I struggled with the same problem every year of trying to find the right gift for my sister. I like to put some thought into picking out the right gift so that she knew I was thinking about her. Well, this year I made her a pair of fine silver earrings with the imprint of a leaf. Not just a leaf, but a leaf from a special plant that we shared.
A few years ago, my sister gave me an off shoot of a silver leaf plant that she had had for many years. Now, I do not have a green thumb like she does, but she swore this was a hardy plant that did not require pampering. Well, she was right and this will be the third year I have had this plant and it is still thriving.
So this year, I made her earrings using the imprint of a leaf from this plant. I had attended an Art Clay ”Introduction to Metal Clay” class and learned all the techniques needed to complete this simple project.
To get the leaf design into the pendant,
1. Pick a leaf small enough for a necklace pendant.
2. Roll out clay (I used Art Clay 650 low fire, slow dry clay) to a 3-card thickness.
3. Place leaf on clay and roll over to lightly press leaf into clay.
4. Remove leaf, and cut out shape of pendant around leaf imprint.
5. Use a straw to cut a hole at top of pendant to add jump ring.
6. Dry completely using warming plate.
7. Lightly sand and smooth edges
8. Fire with micro-torch for 3 minutes
9. Brush to remove white residue
(I used a patina solution made with liver of sulfur to add darkness to the leaf imprint)
