Shiny leaves - polymer clay, new molds and how to make them

I nearly forgot to take a picture from this pair! The earrings are already sold at the fair last saturday I attended. The first one in this year. It was the Happy Pop-Up Market in Leipzig. The distraction was perfect for my mind. Something else beside my normal work (don't get me wrong, I love the work in the lab, but at the moment there is a lot going on in my mind) and especially besides my worries for my little one, my cat Bisu. 

The leaves were made with polymer clay. I used Fimo effect in jade. One of the new colours that is a mix of translucent, colour and some mica powder. The original colour is beautiful but still... I need more layers of colour, more depths... Therefore I added some dark green acrylic paint (Reeves) and Inka gold (Viva) in copper on top. They are very thin and a little bit bendable therefor not fragile!

Centi (have a look at her blog!) liked my leaves and letters earrings but said that she would prefer some more natural, leaf-like structure. That was motivation enough for me to make new molds. Okay, I already have a lot of molds... but of course you can't ever have too many molds... and also I now have a clay / pasta machine! This allows me to make even thin sheets of clay. I made thin sheets at setting 5 or 4 because I wanted to press the finished molds together with clay through my machine. 

After I made the sheets with polymer clay (I always prefer Fimo classic, Fimo soft don't gets all the small details and even "melts" a little bit while baking) I pressed plants on top. 

The little flowers I pressed again and again in the polymer clay to create a big pattern.

The leaf was pressed carefully but still firm on top of the sheet...

I removed the leaf before I baked the clay. 

Not every leaf has veins strong or big enough to create good molds. If I see interesting leaves I just take some with me and test the leaf by using a small ball of polymer clay. I just fold the leaf around the polymer clay ball... 

...and press gently.

After this you can see what kind of pattern a mold made with this leaf would make. I also like this way to get a small bead "stamped" on both sides. Just bake it and drill a hole in it later using a dremel!

Can you see how different in details, in pattern and especially also in depth the impression of the leaves are on the polymer clay?

Of course I wanted a lot of different molds! 

This are some of my molds. I really love this one for all it strong veins and the pattern they create!

A lot of long leaves pressed on top of each other...

...this one is rather a "typical" vein structure... the one most children would paint if asked to do so.

Even the molds are beautiful...

The other good thing with Fimo classic compared to Fimo soft: You can use water for your molds so the new polymer clay won't stick to them. But I prefer talcum powder. I use the one from penaten (intended for babies). But I also always paint the beads I make. The powder sticks a little bit to the polymer clay surface and if you use translucent polymer clay or a special colour it may be a problem. But the powder works way better than the water!

Here an example of two more beads I made with my new molds. I just have to bake, drill and paint them! Oh, and add several layers of shiny gloss...

Very simple molds to make, a lot people make them with leaves, my own drawers are already full with molds... but still every new mold has its own special beauty! And these mold sheets I can use with my clay / pasta maschine!