Mini DIY Plant Pots
Display your air plants in these adorable Mini DIY plant pots. They’re so simple to make and look like they came straight out of the kiln (even though you don’t even need one to make one)!
I love filling my home with pops of greenery, and these mini DIY plant pots are perfect for that! Plants freshen everything up and give a room some life.
Unfortunately I, Teri am a self confessed plant killer and try as I might I can’t seem to shake it. Much to my dismay, I kiss goodbye to my plant friends on a regular basis.
It may have something to do with my relentless forgetfulness and never quite being sure I’m doing the right thing in terms of soil.
Recently, I’ve tried my hand with air plants and had much more success than my usual hopeless track record. Somehow a simple water bath seems easier to get my head around than navigating how much water to pour into a pot of soil.
I love that air plants are so easy to display. And as I go ahead and add to my collection I decided to fill a need. Pretty homes for the greenery, of course!
These clay pinch pot planters are so simple to make and with the painted drip effect and shiny glaze they almost look like they’re straight out of the kiln except you don’t even need one!
They’ll make your greenery look even more fetching! And no accuracy here folks! You can forget painting within the lines and just get a bit messy with this paint work.
I can hear some of you breathe a sigh of relief.
Materials Needed to Make Mini DIY Plant Pots
56g block and a half of soft polymer clay — 56 grams of clay makes one pot. And that’s the great thing about polymer clay.
Scalpel or knife
Porcelain paint colors of your choice
Paintbrushes
Pot of water
Oven tray
How to Make Mini DIY Plant Pots
1 — Preheat your oven to the temperature stated on the back of the polymer clay pack.
2 — Start by cutting your polymer clay into sections.
3 — Then, stick together and roll into a ball.
Keep rolling and working the clay until you can no longer see any joins and you have a smooth ball.
4 — Use your thumb to push a dip in the middle and start working the your thumb on the inside, pushing the sides higher and shaping with your fingers on the outside.
You should be able to hollow out middle smoothly.
If you turn the pot upside down and push down gently on a smooth surface you can create the flat lips at the top of the pot.
Sit your pot on a lined baking tray and bake for the recommended time. Once again you’ll find this on the back of the clay pack.
5 — Allow them to cool when finished.
6 — Now to glaze the whole pot using one of the paintbrushes. Perhaps start with the pot upturned to cover the bottom and sides and allow to dry and then turn over the to cover the lips and inside.
Leave this to dry fully.
Painting Your Pinch Pot
7 — Mix the paint colors you want to use and choose your base layer color. I started with pal pink and added some water to the paint to get this washed effect.
8 — Create a color block going all the way around, covering the top lip of your pot too.
9 — Then, add some more water and sit your paint brush at various points along the bottom edge to create drips of color. If the color becomes too subtle then just add some more paint into these drips.
10 — Leave to dry.
I chose a pale grey for the second color and repeated the technique again, slightly lower down on the pot, but still overlapping the pink just a little. So now you’ll have two bands of dripped color.
Don’t allow this layer to dry fully.
11 — Finally use a darker color (I used black) to paint a line around where the two colors underneath meet.
12 — Then, add some paint and water to your brush and repeat the drip effect from the darker line. You’ll see this new color mixing with the second paint color to create a tonal wash, with hints of the first color underneath.
13 — Bake this in the oven to set the cover, using the time specified on your porcelain paint instructions.
And there you have your air plant’s brand new home!
Painting Tips
If you go horribly wrong when painting never fear as if you’re working over a glaze then you can wipe the paint right off before it dries.
You can also play around with different colors, perhaps even a dripped ombre effect. Keep them around your room, on your window sill, shelves, your desk or coffee table.
Just make sure it’s somewhere nice and light. That much I do know, even as a plant killer.
Tips to Prepping and Working With Clay
There are so many things you can make with polymer clay like easy sculptures for decor, marbled incense holders, speckled DIY keychain and so much more.
Here are some tips before you start —
— Before starting any clay project, clean your hands and work surface. Unwanted objects like dust that cling are hard remove.
— To avoid staining your clay with your fingers, work with light and white clay colors first.
— The beauty of polymer clay is that it stays soft until baked. However, always condition the clay beforehand by kneading until soft and smooth. The softer the clay, the easier to manipulate.
— Do not use a microwave oven or exceed the recommended bake temperatures and time per the package instructions.
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