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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.

pressed clay, leaves and flowers

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.

Grape hyacinths in clay

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

Clay, leaves and pressed art

Materials

Clay art

Method

  1. Forage your yard and home for leaves and flowers. (Tip: flatter leaves and flowers work the best).
  2. 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.
  3. Line your work surface with parchment paper as the clay can stain work surface.
  4. Using rolling pin or glass bottle roll clay to 1/4″ thick
  5. Place desired botanical (leaf or flowers) on the clay and lightly roll over it to create an impression.
  6. 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)
  7. 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
  8. 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.
  9. Cool on a wire rack.
  10. If desired paint your botanical and seal with glaze.
Baking sheet with clay art
Pressed clay

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
Pressed clay with florals and leaves

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.

Pressed clay, leaves, and flowers

If you enjoyed this post you might also like our sunprints and shibori posts.

I’m sharing this as part of my friend Jennifer’s Cozy Living Series. Click below to see more Cozy Living Ideas for May!

Cozy Living - April 2021

Hymns and Verses / Duke Manor Farm / A Stroll Thru Life

 

Cozy Living - April 2021

Creative Cain Cabin / Finding Silver Pennies / Vinyet Etc. / Town and Country Living

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Sheryl
Sheryl
3 years ago

These are adorable and I’m thinking they might make nice gift tags…

Marty
3 years ago

How fun are these. What a fabulous project to do with the children too. Thanks for the tutorial.

Debra Hubbs
Debra Hubbs
3 years ago

These are so pretty. Would think you could also use shells and beachy objects. I also checked out the sun prints. Hope to try these one day.

Doreen
3 years ago

What a beautiful project for this time of year! I love how they turned out and think I need to give this a try!

Donna
3 years ago

So simple and so beautiful! I think I’ll have to give this a try! Thanks Danielle! Happy Sunday!!

Laurie @ Vinyet Etc
3 years ago

These are so precious, I love how they look! Perfect for Mother’s Day!

Dawn
3 years ago

So pretty, I think I’d arch one and make it into a small dish to hold rings at night. Thanks for the beautiful idea 🙂

Rebecca Moon
Rebecca Moon
1 year ago

Love these! Looking forward to creating them. Might be a nice idea to initial and date the back, if that’s possible?