How to make air-drying clay trinket dishes

Now that Christmas is over, I can finally share some of the crafts I worked on in the weeks leading up to the big day. This year I made a pledge to make as many presents as I could myself – work was quiet and the upside of this was that I had some free time  it also meant that we needed to be as thrifty as possible with our gift choices). I browsed family members’ Christmas wish-lists and when I spotted some trinket dishes my mother-in-law wanted, I immediately thought I’d have a go at making using white air-drying clay.

All you need to make these delicate clay trinket dishes is: white air-drying clay, clingfilm (saran wrap or plastic wrap for my American readers), a rolling pin, lace or any fabric with an interesting texture, and a selection of bowls (I used cereal bowls and a larger noodle bowl).

Air-drying clay is really easy to use. Here’s how I made the dishes:

1.  Place some clingfilm onto a hard, flat surface, and use a rolling pin to roll a small ball of clay (about the size of a golf ball) to a rough oval shape a 2-3mm thick. Don’t worry about the rough edges.
2. I used some vintage lace that belonged to my Nanna, but any lace or textured fabric will work. Lie the fabric on top of a the rolled clay, and gently roll the rolling pin over it to imprint the pattern onto the surface of the clay (make sure the fabric doesn’t move about while you’re doing this or the pattern won’t transfer properly).
3. Select a bowl (or a variety of bowls) – the best ones are wider bowls that will allow you to create the shallow dish shape. Pick up the clingfilm, and gently peel off the rolled piece of clay. Place onto the curved edge of the bottom of the bowl, carefully letting it mould to the curve – it doesn’t matter of there are slight ripples in the clay.
4. Put aside to dry. Mine took about 24 hours, and then I could simply lift the clay pieces out of the bowls. I then left them to dry for a few more hours.

The dishes are sturdy enough to hold some bits of jewellery or loose change, but part of their appeal is how delicate they look, so you do need treat them gently. We wrapped ours up in tissue and popped them in a gift box with some packing foam peanuts. Now I’ve given these away, I’m very tempted to make a couple for myself!

I’m linking this post up to this month’s Create Make Share – don’t forget to join in and share your links to blog posts or IG images of what you’ve been creating this month.