This project doesn’t really have a cool story behind it. When I was making a list of potential projects, clay was one of the ideas just because it is a classic material for making stuff. Clay is very versatile so you can use it for almost anything you need. There wasn’t anything I really needed though, so I was searching for what could I make and I stumbled upon these leaf thingies. I’m not sure what is their purpose, but I guess they can be used as an ornament or maybe even a coaster. I also made a plate as a very basic clay project, and a very small bowl for my girlfriend because she collects tiny bowls.
These are the most basic items you can make out of clay, so I feel they are a great entry for anyone who wishes to get into this hobby. It is a really fun material to work with because it’s so malleable and you can do whatever you want with it.
Boring stuff
For my purposes, I didn’t need any specific tools. The only things I used were a rolling pin, Exacto blade, and my hands. Oh, and some leaves and a pine cone. For the plate, I rolled the clay to a wanted thickness, around 7-8mm. Then, I textured it with a pine cone because I thought it’ll look interesting, and then I cut out the circle shape and rounded the edges a bit.
The leaves were fun to do. I started the same as for the plate, rolling the clay. But then, I’ve put the leaf on the clay and rolled it on it so the texture is left on the clay. After that, I’ve cut out the shape of the leaf and rounded the edges a little bit.
Here is a part where I realized I bought the wrong clay. I bought kaolin clay, which is supposed to be baked at over 1000°C and my oven definitely doesn’t reach that temperature. So I just eyeballed it and baked it for an hour at 150°C. It dried out but I have no idea how strong will it be.
For the painting, I used acrylic paints. And since I don’t know anything about painting, I just improvised and I used mostly green, with small bits of white and brown to add some diversity. I haven’t painted the cup and the plate since those are for my girlfriend, so I’ll leave them for her to color them as she wants.
