How to Make DIY Botanical Art with Pressed Clay

Pretty DIY botanical art with pressed clay and foraged flowers and leaves.

Make spring last forever with pressed clay! In fact, this is a fun DIY that you can even do with houseplants in the winter.

My boys were on school vacation last week and thought it would be a fun use of clay we had in the basement. This is a great project because it makes kids of all ages get outside. We walked around our yard and foraged all different leaves, branches, and flowers that we thought would make a pretty print. I really wanted to do our Korean Spice Bush but thought it wasn’t flat enough.

Want to make your own DIY Botanical Art? Here’s the step by step below.

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How to Make DIY Botanical Art with Pressed Clay

Materials

Method

Forage your yard and home for leaves and flowers. (Tip: flatter leaves and flowers work the best).
Start working your clay in your hands. You’ll need to soften the clay for it to be workable. We found by rolling it and pressing on it made it flexible to work. You can also add clay softener but we didn’t find we needed it.
Line your work surface with parchment paper as the clay can stain work surface.
Using rolling pin or glass bottle roll clay to 1/4″ thick
Place desired botanical (leaf or flowers) on the clay and lightly roll over it to create an impression.
Carefully lift the leaf or flower (Tip: a toothpick is helpful to help ease botanical out. Also a paint brush is good for removing any lint or stray materials)
You can cut around your clay to give it a shape or you can place a hole in the top if you want to hang your pressed clay botanicals
Preheat oven to 275°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake 15 minutes for 1/4 in. thick. You may need to bake a little longer if neccessary but DO NOT OVERBAKE.
Cool on a wire rack.
If desired paint your botanical and seal with glaze.

I did the grape hyacinths, Conor did the pilea leaves, and John did the evergreen branch and the Swiss cheese plant. He’s actually thinking of painting the Swiss cheese plant blue so you’ll see the holes of the leaf better. We might paint it with watercolor and see how it comes out.

I must admit I love them just white. I think they’re so simple and pretty.

pressed clay art and branches and flowers

The possibilities are endless and these would make such pretty gifts – maybe for Mother’s Day. 😉

Be sure to pin this for later if you want to make your own. Can’t wait to hear what you guys think of this project! I plan on putting our’s on bookshelves amongst books and antique treasures.