I recently had a chunk of time off from work and when I wasn't busy, I'd be trawling through YouTube for some inspiration to get ideas on how to get my life in check. During this time I was drawn to a video of how to make a leaf trinket dish. I have no idea why the video was in my suggested section as I don't look for any crafting DIY's as I'm not the craftiest of people, but I went ahead and clicked on the video anyway as it intrigued me! The video I had watched was from a channel called Dainty Diaries (which you can watch here), and what caught my eye really was the use of the Copper/ Rose Gold colour of the leaf (as I'm a sucker for this colour and currently redecorating my Bedroom).
After watching the video, I was honestly amazed that all I needed to make my own was air-drying clay and a leaf with something to colour it with! I was 100% on board with this craft as it was easy and minimal on the effort and equipment but gave that glam factor! I knew Jodie would also enjoy making one for herself too which made it a great mother-daughter bonding time activity!
Firstly though... We Needed leaves! So this gave us a good excuse to stretch our legs and take a walk down to our local forest to look for our perfect leaves!
We had fun though looking for the right shaped leaves that would give the right effect to our dish. My requirements were for the leaf to be shapely with plenty of veins for the detail!
What I soon realised though that it was essential to get the leaves that weren't half dead on the floor, and for the time of year it was hard to find a leaf that was in its entirety and shape. But there were a few still around. I should note here that this craft is best suited for the beginning of autumn when the leaves are falling fresh.
Once we had our section of leaves it was time to head home and to get our hands mucky with the clay!
All in all, this little craft project doesn't take long to make (not including the drying time) and you could quite easily make a few at the same time to maybe give as gifts for friends and family for Christmas!
So Lets get Making!!
Equipment you'll need:
Air drying clay
Leaves
Rolling pin
Cling Film
Cup
Spray paint
Method:
Carefully wipe down your leaves to make sure there's no dirt or bugs hiding in the crevasses of the leaf (I didn't on my first attempt and now have a bug in my clay for life... oops).
Lay some cling film on your work surface to protect it and take a chunk of air dry clay and start to knead it with your hands to get it pliable.
Once the clay is soft, roll it out to about 1/4 inch thick and make sure the surface area is big enough for your leaf.
Place your leaf on the clay and roll over it with the rolling pin from the bottom stem, upwards. Be careful not to roll too quick to avoid breakage. You can roll over it again a couple more times to make sure that the detail is in the clay.
Once happy, use the leaf as a template to cut off the excess clay. Depending on the leaf it can get fiddley with all the smaller spikes to cut around, but with patience it will turn out looking authentic!
Once it's trimmed, it's time for the fun/ satisfying part; peeling off the leaf!
When you've finished staring at your clay in amazement at all the fine details left by the leaf, tidy up the edges as this will give a cleaner look when the clay dries.
To mould it into a curved/ dish shape, take your cling film to line the cup and mould the clay leaf in the cup to give it the desired shape.
Leave the clay to dry completely. (mine took two days to dry due to the colder weather)
Once dry, you can paint your leaf any colour you want! All you have to do then is leave it to dry and Voila... You have your very own trinket dish!
If you make your own trinket dish, I'd love to know! Tag me in your creations and let me know if you loved making yours as much as I did!
If you loved this post, please give it a like and I hope to see you here again soon!
Stay beautiful and Love Life
Cx.