Polymer Clay Leftovers

I have a LOT of leftovers... bits of coloured clay that I pop into a little ziplock baggy and store in a container. I have no idea what I've used half of these leftovers for originally - blues and purlples, and so many shades of orange my head spins! Okay, so the orange was oranges and carrotts, and the purple was plums (I think)... but that blue...? I have no idea why I mixed that!

So... a leftover wee little lump of blue clay... what to do with it?

Back to my scrapbooking roots... I decided to make some little blue roses with it - and here's how:

 First of all, roll the clay out to a small sausage, flatten it a little and start to cut slices off of it - not too thin, as you'll want to squash the cut off pieces of clay down a little. Roll one of the little pieces into a cylinder, pinched at one end.

 I used my blade to move the pieces of clay around. take the little cylinder (the centre of the rose) and lay it onto the edge of another little cut off disc. Roll it around the centre.

 Keep rolling the pieces around - off-setting each 'petal' to the one it sits behind so that the petals are staggered around the bloom.

 Lay the finished rose carefully onto your board (I use a ceramic tile) and cut off the lump you've accumulated behind the bloom - this will give a nice flat back to the rose so you can place it onto other pieces.

 Do it again... and again... and again!

 This is about as small as I can go - but that's because I'm a bit clumsy and heavy handed :)

And then what can you use these roses for in miniatures polymer clay cookery...??

Well, how about using up a load of leftover clay (I had pale brown, pale yellow and pearl) and making a simple cake and decorating it with your clay roses?

I don't have moulds or cutters or even an icing set... so I do everything by hand... so it's all 'One Of A Kind' (or, in other words... it's all a bit wonky and unique!)

*lol*