Marbled Clay Ornaments
It's day 2 of the Christmas ornament takeover! Yesterday we made the easiest stamped birch ornaments using handmade stamps. If you missed out on yesterday's tutorial, you can click here.
Today we're creating something completely different.
I have ridiculous amounts of clay laying around my house. I made jewelry at one point in my life and since clay was the base of a lot of my pieces, I collected way too much of it over time.
The problem with clay is that it doesn't last forever. Eventually it dries up and is no longer very useful. Seeing as I'm very frugal and hate wasting things, I decided to give that old clay some new life.
These ornaments are very simple and take about 10 minutes (not including bake time). Clay is really inexpensive, so if you don't have tons of spare clay like I do don't panic thinking you're going to spend a fortune! I wouldn't do that to you.
Here's what you'll need:
Start by choosing the colors of clay that you want to include in your marble effect. The more you choose, the more colorful your final piece will be.
I chose 3 different clays because I wanted an end result that was pretty simple.
Once you have chosen your colors, roll them into little worm like shapes that are about a quarter of an inch thick. This doesn't have to be exact, just use your best judgement.
Make sure they're all roughly the same size and length.
Twist 'em up:
Grab all of your different colors of clay and slowly begin twisting them up like I have shown you above. Once you have twisted them and they start to become one piece, fold the two sides together and continue twisting.
The more you twist, the more marbled your end result will be!
Roll 'em up:
Once you have a colorful, twisty mess, roll your "worm" shape into a ball. How your ball looks is pretty similar to how your marble will look once it's flattened out, so if you're unhappy with the outcome so far roll it back out into a worm and keep twisting your pieces around.
Flatten it:
Now that you've gotten your design just the way you like it, get a round surface and flatten out your ball. I used a wine bottle but you can use a regular rolling pin if you have one on hand.
Just make sure that if you do use a rolling pin, you don't ever use it to cook with again. Clay can be toxic so you don't want any remnants floating around in your food!
Continue rolling out the clay until it is pretty thin. You should end up with a flat, half of a centimeter plate shape.
Cut it out:
Gather your cute festive cookie cutters and begin cutting! The cool thing about this clay is that the more you roll it up and reuse it, the more marbled it becomes. So once you're done with one cookie cutter, roll up the excess and move onto the next shape!
Make it hangable:
Before you throw your ornaments in the oven, make sure to poke a small hole in the top so that you can hang them once you're finished.
This can be done by poking a small toothpick or other small object right through. The clay is very flimsy, so this shouldn't be too hard. If you try to poke a hole after you have baked the ornaments, you may run into some trouble!
Bake them:
Whatever clay you have will say the exact time and heat to bake the ornaments for. I put mine in at 230F for about 20 minutes. You don't want to over cook these!
Once they're out of the oven, let them cool for another 15-20 minutes. Then get whatever decorative ribbon or twine you have and hang them up!
There are so many different variations for this tutorial. The color schemes are seriously endless! Choose colors that match your home and tree theme this holiday season!
I hope you enjoyed day 2 of the Christmas ornament week long takeover. Make sure you check back in tomorrow to see what we're creating next!