Monthly Archives: April 2021

Painting on Clay Jars

Hi guys! I’ve got another DIY Decor tutorial to share with you. I found these jars that were used for school projects that were due to be thrown out. I really wanted to save them and make them fit the vibe of my home so I decided to paint them using different design inspirations.

As these pots have all been previously painted on, the first thing that I needed to do was to cover everything with a base coat of white acrylic paint. Once every jar had been painted white, I set these aside to dry completely.

Boho Chic-So, for the first project, I wanted to do a boho chic design. To achieve this look, I decided to cover the center with natural burlap. I measured about two inches from the center and measured the same width on the burlap. Then I cut off the excess. The next thing that I did was I mixed a dark shade of green with white to make mint green. Once the entire jar had been coated, I set it aside to dry completely.

When the paint had dried, I got some glue and attached the burlap fabric to the center of the jar. Finally, I coated the entire jar, including the burlap fabric with Mod Podge and let it dry completely.

Industrial-The second jar’s inspiration are the concrete décor that I see so often on pinterest. This was actually a difficult redesign because the jar was painted black and I suspect that the paint originally used on it was poster paint because every time it stuck to something, the paint would chip or leach on to my white base coat. The plan was to paint everything gray and then dry brush it with black. I had to keep going back to it because of the chipped paint, but eventually, it did get to a point where everything was covered. I quickly brushed the jar with mod podge and that did the trick to seal everything.

Farmhouse-The third jar’s inspiration is another popular design theme—farmhouse. For this craft, you will need a bit of polymer clay. I wanted the jar to have this milk jug vibe so I fashioned handles for it using polymer clay. Once I created the shape of the handles, I baked the clay following the instructions on the packaging. Once the clay handles had been baked, I attach it to the sides of the jar with glue. Then, when it had dried, I painted everything white. Then, I dry brushed the entire jar with gray.

Pastel-And finally, I decided to do something pastel. Of the four, I have to say that this is my least favorite and only because the glue gun did not cooperate with me, and I couldn’t make straight, neat lines. I decided that I wanted to have some texture in this jar, and I thought that making the lines with the glue gun would work. In fairness, I still think that it would have worked, but I think that it would have looked better if I let my lines run along the entire jar.

And these are my four upcycled and redesigned jars. I hope you got some ideas on how to decorate your own clay pots.

Summer Clay Color Recipes

Since time flies by so fast, might as well get ready for summer. Sharing with you today 4 summer colors–pale pink, watermelon pink, mint chip and Niagra blue.

For pale pink, mix 3 parts white, 1 part Fimo flesh and a sliver of Premo Accents in peacock pink.

For watermelon pink, use the same pale pink recipe and add 1/8th part Premo Accents in peacock pink and 1/8th part Sculpey III in Red Hot Red.

For mint chip green, mix 7/8th white clay with 1/8th Fimo peppermint. Then add a sliver of Fimo Effects in glitter green. Finally, I add gray granite to give a textured look.

For Niagra blue, combine the white clay and Fimo peppermint clay in the same proportion as the mint chip green. Then, add about a fourth of Fimo Effects in sapphire blue.

Tip: Remember to condition the clay until the colors are fully blended before adding a new color. This has helped me make fewer errors in matching colors.