Clay Plumeria Bonsai

Clay Frangipani Bonsai Tree

            Hi friends I guess most of us have played around with clay at one time or the other! Last month a health scare mandated that I "take rest".Making clay Plumeria [otherwise called Frangipani] flowers and leaves to go on a clay bonsai tree helped me to "take rest" without going crazy! 

Clay Frangipani flowers

          The Plumeria flowers and leaves were all made with Thai Clay, a type of air drying clay popular for flower making.My first experiment with Thai clay was a small Thai clay rose you can see in this post on an Altered Bottle.I find Thai Clay  a challenging medium to work with and my little Bonsai tree has lots of amateurish imperfections but I hope you can bear with me!

Clay Plumeria Flowers

          I used oil paints to ink the centers of my plumeria flowers yellow and the leaves were made by mixing green oil colors into the thai clay dough before shaping them into leaves and adding veins.Made the flower buds in white and used my finger tips to lightly shade them with oil paints[ I found I had better control using my fingertips than a brush]!

Clay Frangipani Bonsai Tree

         I used wire to form the framework for the bonsai tree...in a similar fashion to how I made the Beaded Christmas tree and covered it with a tougher air dry clay called Mseal [you can read about Mseal here: Mseal tutorial ].Purposely added some cracks on the Mseal and finger painted it with different shades [brown and a bit of green and black] of oil paints to resemble a tree trunk.

Clay Plumeria Bonsai Tree

         I am sorry I dont have pictures of how I made it...it was all an experiment! I love Plumerias and here in India we can see them on the roadside in many different colors! I hope you like my Clay Plumeria Bonsai  !
Supplies : Thai Clay and wires to make tree framework + oil colors