If you decide to try this yourself, remember to wash your hands and wipe down your tools between colour changes. Do ask if you need help with anything.
I started out with a plain white ceramic teapot.
Flowers
I then made my flower stems;
1) I cut strips of thin florist's wire.
2) Swarovski crystal beads in clear, yellow, orange, and amber. I have 40 here.
3) I thread the bead onto a bit of wire and move it to the middle.
4) I fold the wire down on each side of the bead.
5) I twist the wire together (pliers help).
6) I wrap the twisted bit of wire in a bit of masking tape. The clay will stick to the tape, where it will slide against the smooth metal.
Now to turn them into flowers;
1) I wrap some conditioned green clay around the stems and roll smooth.
2) In the same colour, I make 2 Sepal leaves for each flower. They are the little ones at the base of the petals.
3) I roll out a small sausage of conditioned clay, in the petal colour and press it flat on a tile.
4) I then indent the clay, so it's 4 bumps.
5) I then lift it with a blade and wrap it around the bead. Then I put the Sepal leaves on.
Grass
This is a far less fiddly stage than the last. I don't even think it is worth a numbered walk through.
I condition several shades of green, roll them into tapered sausages and flatten on a tile. Then mark a line through the middle.
I put the grass and flowers around the bottom of the pot, making sure they are firmly pushed on.
I then roll out several balls of different sizes, in white conditioned clay and arrange these to make clouds. Then I bake it again.
Butterflies
To make the wings, I am going to make a cane.
1) I make a faded Skinner Blend sheet of clay in my chosen colours. I am doing one cane in pinks and a second in purples.
I take a dark and light shade of my chosen colour and make a flat triangle of each and put them together to make a square or rectangle. I make sure that one color is on the left and one on the right . then roll it flat, rolling up and down only.
I fold it in half (bottom to top) and roll it flat. I repeat that around 20 times. The fade will appear from left to right and not in the direction you are folding in.
2) I turn the sheet so that the fade is top to bottom and then I cut the sheet in half and put one half aside for later. Starting from the darkest side, I roll the second half up into a stick.
3) I then get the first half and starting with the lightest side, I fold in a widening concertina. This will leave me with a triangle shaped stick, with the lightest colour at the tip.
5) I roll out some black and wrap it around the outside of the triangle stick (not the ends). I then put black around the outside of the round stick.
6) I put the round sick to one side and I cut the triangle stick in half.
7) One of the halfs, I cut in half length ways (so I have 2 smaller triangles . I then put a strip of black clay over the bare sides of each triangle.
8) Facing all the light tips in one direction, I samwich the large triangle between the 2 smaller ones.
9) I cut the circular stick into 6- 10 bits, the same thickness as the triangles, then I put them in a line along the dark side of the triangle.
10) I roll out a round stick of white conditioned clay to the same thickness as the round stick I was just using. I cut it into 10 -12 bits (the same thickness as the rest of my project and put them in a line above the coloured round bits.
11) I make sure it is all firmly pressed together, then leave it for an hour or two.
12) I reduce the cane by half its size, by putting even pressure on the middle pressing towards the outside. The ends will look messy, but I cut them off.
13) I cut a third off this new stick and reduce that by half ish.
14) I cut a slice from the larger and smaller teardrops. the big is the large top part of the wing and the small is the bottom bit.
15) I cut a slice off each for the 2nd wing and make a simple body from black conditioned clay. I then assemble the butterfly.
16) I then attach them to the teapot.
Sun and clouds on the lid
Sun
For the sun, I use my swerly pattern (I have a page devoted to showing how to make this on my blog) I use yellow, orange and gold.
Here is a quick run through;
1) I take thin sausages of conditioned clay (one of each colour).
2) I twist them together.
3) I fold it in half and twist the 2 ends together. I keep folding in half and twisting together until it's ball shaped.
4) I press the ball firmly, to stick it together and roll into a sausage.
5) I then repeat steps 2 and 3.
6) I press the ball firmly together and roll the ball to smooth out the surface, I then press it into a cube.
7) I cut a thin layer off each surface, turn it around (so that the inside design is facing outward) and press back onto the cube. I make sure I have done this, so none of the outside design is showing.
8) I roll it into a smooth ball and push it onto the lid's handle. Make sure it is firmly secure.
Clouds
1) I condition some white clay and roll it into balls of various sizes.
2) I position the balls around the sun, to form a few clouds.
I then bake it all and then varnish it to finish.
