Mix up your plaster of Paris in a container you won’t use for food purposes. If you are making a hanging decoration insert your matchstick at this stage at the point you would like the decoration to hang. Again, be careful not to touch the clay as this could alter the smoothness of the surface.Īttach a border to your tile with the offcuts of clay you saved earlier using your fingers to adhere these edging pieces to the tile so that it is proofed from possible leaks. Remove the floral samples using a pair of tweezers to gently remove any debris that does not come out with the bloom on initial pull. Cut clay to the size of your desired tile, I used a coaster to make a circle cutting away the extra which I then used the off cuts from to create a margin to hold the plaster later. Roll out a piece of clay, warming it in your hands first, insuring that it has a flat surface (this part is crucial, as I learnt to my cost when my first tile picked up surface texture I wasn’t expecting!). A pair of tweezers to fish any stray ends out.A matchstick or similar to make a hole for hangable decorations.A sheet to protect the surface you’re working on.A rolling pin (I found my wooden kitchen one far more effective than stone craft rollers).A bowl to mix that you don’t use for other purposes.Flowers (see notes above for what works well).For these decorations I chose an assortment of berries, dried lavender, pine, mimosa buds and the odd structure that caught my eye. For Christmas I picked up small pieces that caught my eye out and about, there isn’t such an abundance of choice at this time of year, however there is a lot of striking skeletal detail about so it’s easy to see what will work well. The flowers that I think work well are often those with densely detailed foliage, in the past I’ve found chive flowers, lavender, Pennisetum grass and thistles all good (though with thistles you will spend a lot of time picking out debris from thistles with tweezers before you’re ready to cast). I’m really pleased with the rustic look of these freestyle pieces, they are a little darker in the first shots with wrapping paper as they weren’t fully dry when I shot them but I think you get the gist of them. My idea was a little ad-hoc, but one morning last week armed with an old coaster of the right size and a selection of winter foliage picked up on walks I sat down and made a few. I think they look great attached to ribbon on giftwrap and they leave the option to be used by your recipient either on their Christmas trees or as a keepsake. The tile I made in spring still takes up pride of place on the bedroom mantle so I thought it would be nice to create some as mini Christmas gifts this year. My initial blog post tutorial on how to make plaster cast floral tileswas one of my most popular blog posts of the year so it appears to be a growing trend. It’s a really enjoyable low stress craft that brings me mindfulness and I really enjoy making these pieces. It’s just a little over a week til Christmas Day, and if you have an hour or two to spare here is a small craft you can do before giving friends and relatives their presents which add a lovely personal touch.ĭuring lockdown I tried my hand at a new craft I had come across, making botanical plaster tiles which I posted a tutorial on earlier in the year.These fossil pieces feel to me like modern minimalist versions of traditional pressed flowers in frames and I love them.
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