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How to Make Cold Porcelain Flowers
Flowers and Frame

Cold Porcelain Flower Making
Make your own Valentine's Day present. You will not only cut costs but you might be giving the best valentines day gift ever to your beloved one. Hand made valentines day gifts may mean more "than just present from the store" (as the song lyrics states).
Cold Porcelain flower making is perhaps among the most tedious flower making activity for craft lovers. Yet, even if it will take time to make a bouquet of cold porcelain flower, real craft enthusiasts can't resist making more because of the high quality output it yields. The downside is - it is breakable. If you dislike breakables, check my foam flower making lens. Foam can give you flowers that look almost real.
Photo shows a part of a wallflower décor made by my sister-in-law. At first, I thought that it was bought from a cozy home décor store because it looks like real porcelain. With all the fine details and the various flowers composing it, it's almost irresistible to have a closer look and touch and feel the smoothness of porcelain texture.
Unlike foam flowers, it took me more time to learn how to make cold porcelain flowers. The key is learning how to make the dough.
With cold porcelain dough, you can do flower making. You can even create real looking cold porcelain roses or any other flower you wish to make. You may want to assemble it to make a perfect wall décor just like what is shown in the photo here.
You may also make cartoon characters or any cute figure you wish to make. There is a very wide flexibility as long as you stretch your creativity.
A Must Have Book for Cold Porcelain Enthusiasts

Reading online some tips and "How to" articles is helpful but it is best to get a book like this to find useful techniques, list of tools, and tips in making cold porcelain. Printed materials are also more practical to use when you want to make projects with your children.
Here is our Latest Vlog about Flowers
Up for the Challenge?
Up to this point, are you accepting the challenge of making cold porcelain flowers?
Pictures, instead of words
You'll find this lens studded with photos.
I believe that I can illustrate what I wanted to describe
more through pictures than in words.
My sister in law's obra maestra - It needs repainting, 10 years after she made it
Click thumbnail to view full-size




A Project You Will Cherish and Keep
We are all artists in our own way. We love creating things. In most cases though, we gain interest in a particular art, enthusiastically make or start making a project and our enthusiasm wanes. When this happens, all the time and effort that we invested in this particular art are gone to waste. There are also time when we create something and after a month or two, we end up ditching it.
When you deal with cold porcelain arts, project the things that you can keep for a lifetime. Surf the net and look for an inspiration. I do not mean here copying what is already there. Get ideas and create your own.
The cold porcelain flowers in a frame that you can see above was created by my sister in law. It is near a decade and a half now from the time she made it - it is still as fabulous as ever.
Why Cold?
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Making the Dough
Cold Porcelain, the right proportions should be followed
To make the make the dough, you will need:
Glycerin
Cornstarch
White Glue
The proportion is 1:1:1 so it is really easy to remember. That is: one cup of corn starch; one cup of white glue and one tablespoon of glycerin.
Mix all ingredients and make sure that the cornstarch is fully dissolved.
In a non-stick pan, heat it in a slow fire, stirring constantly. If you had been cooking maja blanca (a snack menu made mainly of cornstarch, and coconut milk and sugar) you will think that you are cooking your next snack only that this one is more sticky and dry.
You know you're done heating when stirring becomes a bit hard like when you are mixing your cookie dough. Take the pan off the fire and scoop out the dough into a greased pan (I grease the pan with glycerin) and knead it while hot. When it is smooth like bread dough, put it in an airtight container so it will not form crust and eventually harden. I simply put it in a freezer plastic bag and close it with a knot. Most cold porcelain craftmasters recommend to put this bag in the refrigerator to prolong its shelf life. I prefer not to because I use my dough or clay (some calls it clay) in one sitting. I cook cold porcelain dough only when I know I have enough time to make several items.
When I cannot find glycerin in the stores (you'll find it in pharmacies or beauty stores), I actually substituted it with coconut oil. It worked but the output bears the smell of coconut oil. I got this idea after researching online that coconuts are rich in glycerin.
Make A Chrysanthemum
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Make Cold Porcelain with Coconut Oil
The photo below shows my output
when I used coconut oil instead of glycerin.
I doubled the proportion,
instead of using one tablespoon, I put two.
Looking at it through those pictures,
you may not see
the slight difference in texture.
When the output dries totally, the result is
less shiny compared to the dough with pure glycerin.
I was thinking then that it will not last long.
But, till now, the piece I kept is still okay.
One of my first projects, done about four years ago - Cold Porcelain Flowers and Glass
Click thumbnail to view full-size









Other tools you need
Shaping, Cutting, Coloring
You will need small and thin but sharp scissors for cutting. For shaping, you can experiment on making use of your hand dexterity in effecting different shapes. Find other sharp and narrow things in your home because those are useful as well. You can use a pointed pencil, a spoon, a fork, a rod to shape your dough. You will also need a rolling pin.
I have full sets of shaping and cutting tools but I am not sure if these tools are available in all craft stores. I have petal form cutters (in different shapes and sizes (for sunflower, magnolia, rose, etc). These cutters are like the tin cookie cutters. Aside from that, I have different leaf-patterns too. These are plastic molds that will copy the veins of a real plant leaf to give your project a "real" look. I found some items in ebay and Amazon, check my list below. For beginners, it is best to have the right tools. You will feel more satisfied with the results, rather than improvising tools you can find at home.
Cold porcelain clay is available for purchase online too. You may choose to buy it with the kit that contains some of the basic tools. It would be best to buy the multicolored clay if you do not have oil paint at home. Otherwise, I recommend that you better get the pure, not colored clay.
For coloring, it is best to use oil paint. I tried ordinary watercolor and the result is "matte" and not shiny. When coloring, mix the paint with a small portion of dough. Estimate what is just enough for what you need so you will not be wasting your dough.
Making Cold Porcelain Figures

This valuable book discussed and illustrated how to make figures using polymer clay. The techniques and tools used here can be used when dealing with cold porcelain.
With this book, you can create your favorite figures and feel proud about what you created.
Making Flowers Using Foam Paper
- Foam Flowers
Flowers are favorite home decors. If you make your own, you can customize it to fit your home's design and your taste. Make flowers using foam sheets; create flowers that look real!
Foam Flowers

Comments are highly appreciated. - Non squidoo members are welcome too
This looks like fun!! Great job.
Those flowers are remarkable. I'd never heard of cold porcelain dough, but now I think I shall have to try it - for some reason, I actually do have a bottle of glycerin sitting under the laundryroom sink!
My god ,how skilled are you just Amazing!
There are some really beautiful flower ideas here! great lens. Thanks!
It is just a great lens with a lot of useful info :)
These look like a great idea. Thanks for sharing.
Fabulous! Never heard of this before, Thanks for the info.
Nice lens. Looks like a very enjoyable hobby.
Never heard of cold porcelain before. Very informative lens.
Beautiful lens! I would love to try this. Thanks so much for sharing.
I like this lens - lot to learn and great product choices
Beautiful Lens...Beautiful Talent, very interesting.
I take it this is a recipe for regular clay too. I've bought polymer clay for crafts and it's really expensive. I will have to remember this.
Interesting craft projects.
I love porcelain flowers. I used to buy them from the florist. Flowers are a must-have in my meditation room because they help me to stay focused. :)
Sounds like this is a tedious labor of love for you, I wonder if you find it meditative...I seem to have that element enter in often as I've worked on different arts and crafts project. Beautifully done, thanks for stopping by my neighborhood....:)
Ahh. A craft I have not tried yet. These are beautiful.
Very nice lens, well put together ..
A very beautiful lens!
Great lens and nice to see something a bit different!
You rite pictures say a lot more than words
Back to pin this.
great lens,those penguins look awesome,great job
What a unique crafting idea! I love this!
Great lens...
Impressive designs very beautiful work. I enjoy things that are hand-made.
Very beautiful craft work indeed. It amazes me the items that can be handcrafted.
craaaazy... I didn't know this was possible. Thanks for educating me.
Interesting. I'll have to try it. Your work is lovely.
Coool!
It's a good article, but I would like to see more information about how to paint it and finish it. Does it have to air dry? That info may be in one of the resources you mentioned, but I didn't click out. Thanks for including your recipe, and the info on coconut oil was interesting.
This looks like a very interesting craft. I'd never thought of this before. Great tutorials lens and great pictures.
Your work in cold porcelain is lovely! Thank you for sharing.
It's a beautiful craft's work...amazing.
Your porcelain flowers have amazing details!
Beautiful work! Blessed be the hands of the talent! :)
Very talented! I do not have the patience to do that!
wow. lovely craft work and well presented lens.
Wow I never heard of this process before. It is so great to learn something new. I have learned about so many cool things since joining Squidoo. Great job!
Very beautiful selection, I especially love the gorgeous cup and saucer. :)
Thanks for this lens. I didn't know a lot of this.
You have some beautiful work here. Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the introduction to this craft. I'm not sure I have the patience for it. Your work is beautiful.
Nice lens. I'll probably go for the ones that you buy...
Very nice. The flowers look so delicate and intricate. Beautiful.
Excellent article. Well done!
my nan use to make these.
Very artistic and lovely lens, mehdihelen!
Nice Lens! If you fix your gallery images your lens won't jump around so much.(It will make it easier to read, and easier to type a comment.) :-)
These are lovely.
I love the little penguins. They are so cute.
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