God's Wondrous Creation-In A Necklace

There is no doubt that God's creation is beautiful. Every new day its uniqueness increases, and it is virtually impossible to replicate-but we can try!

This necklace, a beauty made to replicate the fall leaf of a chrysanthemum, is a joy to create, and I appreciated how easy it was to make something that pretty.

To make the pendant of the necklace I used paper clay. In my mom's art class she introduced the technique of imprinting leaves to make an almost exact white carbon copy that would dry and you could paint. I chose the leaves of the chrysanthemum plant that grows in our back flowerbed because they had a lovely red color creeping up from the edges and I thought it would make an interesting necklace. Basically, you roll out the paper clay (which you can get at Michael's) to the thickness you would like your leaf to be. Mine was about a quarter inch thick. Then you carefully press the leaf into the clay and cut around the outline of the leaf with clay tools. (Your leaf should still be stuck in the clay) Now smooth the sides of your clay so that they match the sides of your leaf. Carefully peel the leaf off. This part is crucial. If your clay was too wet or too dry (Usually right out of the package and rolled a few times is perfect) the clay will rip or not have imprinted enough. I did three leaves so that I would be sure to have at least one nice one. Lastly, with a paperclip that is stretched out poke a decent sized hole into the clay if you would like it to be some sort of jewelry or ornament.

Let the clay dry. We shaped our leaves by laying them across foil that was bunched up and then let them bake awhile in the toaster oven.

The next step is coloring your leaf. You can make it any color you would like-it does not have to realistic. One of my mom's students had a blue leaf! We used watercolors on our leaves. Watercolors blend easily so they were ideal for showing the many colors and layers leaves have. Once the watercolors dry we put a clear varnish on the leaves so that they would last longer and be a little shiny.

Next is my favorite part-shopping! I went to Michaels for a toggle clasp-rose gold colored- and beads to match to my leaf. I felt that the red part of the leaf was key to making this necklace really neat so I picked up a few different beads in reddish tones and only a couple in green. I used all natural beads-stones-because my pendant was a natural looking and feeling element and I wanted to accentuate that.

Final step-stringing the necklace. I used beader's wire which is very flexible and is unlike normal wire in that it doesn't hold shape. That makes it excellent for a necklace. Since the leaf's hole was too far in from the edge to secure it to the necklace with a loop I did a slip knot with the beading wire and it gave it a rustic look. I used a crimping tool to secure the beads and a cutting tool to trim the excess.

Voila!~A finished necklace that is an excellent gift and a fun accessory!


"Try something new today"~Alexis