Handmade clay flowers are a great craft project, one that allows you to bring the beauty of a spring bouquet into your home permanently. Learning how to make handmade clay flowers is easy. It only requires a few simple techniques and supplies that are easy to find at the local craft store.

Materials Needed:

• No-bake air-dry clay in primary colors
• Scissors
• Orange sticks or toothpicks
• Cookie rack
• 24-gauge floral wire
• Craft glue

Instructions:

1. To create pastels and customized shades, mix the various primary colors of clay together. For example, white, red and blue combine to make a lavender color. If you want a softer green, add a bit of white clay to the green clay and combine for a leafy green.
2. Make four small, even-size balls of clay. Take a ball of clay and roll it against the base of your palm until it is in a teardrop shape. Repeat for all four balls.
3. Use the scissors, cut the large end of the teardrop in half, so that it's still attached to the narrow end of the teardrop. Cut each of these halves in half again, keeping them attached to the base, to make four petals.
4. Working from petal to petal, place your index finger underneath the petal, then roll the toothpick or orange stick over each petal to flatten it. Repeat for all four petals on each teardrop.
5. Gently shape and twist top of each petal to give it more dimension.
6. Take a small piece of clay, form a tiny teardrop and place it in the center of the clay flower.
7. If you want, you can form clusters of individual blossoms by attaching several blossoms together while the clay is damp.
8. Allow the flowers to dry on a cookie rack for 24 hours.
9. For the stems of the flowers, cut a length of floral wire and dip it in glue. Stick this into the base of a blossom or cluster. 

After the flowers are dry, they can be placed in a vase or used in other craft projects as embellishments.