Making variations

4 flowers from pink sheet wax. Left single layer 6 petal, next double layer 12 petal, next double layer bottom folds up top folds down with red stone in the center, triple layer with red stone in the center

It’s easy to say you want to make a flower pendant. But deciding how the finished piece should look can be difficult. Is it flat? Petals bend up, or down? A combination? What about layers? Cutouts? Texture?

When I’m unsure about an idea and think multiple variations could look good I do a quick making exercise. The goal of this exercise is not to end up with perfect pieces ready for casting. It’s to quickly try out different ways of shaping a piece. Find the pieces I like and remake, find the ones I don’t like and won’t make again.

This is also a good exercise if you want to make loads of similar pieces but not the exact same piece. Making variations of the same starting shape gives you loads of unique pieces that still look like they belong together. Great for one of a kind pendants or a pick and mix earring selection!

The variations exercise has 2 rules:

All pieces start from the same basic shape
It’s quick so you don’t have time to overthink something and just continue making pieces and trial out your ideas.

Preparation

The preparation stage is not counted as part of the exercise, but I don’t spend too much time on this part. For this sample I’m going to make flowers. I cut out as many flowers as possible from one sheet of wax.

cutting mat with a pile of 6 petal pink wax flowers

With the basic shapes ready I decide on a time, 30 minutes. Make sure any tools you might want to use are within reach and you’re ready to start!

Folding

Start simple! Just by bending the petals up you can create different shapes already. Change the amount the petals fold up and you get flowers in different stages of opening up and blooming.

2 side by side photos of the same pieces from different angles. Left 2 flowers from pink sheet wax with folded up petals, left one is folded up gently and right one more acute, photo from above. Right side same but photographed from the side so you can see the amount that the petals go up better.

Next add a second fold. Petals go up and the tips fold back.

2 side by side photos of the same pieces from different angles. Left 2 flowers from pink sheet wax with gently folded up petals and the tips fold back. Left photographed from above, right photographed from the side so you can see the bend clearer

Again try different amounts of bending for the double fold.

2 side by side photos of the same pieces from different angles. Left 2 flowers from pink sheet wax with folded up petals and the tips fold back. Left photographed from above, right photographed from the side so you can see the bend clearer

With just 2 simple folds you can create so many different flower shapes already!

4 pink sheet wax flowers in a row all a little bit different from each other. Petals slightly bend up, slightly bend up and back, bend up a lot, bend up a lot and back

Keep trying different folds and different amounts of bending until you’ve explored all possibilities!

Layering

With the simple shapes done it’s time to add more complexity. Layer your simple folded pieces!

2 photos side by side. 2 pink sheet wax flowers layered on top of each other. Left flower the petals are gently folded up, right photo the petals are bend up more

This is my favourite part, the pieces really come to life when you start layering them together.

2 photos side by side. 2 pink sheet wax flowers layered on top of each other. Left flower the petals are gently folded up and back, right photo the petals are bend up more and back

Try all the different combinations to find the ones you like best. Don't forget to triple layer and more!

2 photos side by side. 3 pink sheet wax flowers layered on top of each other. Left flower the petals are folded up, right photo the petals are bend up and back

Surface alterations

So far I used the starting shapes as they were. But you can change the surface of the flowers as well. Think of texturing the petals or trying some cutouts.

2 pink sheet wax flowers side by side with petals gently folded up. Left flower is solid, right one has cutouts on the petals

Just adding a few cutouts changes the look of the flowers completely again!

3 pink sheet wax flowers side by side. Left flower with small cutout on the petals and, middle small cutouts on the petals that are bend forward, right complete cutouts on the petals

Embellishment

The center of the flower is pretty much begging for some kind of embellishment. You can add texture or some wire stamen, but since these are quick trial pieces I don’t want to spend that much time on details. Placing a faceted stone in the center tells me a setting inside these flower shapes would look great as well!

pink sheet wax flower from triple layer, and upside down red gemstone is placed in the center

Try out different configurations again with a center embellishment and a cutout layer!

2 pink sheet wax flowers with double layers and cut outs on one of the layers. A red gemstone is placed upside down in the center.

Different shapes

Because the starting starting shape is so specific, I’ve only been making variations of flowers. If you still have some shapes left try to make non flower shapes!

2 photos side by side of the same piece from different angles. 2 flower shapes layered together with the tips of the petals touching creating a hollow form. Left photo from top, right from the side so you can see the hollow shape

Layering the basic shapes together in unexpected ways can give you even more ideas.

2 photos side by side of the same piece from different angles. 2 flower shapes layered together with the tips of the petals and the center touching creating open spaces between the petals. Left photo from top, right from the side so you can see the spaces between the petals.

I don’t really like the look of these variations but I think they could work with a different starting shape. New ideas for more bead like pieces are brewing!

2 photos side by side of the same piece from different angles. 2 flower shapes layered together with the petals of both layers going between each other, a small open space in teh center is created this way. Photo on left from teh top, right from teh side.

Result

Including preparation time this variation making exercise took less than 45 minutes. I found so many good variations of this flower shape and have some other ideas for completely different pieces.

And this was just one flower shape. I could make all the variations I like from different basic flower shapes and end up with even more variations on a flower theme!

The possibilities of making variations are endless. You can change your basic starting shape to keep this exercise fun and come up with new ideas! For the sake of the blog I used new wax, but when I do this for myself I use scrap pieces of wax.

Comment below and let me know if you’re going to try this out!