Air-dry clay ornament tutorial

I love playing with clay. It was always the high light of art class in school. I have dreams of one day throwing a pot on a wheel. But in the meantime, my forays into clay are on a smaller scale. While brainstorming about the ornaments I would make for the swap those creative ideas came back me. I made these simple and sweet ornaments and took photos of the process in case you were interested in making some too.

1. String, straw, doilies, DAS air dry clay (under $7 at Lincraft), cookie cutter, rolling pin, baking paper.
2. Pinch off some clay and roll it into a ball in the palm of your hands and squash it a little on to the baking paper.
3. Roll it out to about a 6mm (1/4 inch) thick.
4. Position doily over the top of the clay and gently roll rolling pin over doily to impress the texture on to the clay. (If it doesn’t work the way you hoped, roll it into a ball and start again.)
5. Use the cookie cutter to cut out the desired shape and the straw to poke out a hole for the string.
6. Use the side of the straw to smooth out the edge of the ornament. (The cut edge of the air dry clay looks like torn paper, but the frayed edge can be rubbed smooth with the straw, or gently filed off once dry.)
7. Leave to dry on a sheet baking paper. Pop doilies in the wash.
8. Attach the string and admire your handiwork.

It’s a great project to do with kids. When Cohen got up from his nap he joined me in making them. His bumpy little ornaments are perfectly imperfect and will be pride of place on our tree this year. You can have fun and experiment with them. You could use different shapes and textures, or letter punches. You could also paint them, dip them in glue then glitter, or engrave a message or the year on the reverse. They would look great on a gift as well.