It's no secret that the frangipani flower is a potent symbol of summer; found in tropical locations as it is, it's sweet perfume and lovely looks are the perfect accessory for a summer outfit, decoration for a poolside party, or motif for summertime stationary. That's why I decided to make one out of play-dough. As you do. My daughters wore them in their hair during our last summer-vacation, and while I was making repair works on a broken ring, I realised that the coloring could be replicated in modelling clay. Before buying expensive brands of jewelry-making clay, I decided to play around with the kid-stuff first. I'm glad I did - the results were not very successful.
You (or your youngsters) might have more luck at making a neater flower than I did. They would make a fun tween-party-craft for a luau-party, surf-party, mermaid-party, or any other beachy play date make'n'take activity for young teenagers.
If you want to try - here's how to make your own frangipani flowers out of play-dough:
- Roll a small yellow ball, a long white snake and a very thin pink (orange or purple) snake in play-dough or coloured modelling clay.
- Wrap them around each other to make a sort of fried-egg pattern.
- Roll it out with a playtime rolling-pin so that you get as close to a circle shape as you can.
- Lightly score the circle with 5 lines, and when you are happy they make the same sized 'petals', cut out the 5 triangle wedges.
- Shape the petals gently, to make them more rounded (this is where my cheap play-dough let me down; it was very 'sculptable' and started to tear or fall flat when I tried to shape it.)
- Lay one petal on top of the other to create a flower shape.
- Add a button, bead or sparkle to the middle to hide the overlapping center part.
- Admire.
- Optional - depending on what type of clay it is, you could try air drying it or baking it to keep your flower forever.
- Optional - once the flower has gone hard glue a jewelry fixing (such as a brooch pin or hair clip) to the back.
If you do make some play-dough flowers and they work for you - send me the pictures - I really, truly love boasting about parent submissions!
PS - speaking of Summer things; don't forget to enter the Summer Ebook competition on the right hand side over there - it's open until the 4th of July 2012 - Good Luck. x
