Standard clay pots (yes, the kind that you plant herbs, flowers, and other greenery in) can be turned into mini-masterpieces with the help of a little glue, paint, and creativity. Clay pots tend to come in basic, bland colors, like shades of brown and gray. Most places that manufacture them assume that the pots will be used to grow plants and not much else, so they leave them these utilitarian colors. Thankfully, the clay that they are made of holds paint well, so you can make them pretty, colorful, girly, funky, or any other adjective that you can think of. Imagine displaying a group of customized clay pots in your family room or sun room!
Get Out Your Modge Podge
For those who have never heard of it, Modge Podge is an adhesive that is great for decoupage, because it dries clear. You can use it to decorate your clay pots by adhering bits of paper to them. Need some inspiration? Magazine clippings, scrapbook photos, printed quotes, and other things can all be glued down with Modge Podge. Start with a theme and design from there. If you’re a fan of inspirational quotes, cut out a bunch of them and add them to the surface of your pot. You can choose things like emoticons, places that you want to travel to, or even small photos of your loved ones (or pets.)
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- Floral Ring Dish from Air Dry Clay
- Faceted Gold Knobs from Clay
- Refab an Old Vase with a Clay Chrysanthemum
Acrylic Paints Can Add Some Color
Don’t forget about acrylic paints! These paints are easy to work with, since they dry fairly quickly and are water soluble. This means that the clean up process is simple once you’re done, but that the dried paint needs to covered with a protective clear coat (or even a glitter clear coat) in order to make the pots completely usable once they’re painted. Consider painting yours to match various rooms in your house, the colors of your favorite sports team (perhaps with a decoupaged logo), or even your child’s favorite colors. You don’t even need to paint the pots a solid color – add some patterns, maybe even a plaid. The sky really is the limit here.
Add Charms, Beads, And Other 3-D Decorations
There’s no rule stating that clay pots can’t have three-dimensional decorations glued to them. You can add a string of beads wrapped all of the way around it and held into place with strong glue, like E-3000. Metal, clay, and wooden charms can be glued to the surface (consider adding a row of them around the top of the pot), or you can create patterns out of individual beads added in a specific order. The end result can be as sparkly or matte as you’d like.
For a really creative touch, consider combining all of these techniques. However, even if you choose your favorite one, you’ll have come up with something unique and different, just the thing to plant those herbs or violets in.