From the artist, Shaile Socher:

Cold porcelain is an air dry clay which when dry has a smooth porcelain like texture. It is very elastic while working with it and stays somewhat flexible when dry with the ability to be rolled out very thin to achieve realistic petals and leaves.

It’s a slow and detailed process and some flowers can take several hours to complete. The tiniest of details can be added when creating a flower, leaf, plant, berries etc. The entire piece is completely made with cold porcelain, then color is added with oil paints and chalk pastels. In the end I have created a very realistic flower or plant.

How the flowers are made

I start by covering floral wires with cold porcelain then make the petals and leaves attaching them to the wires. When all all the pieces are made I then add the colors with both oil paints and chalk pastels then assemble it. Finally I add the tiny details where needed and the flowers are complete.

Caring for the flowers

When fully dry the petals can be flexible to a point and able to be moved around very gently. You are able to bend the stems and the petals of the flowers again very gently, they can break if bending too much or too forceful.

They do not like water or heat so if they become dirty or dusty the best way to clean them is with a small fluffy paint brush or makeup brush to get the dust off. You can take a slightly damp cloth and lightly wash the petals but not to the point they get wet. Just to get any dirt it might have.

You now know a little about cold porcelain clay flowers and the process of creating realistic flowers for your enjoyment.