Today I will try to describe the process of creating a polymer clay branch. The fruits of this tree are very small, but this, I think, is the charm. Polymer clay is the perfect material to create the most realistic floral arrangements, which later can serve as a wonderful gift or decorate your interior. So, let's start.

You need:

• modern clay (or other similar self-hardening clay)
• oil paint: grass green, crimson red, zinc white, burnt umber, yellow light
• red dry pastel
• constructional PVA glue
• pile powder
• foil
• basic modeling stick and one with ball
• apple leaf mold
• thick wire, thin wire
• brush No. 1 and a pair of thick ones
• toothpick
• scissors
• needle

Apples

Roll a ball of foil with a diameter of about 1.5 cm.

Knead clay well mixing it with green and yellow paint.

Roll the foil ball into clay (the clay layer approximately 5 mm).

Give the ball the shape of an apple with fingers and sticks. Insert the toothpick on 5 mm (to hold the apple). Shape the flower with tweezers, pinching and pulling clay. Make grooves along the flower with tweezers.

Use red oil paint to apply a thin layer on the surface of the apple. Allow to dry not completely.

Paint brown and green paint.

Make fine peels of pastel with scissors.

Spread the peels on the ball with your finger, moving up and down. The strips can be corrected with a thin brush slightly moistened with water.

Darker and brighter stripes are applied with red oil paint. Leave the apple to dry.

The area around the flower and stalk is slightly shaded brown and green. Emphasize the bumps and make spots.

Make the stem of the wire, 7 cm, thinly rolled in green clay. Pierce the apple with the needle, make a loop on the wire, glue it and insert. Leave it to dry.

I needed 13 apples.

Leaves

Knead green clay. Make a ball of clay with a diameter of about 1.5 cm (the ball can be different, it all depends on what size you want).

Shape a drop and roll it out thinly on your hand, giving the form of a leaf: the edges thin, but the center should have a minimum thickness of 1 mm.

Apply to the mold to give it the texture.

Make the twig just like the stem for the apple. While the clay is raw, forme a groove along the entire length of the twig, leaving the end bare (1.5-2 cm).

Gently insert the stem into the leaf (the tip of the wire should be glued).

The surface is masked with a damp stick.

Cut out the "teeth".

Shade the leaf brown and red, use oil paints. Make spots with thick brush and veins with the thin brush. There should be very little paint on the brush (almost dry brush).

Shade the backside white. The veins — red.

A very thin layer of PVA is applied to the back and right sides.

Use a sieve to sift pile powder, the excess is blown off from the leave. Leave it to dry.

Make the required number of leaves.

I had: 5 large leaves, 8 medium, 4 small.

Assembly

Make buds of apples and leaves twisting the ends of the wires into a tight twig on a thick wire and fix with the tape.

Knead clay with brown paint (remember that clay becomes darker after drying so do not overload it with paint). Brown clay is applied on the branch imitating the bark. Perfect all with wet fingers. Make the surface with tweezers and sticks. Leave to dry.

After drying, shade the bark white and green.

Leave the branch to dry out completely.

Our branch is ready!)

Thank you for reading :)

Wish you good luck)