The Orchid Vase

I am not very good at daily writing, but I wanted to show everyone a vase I made. But I suppose starting at the beginning is a good idea.... Sometimes when working with the clay, I don't always know where it is going to lead me, and I could make anything from a baby to an elf, or fairy, or a piece of jewelry... this time I had a vase in mind, for a wedding gift. So I had to find out just what color orchids the bride carried in her bouquet, and then I mixed those colors in polymer clay. I searched for really good photos of orchids on the internet, so I could get the details just as I had in mind.

These photos give you a fair idea how it all started. I think the largest of the orchids was no more than an inch across. the "white" parts are actually premo pearl and fimo white mixed together, and I don't measure anything so I don't know what proportion to what. I like the way premo pearl and white look together so I use that pretty often in other things, so it's okay to have some left over. the pink also has pearl in it, to give it that cymbidium sparkle. After I finished making the orchids, I mixed up a bunch of different colors of green; using green premo, premo pearly green, some yellow, some gold fimo, some black, some brown, and I am sure I am forgetting something, but since I have CRS it doesn't matter to me right now. so here are a couple pictures that show the greens laid out and ready to become leaves.

I got busy making leaves and applying them to an extremely plain glass vase, & sticking in a crystal or pearl here & there. CRS in full swing now, because I forgot to take pictures of any of the leaves or the application of them while I worked from that point to nearly the end! I baked it in my tiny toaster size clay oven, burnt two petals, because it just barely fit in that small oven at all! so it was a tad bit too close to the heating element. no worries, I took off the burnies, and put fresh clay in place, and used my heat gun to "bake" that repair work in place. If I hadn't mentioned it, no one would have ever known!! LOL!! I really had a good time making this vase, and I only spilled crystals into my laptop keyboard once!! Since my last blog about fixing my laptop screen, I did order and replace the keyboard on here too, so spilling is no small problem. I don't want to take this thing apart ever again!! In a couple of these photos, you can see my laptop thru the acrylic sheet I use as a work surface... anyway, no harm came this time, so I have moved the beads and crystals off the laptop so I don't have more problems. I really enjoy having a computer that works!! and now for the last pictures of the finished orchid vase.

these show the many shades of green & you can spot a crystal or a pearl here or there. I enjoyed making this and hope that you enjoy seeing it too. As of Friday April 3rd 2009, it belongs to my nephew Ryan and his bride Heather, May they use it in good health!