Make Craft Game

A Mini Clay Wreath is a great way to add festive touches to your holiday décor or make a great accessory.

I love this time of year. Outside is cold, and I can snuggle under a blanket while watching the lights on the tree sparkle. But no holiday décor is complete without at least one wreath. And some large part of me wanted to make a cute small wreath out of clay.

A clay wreath can be used in multiple ways. I was debating on weather I should make it a pendant, a set of earrings, or make it into a small piece of décor that I could put around the house. In the end, I leaned more toward the jewelry aspect and went with making a pendant! (I might make clay wreath earrings later)

Check out the Craft section of MCG for more unlimited ideas. Leave a comment below and let me know what you think and how the craft works for you!

Supplies

For the clay wreath, I used the following:

• Light Green Clay
• Dark Green Clay
• Red Clay
• Gold Clay, optional
• Glitter, optional
• 1 Jump Rings
• 1 Chain

Process

The Basic Clay Wreath

 wanted to start by making all the piece that I would need for my clay wreath before assembling them together. This included a base to lay all the leaves into, the leaves, and berry / bauble decorations. For the base, I just made a simple ring. This helps keep the leaves in the right shape and allows me to make a consistently sized wreath.

Then it was time to make the leaves. I made the leaves out of two different greens, one dark and one light. This helps add a little dimension to the piece and makes the whole wreath just a couch more interesting.

I made a small ball out of clay and then shaped it over a rounded tool to make a bowl like shape. The tool I used was slightly pointed but a round one would have worked too. I then took the clay off of the tool and pinched on end together to get a leaf-like effect.

It was easier to apply the leaves to the base as I worked rather than making all the leaves first and attaching them. Making the leaves was by far the most time-consuming part of this project. But I did feel like I was able to find a good groove by the end.

Final Touches

For the final touches, I added the berries / baubles as a finishing touch to my clay wreath. These were effectively just small balls made from red and gold clay. Since I was leaning more toward the jewelry angle with this clay wreath, I punched a hole from front to back at one end of the wreath.

Reflections

Once again, I did a project that I thought would be simple and was pretty fiddly and difficult. The leaves were especially taxing, there were many times where I would have to redo the leaves to get them just right. And I honestly thought they looked bad until the whole ring was covered.

Which I guess should show me that persistence can pay off (or some other such lesson). But I really do like the result. And all my struggles feel rewarded seeing the final pendant. It looks sparkly and has a surprising amount of polish. Definitely going to make more jewelry like this!

Lessons

Using Tools

Using tools is very important when working with polymer clay. They can help give that extra texture which can really bring a project to life. Tools are also able to reach areas and act with a bit more finesse than a human hand would be able to. When doing a project, it’s important to have the right tools for the job!

Quick Recipe