Steps: Conditioning the clay
1. Condition packages of transparent pink and transparent purple Fimo Soft polymer clay.
- To condition the clay by hand, divide the package into four pieces, knead each piece in hands and mix the pieces together.
- To condition the clay with a pasta machine, slice the block in half, compress each half to a thickness of 1/4-inch with an acrylic rod. Roll the clay through the thickest setting of the pasta machine. Reset the machine to a thinner setting and roll the clay through. Reset the machine again to a medium-thin setting and roll the clay through once more. Finish by folding and rolling until the sheet is soft and pliable.
2. Roll each color into a square sheet that measures 1/8 inch thick.
Skinner Blend sheet
3. To create a Skinner Blend sheet, cut the transparent pink sheet and the transparent purple sheet to form right triangles of the same size.
4. Place the slanted edges of the triangles together offset so that about one inch of each triangle's diagonal edge remains untouched (figure A). Cut off untouched ends so that the two triangles together create a rectangle (figure B ).
5. Roll the combined clay through the pasta machine at the thickest setting, making certain that both colors physically touch the rollers.
6. Fold the sheet, same color edge on same color edge. Place the clay on the rollers and roll through. Repeat until the sheet is smoothly graded and there are no streaks (figure C). This will render a Skinner Blend sheet.
Flower canes
7. Roll the Skinner Blend sheet from long edge to long edge. Roll the clay again then push the ends in to make the roll shorter (figure D). Continue rolling the clay and compressing the ends until the clay roll is only one- inch tall (figure E). 8. Flatten the clay until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Roll it through the pasta machine to flatten it (figure F) then cut it in half to create two pieces of the same length. Stack one piece on top of the other so that the long edge of the top piece is slightly behind the edge of the bottom piece (figure G).
9. Cut the two stacked pieces of clay in half to create two pieces of the same length. Stack on piece of top of the other (figure H). Repeat this process two more times until there are 16 individual pieces in the stack (figure I). 10. Mold the edges of the clay stack to form a circle. Roll it to make the edges smooth (figure J).
11. Continue rolling the clay so that it compresses to about half its original diameter.
13. Roll the clay so that the registration strip is straight. Cut the clay cane into six pieces of the same length (figures M and N). 14. To make the center of the flower, place an orange strip of clay and a red strip of clay together back to back. Roll the combined pieces through a pasta machine.
15. Fold the strip of clay in half and roll it to make the flower center (figure O). Pinch the clay so that the center is the same size as the petals.
16. Place the petal canes around the orange and red center cane to create a six- petal flower (figure P). Cut thin slices from the ends of the canes.
17. To make leaves, roll green sheets of clay into canes and cover the outside with a black sheet of clay. Mold the cane to create a pointed oval shape (figure Q). Cut thin slices from the ends of the cane. Napkin ring
18. To make the napkin ring, roll a piece of black clay one inch in diameter. Slightly flatten the roll with an acrylic rod. Trim the edges.
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