Easy Crafts, Air Dry Clay Leaves for Fall
Easy Crafts, Air Dry Clay Leaves for Fall
Like all good fit bit owners, I try to hit between 10,000 to 14,000 steps each day, and with each walk there is always something to discover.
On this day, it was just an oversized leaf, more than likely a nondescript weed, but it was big. For reference, notice how small the ivy leaves look next to it.
I did have a project in mind for this oversized leaf, an air dry clay leaf plate.
For this project you’re going to have to have all your supplies ready to go. The leaf doesn’t last long before it’s ready to wilt.
What I mean by “all your supplies” really is just a container of air dry clay and a rolling pin. If you have to go to the store after you pick your leaf, you may just have to go out and find another leaf.
I still had a bunch of clay leftover from my birthday reminder tree , and I was anxious to use it up before it dried out on me. Not too anxious, that post was from back in February. 😀 , but I did want to get started before fall.
Besides being large, try to pick a leaf with a lot of prominent veins. (I was going to say sticky uppy veins but apparently spell check doesn’t like the word uppy, so I left it as prominent)
Roll out a chunk of air dry clay on a piece of aluminum foil, slightly larger than your leaf. It should be about 1/4″ in thickness.
Use your rolling pin again, with vein side down, roll the leaf into the air dry clay.
Carefully pull up the leaf and you’re left with a beautiful imprint of your leaf on the clay.
Carefully cut around the leaf with a sharp knife.
With a wet finger, smooth out the edges of your leaf.
I still had enough clay left for one more leaf.
Back to the woods where I found this tree. I have no idea what kind of tree it is, but it fit the requirement of having large, oversized leaves.
I repeated the roll, imprint process and added one more step…slightly curling up the edges of the leaves.
The aluminum foil not only allows me to move the leaves, but scrunched up, it keeps the edges of the leaves elevated while they air dry.
The clay leaves will need to air dry for about a week, so move them to a safe place.
Time for paint. I’m just using inexpensive Apple Barrel acrylic paints.
For my green leaf, I painted the entire leaf with New Shamrock acrylic paint, getting into all the nooks and crannies.
While the green was still wet, I went back and dabbed on both yellow and a ivy green working them both into the bright green background until all the brush strokes disappeared.
For the orange leaf, I started with a nice vibrant red-orange and dabbed on both yellow and red until they blended with the background red-orange color.
Let dry.
Spray on one coat of varnish. The varnish will seal the leaf before I highlight the veins.
Once again, let dry.
Mix a few drops of black or dark brown paint with a couple drops of water. Paint this liquidy mixture all over your leaves allowing it to run into the veins of the leaf. Wipe off any excess paint with a paper towel. Repeat if necessary.
Finish your leaf with one or two additional coats of varnish.
All ready to decorate my fall table.
Hope you enjoyed this easy project. Nature is a work of art.
Until next time, stay inspired.
If you enjoy using objects found in nature for your crafts you may enjoy my Nature inspired project gallery.
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Cute cute! Great job, think I might try that. Thanks