How to make clay leaf prints and pendants with air dry clay. This easy nature craft project is fun for kids and creates a beautiful finished product.
We love making leaf prints, whether on fabric, paper, clay, or even plaster of paris. The process is so satisfying and the results capture the natural beauty of leaves.
We started making clay leaf prints using air dry clay recently after seeing the idea in Cathy James’ new book, The Garden Classroom. The process is much the same as the nature prints in sculpey we used to make quite a bit, but the material is more kid-friendly and easier to work with.
Here’s how we made these beautiful prints…
First, I’ll show you a video tutorial, then I’ll give you the step-by-step instructions.
Clay Leaf Prints and Pendants
MATERIALS
- Small leaves and ferns
- Air dry clay*
- Wax paper, parchment paper, or a plastic placemat/tray
- Drinking straws
- String or elastic thread
- Watercolor paint (optional)
- Beads (optional)
*A note about the clay: We used Crayola air dry clay and thought it worked well for this project. We’ve tried Sculpt-It air dry clay before as well and it worked okay, but not as well. Homemade air dry clay would be worth a try as well. As would regular potter’s clay.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Arrange your leaf
Lay a small leaf on the wax paper, vein side up.
- Prep your clay
Pinch off a small piece of air dry clay (maybe a tablespoon or two) and roll it into a ball between your hands.
- Set the clay ball on the leaf
Then press down with the palm of your hand to flatten it.
- Remove the leaf
Carefully lift the clay disk, turn it over, and peel away the leaf.
- Make a hole to hang your disk (Optional)
If you’d like to hang your leaf print, poke a hole at the top of your disk with a drinking straw.
- Repeat!
Repeat the process with additional leaves and clay balls.
- Let dry thoroughly
This may take two to three days.
- Decorate Your Clay Leaf Prints
If desired, paint the clay leaf print with watercolors. Here are Maia’s leaf prints.
And mine.
And Daphne’s. All quite different.
You can also decorate them with colored pencils.
Make Ornaments and Pendants with the Clay Prints
A great way to use these clay leaf prints is to make an ornament or pendant. To do so, thread string through the hole and tie to form a loop for ornaments or a pendant. Add beads if desired. You can also string several clay disks together into a garland.
Wouldn’t these make nice gifts?
Maia made these two pendants for friends. And Daphne gifted one of hers as well.
I made a series of ornaments.
Note: If you make your leaf prints without holes, they can be decorations, part of a seasonal nature table, given as gifts, or used for pretend play (ours were used as pretend cookies quite a bit for a while).
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8 Comments
Ana
June 18, 2015 at 7:59 amThese are beautiful! I love how the paint accentuates the lovely prints!
Jean Van't Hul
June 18, 2015 at 8:40 amThanks, Ana!
Sacha kelly
June 18, 2015 at 8:53 amThese are just beautiful I can’t wait to try them with my kids and I just love the video clio so useful I only wish adult craft sites would incorporate this too
thanks for the gorgeous ideas keep them coming
Sacha
Jean Van't Hul
June 18, 2015 at 9:10 amSo glad you like it, Sacha! And thanks for your lovely comment! The video thing is new for me, so I’m glad you find it useful.
Laura Sims
June 25, 2015 at 9:51 amWould it be possible to paint them before the clay completely dries? I’d love to do this during my weekly storytime, but would need to paint them before the kids took them home that day.
Rachel
July 1, 2015 at 6:19 pmMy 7 year old daughter and 5 year old son loved this activity today. Thank you so much for the idea! We made a morning out of it – first hiked around the neighborhood to find interesting leaves, then explored the clay (which was also new for us) and finally created 32 clay prints in varying patterns. The kids were so interested and excited about seeing the prints and it kept their attention for 45 minutes! I loved sitting with them to create together and we are looking forward to adding color in a few days when they are fully dry. Thank you for the inspiration.
keira
July 13, 2015 at 12:22 amThese are lovely! They would be a great project to add to our Little Loft Nature Girl camp. I like the addition of the watercolor. We just used this process to make porcelain vases. I bet mini air dry vases would be fun too!
Andrea Hinds
December 31, 2018 at 2:49 pmAfter it is dry is there a way to get the print inverse for a stamp?