How to make Iris flower out of air dry clay – Part 1

Iris flowers come in several types with different petal shapes and colours. Today, I would like to show you how to make a Dutch Iris flower out of air dry clay. As the tutorial is too long, I break it up to 2 parts. This first part is the instruction how to make Iris flower petals. In the second part I will show you how to make Iris leaves, how to colour Iris flowers and leaves and how to assemble them all together. Shall we start?

Materials:

• Clay: Deco clay or Hearty soft clay or Modena soft clay
• Oil colours: violet, sap green, white, black and yellow
• Iris flower petals and leaf cutter and veiner
• Scissor
• Glue
• Floral tape
• Flower stem #28 in white and green
• Flower stem #2 in green
• Needle and ball clay modelling tool (size M)
• Plastic document holder
• Pasta machine

Step 1: Mix colour for clay

As Iris flower has purple base colour, you will want to make the clay become slightly purple. So take just a bit of violet oil colour and mix with a white clay ball (4cm diameter).

Step 2: Flatten the clay

Once the colour blended completely in the clay, place it in between the plastic document holder and flatten the clay slightly. Next, place the plastic holder (with the clay inside) in between the pasta machine’s roller. Set the pasta machine to number 1 to get the thinnest result (as thin as 1mm) then roll the clay out.

Step 3: Cut clay in petal shape

Use Iris flower petal cutters to cut clay in different petal shapes. Once you take out all the excess clay, close the plastic document holder to avoid clay drying out.

Step 4: Add vein to all petals

Use the Iris flower petal veiners to add vein to all petal then use needle/ball clay modelling tool to adjust the petals. You should also use white floral stem gauge 28 to glue about half way in the between of  each petal. Once you’ve done so, you can place the petals on an egg carton or a special mat to dry out completely (for about 10 to 12 hours)

It is the end of first part of tutorial how to make a clay Iris flower. I will soon release the second part. In the meantime, I hope you will enjoy this tutorial, make some Iris flowers and wait for them to dry out.

Until next time, enjoy your flower crafting time!