How to Create Beautiful Handmade Coasters with Clay

Today I am going to show you how to create beautiful handmade coasters with clay. This is a fun DIY project using air-dry clay and flowers to make that is perfect for a hostess gift or if you are looking for a unique gift.

DIY Air Dry Clay Botanical Coaster Set

Here is an easy DIY project for you using air-dry clay and a few different flowers to make a set of botanical coasters. This would be a perfect hostess gift when you are looking for a personal, handmade idea.

It doesn’t need many supplies either! All you will need is air-dry clay, a few flower or leaf stems, something to roll out the clay, a circle to cut them out, & paint. You don’t have to be super crafty either!!

SUPPLIES:

• Air-Dry Clay
• Flower/Leaf Stems
• Circle Cutter (I used a glass)
• Paint
• Spray Glaze

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This month the Handcrafted Society theme was air-dry clay. Wait until you see all the creative projects that the ladies came up with this month! I loved Regina’s clay wall pockets. She does such a great job using clay and cement in her DIY projects.

Roll Out The Air-Dry Clay For The Coasters

The first thing you will need to do is set up a place to make your coasters. I like to use a silicone baking mat to roll my clay on, that way it doesn’t stick to my counter and it makes it easy to work with. If you don’t have a mat you can try a piece of parchment or wax paper to prevent sticking.

Don’t roll the clay too thin! Keep it at least 1/4 inch thick or more. The clay will shrink as it dries.

Also, you want the clay to be even throughout so that your coasters will all be the same thickness. If you have trouble doing this by eye then you could put a wood dowl or skewer on each side of the clay as you are rolling to act as a guide.

Cut Out Coaster Circles

To make circles for the coasters use either a round cookie or biscuit cutter or even a glass. Make sure it cuts a circle large enough to hold a glass.

Once I had the coasters cut out I needed to smooth out the edges and fix any blemishes in the clay.

This was easy, all I had to do was dip my fingertip into water and then run my wet finger over the areas that needed help.

Add Imprints To Air-Dry Clay

To add botanical imprints to the clay coasters I used 3 different artificial stems and one dried flower bunch.

Find a section of the stem that would make a good imprint. Then line it up over the clay circle and gently press without disturbing the shape.

I used a rolling pin to go over the flower, again you want to be gentle…you need barely any pressure to make a good imprint.

The great thing about working with clay is that if you make a boo-boo all you have to do is roll the clay back into a ball and start over.

My favorite imprint was made with a fern frond. A set of fern coasters would look really terrific!

For one of the coasters I used a small dried flower, the thing about this is that is left behind bits of the seeds from the flowers. I had to use a toothpick to remove the seeds. For some of them, I just blew off the top of the clay.

Let Clay Air Dry

After you have your imprints done it’s time to let the clay dry. I put the coasters on a piece of parchment and put it aside. To speed up the drying process you can put the clay in a super low temp over (200°) too.

Make sure the coasters are all flat.

Painting the Clay Coasters

Once the clay has completely dried, you will be able to tell because as it dries it becomes white.

Wanting to stay with a natural look, I painted the coasters with a tan shade of chalk paint.

Handpaint The Flowers

There are a few ways to paint in the flowers on the coasters: watercolor, acrylic, chalk, or paint pens.

I am going to use watercolors for my set of coasters. It was really easy to work with the watercolors! I’ve used paint pens on another clay project and it was a bit more difficult in my opinion.

The watercolor paint spread easily through the imprints and I could control the color by mixing a couple of the paints together.

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Seal The Air- Dry Clay Coasters w Glaze

Now here is the trick to get that glossy look of real pottery! This Krylon Triple-Thick Clear Glaze is the trick. I’ve used this on multiple projects so 1 can goes a long way.

For this part I went out into the garage to use the spray paint, you never want to do this inside of your home because of the fumes.

Let the glaze completely dry before using the coasters.

To prevent scratching from the coasters I added 4 tiny felt pads to the bottom of the coasters, I had a set of these on hand already. There are silicone and cork pads that you could also use.

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Finished Air Dry Clay Botanical Coaster Set

Overall this is a pretty simple DIY project. No special skills are required! I think these would make the sweetest hostess gift.

Next, I would love for you to go check out Missy’s project where she made some colorful pots with her air-dry clay.

More Clay Projects

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Handcrafted Society

Check Out These Other Air-Dry Clay Projects!

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