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Construction:
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1. You now have one sheet of white clay on folded wax paper, and one sheet of marbled clay, and one half log.
2. Put the marbled clay through the pasta machine until the size is approximate to the white sheet. Fold back the wax paper from the white sheet.(Photo right)
3. Take the marbled sheet and lay it on top of the white sheet. Brayer the pieces gently together. Trim the ends, and then fold the wax paper back over.
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4. Put the remaining half-log through the pasta machine as before.
5. Turn the white/marbled sheet over, unfold the wax paper, and now repeat Step 3 with the other marbled sheet.
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6. Trim the ends again and fold the wax paper back over. (photo right)
7. Gently brayer the three sheets together and check for any air bubble between the sheets.
8. Pull back the wax paper and brush glitter on one side of the stack, covering the whole side with a thin layer of glitter. Fold the wax paper back over the stack and brayer again, setting the glitter into the clay.
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9. Turn stack over and repeat Step 8 on the other side of the stack.
10. Fold back the wax paper and now you can cut your snowflakes from the sheet using the decorative cookie cutters. After cutting the initial snowflake shape, use the Kemper cutters or any other small decorative cutters to add the inside cuts to the snowflake.
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Baking:
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1. Put the parchment paper in the baking pan, covering the bottom.
2. Lay the snowflakes on the paper (you can also place the snowflakes between two ceramic tiles while baking to prevent curling - if you have enough tiles you can stack them in the baking pan)
3. Bake for 45 minutes at 275 degrees
Tip: If your oven cycles quickly you can bake for 30 minutes. But if your oven takes a long time to cycle, you'd better bake for 45 minutes to assure the clay cures correctly. If the clay is under baked the snow flakes may become brittle as the remaining plasticizers try to soften the clay.
Finishing:
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1. Let everything cool before touching anything. Remove from the pan.
2. If you would like, you can color the edges of the snowflake. I'm using the Krylon 18K Gold Leafing Pen, but you can use any type of metallic marker or paint or glitter.
3. Tie a decorative ribbon, yarn or metallic elastic to the snowflakes, hang your snowflakes, and get a cup of coffee and admire your beautiful work!
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Extra Tips:
1. As an alternative method of coloring the Ultra Light clay, you can roll out the Ultra Light on wax paper, paint one side with Piñata Ink, allow it to dry, and then put it through the Pasta machine until it's completely blended. It doesn't take much ink to give a vibrant color.
2. When I was first creating these snowflakes, we took a long piece of metallic elastic and strung it from one end of the room to the other near the ceiling. By the time we were finished experimenting, we had THREE lines across the room filled with gorgeous snowflakes (and it was the middle of summer!). I hope you enjoy these snowflakes as much as I do - they become a year round decoration in my house.
Leigh Ross
Photos by Stephen Ross
©2006 Text and Photos
Thanks to Leigh for this beautiful project, and if you have a lesson or tutorial, or something you would like to share with PCC, please email Leigh or Stephen and we will help you prepare your project for the PCC Website!