Every Christmas season, my kids and I enjoy making salt dough ornaments and decorating them. (You can find a recipe for salt dough ornaments in this article here.) This year, however – we wanted to try something a little different: An upgrade from salt-dough (in my opinion!) Salt dough is definitely a lot of fun, but these clay ornaments should last longer and I think they are so lovely! Using air-dry terracotta and white clay, these couldn’t be easier. Let me show you step-by-step how to make your own Air-Dry Clay Vintage-Style Ornaments! Absolutely perfect for gifting and/or decorating your own tree! I promise you’ll just love how they turn out!
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Supplies Needed for Making Terracotta Vintage-Style Ornaments:
Air-dry clay – terracotta or white
Wooden Pinecone & Christmas Tree Cookie Molds
Christmas Reindeer Cookie Mold
Toothpick or straw for making a hole
Chiffon Ribbon for hanging
Cornstarch (optional)
Acrylic Paint (optional) We used watered-down white and gold
How to Make Air-Dry Clay Vintage-Style Ornaments
Take a handful of the clay and roll it into a ball.
Next, using your hands you will press the ball of clay into your wooden cookie mold, covering the entire area. If you’re worried the clay may stick, you may lightly dust your mold with cornstarch. We did this the first time-around, but found we had no issues later on making them without the cornstarch.
With your scraper, quickly scrape across the top of your mold. This will actually also help to loosen the clay inside of the mold, making it easier to remove.
Carefully lift out your shape using a small clay tool or a butter knife. Use your fingers to reshape anything that may have moved while removing from the mold.
Use a straw or a toothpick to create a hole at the top of your ornament where you will use ribbon to hang them.
Lay your ornaments out on parchment-lined baking sheets to air dry! They will take about 24 hours total to dry completely, but I do recommend flipping them halfway through the drying process so that they will dry evenly on both sides. We also made some simple white air-dry clay ornaments from regular cookie cutters.
It’s Time to Paint Your Air-Dry Clay Vintage-Syle Ornaments!
Make sure that your ornaments are fully dry before painting them. I’ve found that acrylic paint works best on air-dry clay and salt dough.
“Whitewashing” Your Terracotta Ornaments
For the terracotta-color ones, I wanted them to look aged so I simply diluted white acrylic paint with water, dabbing it onto the ornaments with a paintbrush. I dabbed off the excess but let some of the paint dry into the crevasses.
Painting White Air-Dry Clay Ornaments
I love the more natural look of my white air-dry clay ornaments and so we decide not to paint some of them. The nice thing about the white is that you do have the option to go painting full-color with them if you choose! For kids to paint them, this is probably your best option over the terracotta color. We actually experimented a little and painted some of the terracotta pinecones gold. We love how they turned out!
Choose Beautiful Ribbon to Hang Your Ornaments
Think of all the lovely types of ribbon you could use to tie up your ornaments. Festive plaids, velvet, chiffon in dark green, red, or pale neutral colors – the sky’s the limit! I chose to use silk chiffon.
Ways to Use Your Air-Dry Clay Vintage-Style Ornaments
As gifts or gift tags
Christmas decorations around your home
A craft project for any holiday party
Decorating your tree
Sealing Your Ornaments
If you’d like to preserve and protect your ornaments even better, you might want to brush a sealant over them. I’d stick with a matte finish for this project.
Let me know if you try making any of these Air-Dry Vintage-Style Ornaments! I’d love to know how they turn out for you! As always, you can find more Fern craft ideas here!
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