So I created another flower dragon recently, and this time I decided to sculpt the flower with it. If you’ll recall my blog post recapping my peony dragon project, I did not do a tutorial because I only echoed the petals and color scheme. I found looking at photos of peonies were not enough to try and figure out how to sculpt one; I would have needed a live sample to work off of to see the intricate and different types of petals.
With a hibiscus, however, at least with the standard one, there is only one layer of petals, so reference photos were enough for me to sculpt from. I thought it would be cute for this dragon to hold a little flower similarly to my cherry blossom dragon, and I wanted to share that tutorial/process with you guys!
Supplies:
- Thin wire for the stamen of the flower—I used 24 gauge because it was nice and thin but would still provide support
- Wire cutters
- Polymer clay colors in your choosing (the hibiscus usually has at least 2 colors)
- TLS
- Roller (or pasta machine if you have one)
- Exacto knife
- Ball point tools
Step 1: Prepare your stamen
The stamen is a very prominent characteristic in the hibiscus. Since this needs to be sturdy and thin polymer clay on its own can break easily, I decided this would best be done by wrapping thin wire with clay. You don’t want this to be too thick, especially if you’re making a smaller flower.
Use a piece of wire that’s longer than you think you’ll need. We can trim it down later. Having extra wire will help give the petals something to adhere to later on. In my case, since I’m going to have my dragon hold the flower, I dedicated the extra wire for extra support.
I gave a slight curve to this piece of wire too in order to imitate the slight droop it has.
Step 2: Cover your stamen
Take a small section of clay in the color you’ll be using for the center and flatten it out. You can use your roller for this if you want, but since it’s a small piece, I just flattened mine out between my fingers.
You may want to use some TLS to help ensure a good bond around the wire, but be gentle with it! Too much, and your wire will be sliding around while you’re trying to wrap it. I usually pour a small amount on my work surface, dip my finger in it, and spread a thin layer onto my clay.
Step 3: Add the details to the stamen
Take that same color for your stamen and make lots of little clay balls. I made some that were bigger and some that were smaller.
Decide how much of the stamen you want coming out from the petals, and plan about half of that for the part that has the little balls attached (is that the anther?).
Starting with the bigger balls, I layer them around the wire, building up to the top of the wire and using the smaller balls toward the end. This gives it the appearance of tapering off, and the final shape is a really tall and thin triangle.
Step 4: Make your basic petal shape
The hibiscus has 5 petals. For the petals I’m creating, I started with a gradient so that the center of the petals match the color of the stamen.
With your clay rolled out flat (it should be a little thicker than what you’ll think you’ll need, as we’ll be thinning it out in the detailing process), cut out the basic shape of your petal. Hibiscus petals are typically more round (and fairly wide) toward the tips and come together at a point where it joins the stamen. This should also be slightly smaller than what you want the final size to be, as we will be stretching them out in the next step.
Create 4 more of these shapes. I roughly traced my first shape because I’m bad at eyeballing. These don’t need to be perfectly symmetrical because the next step will give us some flexibility.
Smooth out the edges of these petals with your finger to help get rid of any harsh cut lines in the clay.
Step 5: Detail your petal
There are a couple of rounds of motion for this step. With your bigger ball point tool, pull the clay toward the outer edges of the curved part of the petal, working from the point to the edge. This increases the size of you petal and thins out the edges, giving it that more delicate feel. Be careful about making them too thin, however, as they will be more susceptible to breaking later on.
I also used this opportunity to help make the gradient a little more curved along my petal. I used the big ball tool to help blend the color at the base of the petal up into the top part of my petal, focusing on the center of the petal and adding very small pieces of clay if I needed to stretch this gradient out.
This is your base layer of petal detailing work.
With your smaller ball point tool, you’ll want to go in with a finer layer of detail to give it a more ruffled look. Making the same strokes as you did with the larger ball point tool, texture the surface of the petal, keeping your hand light so that the tool doesn’t dig into the clay. You can smooth down any harsh edges with your fingers.
I like to rotate between the different ball point tools until I’m happy with the texture of the petal. Repeat with the remaining 4 petals.
Step 6: Assemble your petal
This part was a little trickier than I anticipated, mainly because I had underestimated how thin I’d be making my petals, so the clay didn’t want to support itself when it came time to assemble the flower. Thank goodness the petals were propped up on my dragon!
The tips of the petals are what attach to the stamen, but if you chose to do a gradient for your petal, you want to make sure all of that hard work doesn’t go to waste and get lost in attaching to the stamen. I layered the points of these 5 petals around the stamen so that the petals were positioned evenly with each other, blending the points into one stem only once I was satisfied with the petal placement.
Step 7: Bake
My petals were supported by the body of my dragon, but if you are looking at a self-supported hibiscus, I would recommend putting this in a glass bowl with polyfil surrounding the stem, supporting the petals in a position to your liking.
Then we’re ready to bake! You’ll want to follow your package’s instructions regarding oven temperature and minimum baking time.
Step 8: Finishing (optional)
I personally prefer how glaze brings out the intensity of my clay colors, so I always coat mine once the piece is cool. This is completely optional, however!
Here is the hibiscus-inspired dragon I created, holding a little flower in her arms. Her wings are also hibiscus-like petals.
Do you have a favorite flower?