This collection of plants are some of the outcome of my green fingery of the last couple of months. They will be the present for the winner of my first give away when/if I reach 50 followers. All you have to do is leave a message with this post to be included in the draw.
So if you think these plants could fill a few gaps in your own mini world please leave a comment, remembering that I am just an enthusiastic beginner and do not have the refined skills of many of the artisans in Blogland. I will also include a couple of extras as a suprise for the lucky blogger.
Talking of suprises here are my first mandrakes made with the dreaded fimo and much research.
Sorry the photos are a bit blurry, not sure why.
I chose a champagne fimo made a few different shapes and then twisted the clay to try and create the wrinkled effect. When baked I added a wash of brown acrylic to dirty them up and highlight the wrinkles. A dab of black paint for the eyes and mouths. I decided to vary the leaves as if they are different mandrake species plus my fimo leaves were a bit of a disaster.
These two fellas are desperately trying to escape! I tried to make some fimo leaves for their 'hair' topping but could not glue them on after baking. Can you put fimo back in the oven after you have added an acrylic wash? The baked clay did not like any of my glues at all, plus I find fimo is not at all maleable after baking so I could not get the leaves to sit properly even if I had been able to glue them.
Still not too bad for a first effort I thought and they made my son laugh, or I did....not sure about that!
Hi Janice!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment on my blog, so I discovered yours, and it looks very nice. Great sign you got from your son ;-)
Congratulations with the amount of followers, I will look forward to see what you are up to next.
Love, Susanne
I think they are fabulous and so funny! They have some great expressions too! lol I haven't tried making my own...yet, but I will at some point!
ReplyDeleteMichelle xx
Wow such a beautiful flowers and you give away .....? The flower pots are very funny, you can already work well with fimo, congratulations. I wish I won
ReplyDeletegroetjes Ingrid
I love your mandrakes and bet they were fun to make. They're a lot easier to make than people imagine.
ReplyDeleteIt's safe to bake clay with acrylic paint on.
If you put little hole in the tops of each before you bake it will make adding the leaves easier once they are baked.
I use memory wire on my leaves that's very fine.
I cut lots of little bits of wire, glue them to the paper with a little of the wire not glued down, then cut out each leaf and use the wire as the veins, then paint.
I then twists a few together from the bit of wire that wasn't glued down and poke into the hole on each mandrake. Its pva i use and the paper is just normal printer paper although you can use a textured paper too.
Nikki xxx
Wow, a wonderful giveaway gesture. And you'll be at the 50 very very soon I think :)
ReplyDeleteThe little runaways are so funny! It's what all plants want to do when I enter the garden shop because any that come home with me will surely die :(
Well I have to say I think they are fab...I love them.
ReplyDeletereally well done for a first try...you didn't need much practice at all in the end :-)
Congrats on all your followers...that is a lovely giveaway. You'll be over 50 before you know it.
Firstly thank you for organising this great giveaway. I love flowers and I think yours are gorgeous! Janice, let us know if you want us to post your giveaway on our blog. I can always leave it on my left bar. :)
ReplyDeleteI think your mandrakes are fabulous! Such an expressive bunch :). Just in time for Earth Day :).
All the plants look very nice! Keep up hte good work!
ReplyDeleteGreat mandrakes! The last two made me laugh!
ReplyDeleteJanice for your first attempt I think you've made a lovely Job of those Mandrakes. The Family Pot full is my favourite. xx
ReplyDeleteHi all,
ReplyDeleteI have reached 50 will draw on Monday night to allow for weekend browsing.
Thank you Nikki for taking the time out from your Pre-Kensington frenzy to offer such helpful advice. I will certainly try this idea for the leaves.
Good luck for Monday.
Regards,
Janice
I love your mandrakes, I think hat I have to try to made some because it seems a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteCongratlations on the amount of followers!!
Hello janice,your mandrakes are fab !
ReplyDeleteLove nikkis way of making the leaves , if you want to try to do fimo ones thats easy too , simply bake your mandrake, then attach your unbaked leaves with a little liquid sculpey or liquid fimo and re bake ! You can bake over and over , you can even pop a whole doll, wigged, costumed and everything into the oven at the reccommended fimo temperatures with no ill effects........I know,I have done it !
Just experiment,its amazing what you will discover if you try different ways of doing things :0)
julie xxx
Your plants are locely! Great idea with moss on the pots. It looks very natural.
ReplyDeleteTe felicito por tus 50 seguidores ,las plantas son preciosas y las mandragoras son geniales, divertidisimas ¡enhorabuena!
ReplyDeleteHi Janice,
ReplyDeleteLove the flowers, and the pots, as mossy as they should be! Still need to make my first flower. Did buy a lovely kit to see how other people do it, but still need to see if I can make it as nice as on the picture.
Marit
Hi Marit. It took me a long time to attempt my first kit. The pieces looked sooo tiny. Having plucked up the courage to try my first one I am now completely hooked and trying all different kinds of things.
ReplyDeleteGo on, the worst thing that can happen is you get annoyed with it and throw it away!
Have fun,
Janice