Rose Necklace

How to Make

1. Take a block of lilac clay (or mix purple with white to create the desired shade) and warm with your hands until soft and malleable. Roll out 9 equal sized balls of clay.
2. Take the first ball of clay and flatten between your fingers. Fold the two edges round to create a little spiral – this will become the centre of your rose (use the picture as a guide). Pinch the upward-facing edges slightly so they curl outwards to mimic the effect of rose petals.
3. Take your second ball of clay, flatten and carefully apply to the spiral, positioning it so it covers the join. Keep doing this, adding layers around each side and gently curling the upward facing edges outwards as you go until you’ve used all nine balls of clay.
4. You should be left with a rose that’s delicately layered at the widest end and quite long and tapering at the other. Put to one side and create two roses of the same shape in bright pink clay.
5. Make two small lilac roses – do this by starting with much smaller balls of clay to begin with – it will be slightly fiddly but use the same technique.
6. Now, put the finished beads into a plastic container and leave them in the fridge to chill for an hour. This will make them stronger and less likely to distort during the next step.
7. Using your knife, cut the long, tapering back end of the roses off so each rose has a delicately layered front and a flat back – you want to leave about 1cm from the outer edge of the petals to ensure the bead stays balanced. Pierce the bead through the middle horizontally (going in the left side and out through the right) with a plastic needle. Do this for each bead until they are all pierced then bake according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
8. Once baked and chilled, thread the roses onto narrow purple ribbon, with the biggest lilac rose in the centre, alternating with silver spacer beads. Use the picture as a guide. Affix the ribbon in a bow to finish.

Top Tip

Roll out all the balls of clay for the larger roses together so you can make sure they are all the same size