Creating some mini pots for your plants is fun and easy, simply by using air drying clay and some paint!
Let me inspire you to create some chic and modern designs for your pots - why not paint a face, a rainbow, spots or flowers, the clay makes such a great surface for your designs. You can make them any size too, so the possibilities are endless!
But please note, it is advised you don’t get the pots wet, so these are ideal for house plants that don’t need much water such as succulents or cacti.
Please note: as these pots are air drying, and not sealed using a kiln, they are purely for decorative use only and should not be used for food.
Finished Size:
Scalloped edge pot - 6.5 x 7cm
Cat pot - 8.5 x 6cm (including feet)
Textured pot - 7.5 x 7cm
You Will Need
Chopping board or craft mat
Air drying clay
Rolling pin
Votive or pot (to use as a template)
Knife
Water
Saucer
Fine sandpaper
Glue
Selection of paints (we used pink, white, red and black)
Paintbrushes (medium and fine)
Pencil
Fine black pen
Plants (5cm potted plants fitted perfectly)
1 Working on a chopping board or craft mat, pull off a piece of clay, knead it, then roll it into a long piece roughly about 5mm thick (you want it longer than the circumference of your votive or pot).
2 Place your votive at one end of the piece of clay then, using a knife, cut the clay to the height of your votive. It doesn’t have to be perfect!
3 Roll the clay up around the votive, and cut off any excess with a knife.
4 To make the base of your pot, roll out another piece of clay about 5mm thick, place the votive on the clay and cut around using a knife. Pull away the excess of the clay.
5 Apply a little water to your fingertip and wet the edges of the base piece of clay. Take the long strip and wrap it around the base. Use water to gently smooth the two ends to join together.
6 Roll out a long snake piece of clay, wet it, then place it inside the pot. Press it down into the edges so the base and sides all adhere together.
7 Take three small lumps of clay and mould them into little cones. Make sure they are all the same height (ours measured 2cm), and push the base down onto the mat to get a flat surface as possible. Leave the pots to dry overnight.
8 Once dry, use sandpaper on the lip and edges to smooth out any rough bits and neaten the texture of the pot.
9 Sand the edges and the base of the three cones. Position them on the base of one of your pots to make sure they are flat and in the right place, then apply glue to the flat side and stick in place - you want to have two near the front, and one towards the back.
How to decorate the cat pot
1 Paint the whole pot in a pale shade of pink. Once dry, and following our photo as a guide, draw a simple outline of a cat, incorporating the two front cones as if they were the cat’s feet.
2 Use a bright pink and a steady hand to paint along the edge of the cat, then paint the rest of the pot.
3 Draw on eyes, nose and mouth with a black pen (or with a fine paintbrush and black paint). Apply red paint to the cheeks and ears. When dry, draw on the whiskers and some dots along the cat’s body and tail.
How to decorate the scalloped edge pot
1 Apply a light pink to the whole pot, inside and out. Once dry paint the lower half with white paint, leaving the top edge soft.
2 Once the paint has dried, use a very fine paintbrush to dot on black paint to the lower white half of the pot.
3 Finally add red scallops all around the rim of the pot, leave to dry.
How to decorate the textured pot
1 Mix up some pale pink paint, add some red or darker pink and apply to the pot so you get streaks of both colours coming through. Paint in different directions to create some texture to the surface.
2 Once dry, apply small strokes of red paint all around the rim of the pot.
How to make mini saucers
1 Place a saucer, face down on some rolled out clay (5mm thick) and cut round with a knife.
2 Turn the saucer right side up, place the clay onto the saucer and press into the edges to create a scalloped effect. We made a second mini saucer by cutting round the base of a votive and curling the edges up freehand. Leave the saucers to dry overnight.
3 Sand the edges to remove any rough areas and to neaten, then apply pink and white paint to create an ombre effect.
4 Once dry apply red paint along the edge of the saucer and red dots around the mini saucer.
TIP - try to avoid getting the pot wet by placing a small piece of plastic, cut to size, at the bottom of your pot.
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