Valeriebeads - The Art of Valerie Moore

Garden Plaque Tutorial

I'm a member of the fun Yahoo group, Poly Wanna Clay. One of our recent swaps were Garden Plaques that you can hang in your garden or any where else you can think of! Inspired by spring, bugs, and making creative use of scrap clay I created this sculpted garden plaque. (Photo courtesy of Susanne F)

To create this type of plaque you will need the following tools and clay accessories:

Black or dark scrap clay, at least a block and a half worth
A sharp blade
Pasta machine
Rub and Buff
Needle tools
Exacto knife
texture sheets, molds or stamps
Letter/alphabet stamps
Wire
Small kemper cutters (optional)

Step 1:

Roll a sheet (or sheets) of clay through the pasta machine at a thin setting. The sheet on the left is on a 7 Atlas setting and then pressed against texture (my chair mat to be precise!) and the one on the right was rolled with a texture sheet on a 4 setting through the pasta machine. These will be the base of your leaves.

Step 2:

Using your exacto knife, cut out leaf shapes how ever you desire.

Step 3:

Laying the leaves on a finger, one at a time, trace with your needle tool the veining in the middle of the leaves

Step 4:

Roll out a thick sheet of clay on the 1 setting to use as your base. Cut the sheet to whatever shape and size you desire and begin layering the leaves on top of it. It is ok if the leaves overlap the edge.

Step 5:

Keep layering different leaves on top of the base, and on top of your other leaves. This gives it a natural look, the way leaves are in nature.

Step 6:

Use your cutters to create flowers (on the left top of the pic) and leaves (right side of pic). If you do not have cutters you can always sculpt these the old fashioned way by rolling out small balls of clay and then rolling one end on the table to form a tear drop shape and then flatten the tear drop. 1 tear drop = a leaf. 5 tear drops with a center ball = a flower.

Step 7:

Roll out a thin snake of clay to form the stem of the plant on the left in the pic. Add your leaf shapes next to the stem, along the entire length on both sides, and also add one at the tip.

Step 8:

Score a line through the leaves to form a small vein. Pick up the entire plaque in your hand if you need to get into tight spots. The plaque is easily bendable at this point.

Step 9:

Sculpt your small critters. Lady bugs are a large ball and 2 small balls smooshed together (or 1 ball that is scored with your needle tool to divide it). The dots on the ladybug are small balls of clay pressed into the body. Worms are small logs of clay that are scored down the length. A snake is exactly that in clay, a snake! To make the little lilies see the next step.

Step 10:

Lily image 1

Lily image 2

Lily image 3

Lily image 4

Roll out a ball of clay on a 7 setting on the pasta machine (image 1). Cut it in half (image 2) and pinch in the middle of each piece to form a cupped shape (image 3). Trim away excess clay. Pinch the tip of each piece to form a pointed lily shape (Lily image 4). Add a tiny snake of clay to the inside of the flower to form the stamen.

Step 11:

Add your critters and lilies to your plaque. Trim and neaten up the edges with your blade so pieces are no longer hanging over the edge.

Step 12:

Form 2 loops out of wire. Place them on the back of your plaque and press down gently (be careful, the other side does have all your critters on it). Cover each loop end with a piece of clay, cut to size to secure the wire.

Step 13:

Roll out a sheet of clay on the thickest setting of the pasta machine. Double it over so that it is twice as thick. Stamp your words into this sheet and then trim to the size and shape you would like.

Step 14:

Poke a hole at both ends with your needle tool. This will be where you make a double looped eyepin to connect to your plaque.

Step 15:

Bake your plaque and words at manufacturers recommended temperature.

Step 16:

Let your piece cool and then on a sheet of paper squirt a dab of Rub and Buff on the paper. Dab your finger into it and gently rub your finger against your plaque and words. If you used a dark clay the words will pop out immediately (talk about instant gratification!). Continue rubbing your finger on your plaque; reload your finger as needed. When you've gotten all the spots you can with your finger, you can also take a Q-tip and get into the tighter spaces. Don't over do it though; you want some of the background to show through for contrast.

The wax will come off using soap and water, so don't worry if your finger becomes covered in silver.

Step 17:

When your plaque is as silver (or gold depending on what color Rub and Buff you bought) as you would like, let it rest for a few minutes and then take a soft cloth and rub it all over your plaque. You will be removing the extra wax so it does not come off and giving it a buffing for a soft shine.

Step 18:

Take 2 pieces of wire that are twice as high as your words. Loop one end of one piece and insert it into one of the holes in your words. Loop the other end of the wire and repeat this step for the other hole.

If you planned ahead (I didn't) your loops may match up. If they do, just bend the loops a bit so they open and hook it into the loops on the plaque. If you didn't plan ahead, the way I didn't, you can use another piece of wire to attach the words to the plaque, or you can use fancy ribbon or fibers to jazz things up a bit. The top loops can hold a ribbon or cord to hang your plaque.

Enjoy your garden plaque!

This work by Valerie Moore is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.valeriebeads.com/claytutorial.html.

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