your site. Now that I'm signed up, I'm sure I'll learn even more.
Quick question: My straight blade came without a sheath and I'd love to make a sort of stand to keep it safely handy while I work. Have you ever done that or do you have any suggestion on how to to make one? I'm really all thumbs at sculpting (if it weren't for rubber stamps and transfers, I'd despair at my ability with PC!) and I don't even know exactly what I want, but some sort of stand thingy that keeps the business part of the blade covered while I've got it out would be terrific. Sorry to add to your work. Just thought you might have addressed this somewhere in the past.
A million thanks for all your help!
6:49 pm
It looks like Bren's at BrenLSStudio on etsy now, so you will find her there.
As far as a stand you could just roll a snake of raw clay and set your blade into that or make a fancy one, cut a slit in it and bake it.
I actually just slip mine under my glass cutting board, so I can see it, but can't get cut by it. Maybe that will work for you too?!
A million thanks back to you Sue, for all your support and comments at the blog and for being a great customer!!