<PERSON> (Legend of Zelda Inspired) Earrings
Introduction: Silent Princess (Legend of Zelda Inspired) Earrings
I didn't grow up with video games, so I was surprised by how far down into the Legend of Zelda fandom rabbit hole I had fallen after picking up a copy of Breath of the Wild. These earrings were inspired by the endangered silent princess flowers from that game.
Supplies
Polymer Clay, in colors:
* white
* green
* yellow
* light blue
You will also need:
* blue/teal pigment (I'm using a powdered resin dye)
* bakeable adhesive for polymer clay (here I use Sculpey Bake and Bond). In this tutorial, I will refer to it as liquid clay, although it is best to not use products labeled as liquid clay as it is too thin and your flowers can move around before you get a chance to cure the clay.
Earring Findings:
* Wire Hoops (here I use "ear wires" that I got at Michael's craft store)
* Earring hooks and jump rings (or, if you find similar hoop findings as I use here, you can use stud earrings)
* Beads (optional)
Tools:
* Needle Tool
* Craft Knife
* Thin paintbrush for the pigment (I prefer to use nail art brushes)
Step 1: Prepping the Earring Findings
Here we will make a base to stick the flowers to the earring wire:
1. Take a small amount of the green clay
2. Coat one side of your earring hoops with liquid clay
3. Roll out the green clay and wrap it around the wire, smoothing it out so both ends of the clay taper off to better blend with the wire findings
Step 2: Flower Petals
1. Roll out your white clay
2. Use a craft knife to cut out petal shapes. You will need 5 per flower, but it is better to have extra in case any become mishappened or tear. The extra will also be useful later on.
3. Add veining texture using a needle tool
4. Pick up a small amount of blue pigment with your paintbrush, and dust the bottom center of each petal, as pictured
Step 3: Putting Together the Flowers
1. Create a base for your flower by taking a small ball of white clay and adding a dab of liquid clay on top
2. Gently pinch together the bottom of each petal (this is optional, but you will get a slightly different look to your flowers. These photos show both how the flowers will look pinched off and not, so this is up to your own preference)
3. Use your needle tool to pick up and stick each flower petal in place onto the small ball of white clay
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Once all the petals are in place, gently curl back the tips of each petal. It is helpful to do this over your needle tool.
Step 4: Flower Sepal
The sepal is made similarly to the flower petals, but with a few alterations:
1. Roll out a sheet of green clay
2. Cut out leaf shapes, making sure they are thinner and longer than the petals you cut previously
3. Take a small ball of green clay to create a base, and add a small dab of liquid clay
4. Place each leaf shape onto the base, arranging them into a flower shape [optionally, you can flatten the edges of each leaf before placing them to minimize the harsh cut edge from the craft knife to make the leaves seem more natural]
5. Gently curl back each leaf, as you did with the flowers
6. Add liquid clay to the center of the leaves, and place the flower over top. Arrange this so each leaf peaks out from between each petal.
Step 5: Stamen and Pistil
To create the stamens:
1. Roll out tiny balls of light blue clay (these are around <1 mm in diameter)
To create the pistil:
1. Mix a bit of white and green clay to create a light green
2. Roll out a thin snake of clay
3. Cut a stubby log, around the length of two small stamen balls (~1.5-2mm)
To make the stigma (the top part of the pistil):
1. Roll out and gently flatten a ball of yellow clay, and use the needle tool to add texture so it looks like three pill-shaped bits of clay stuck together
2. ALTERNATIVELY: roll out three tiny pill-shaped balls of yellow clay and gently shape them together [this is easier if your flowers are larger than the ones I make here]
To put it together:
1. Add liquid clay to the center of the flower
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