• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
The Artisan Life
  • Dot Marker Pages
  • Learning Center
  • Seasonal Printables
    • Winter Printables
    • Valentine's Day printables
    • St. Patrick's Day printables
    • Earth Day
    • Easter printables
    • Mother's Day
    • Fall printables
    • Thanksgiving Printables
    • Christmas Printables
  • Printable Calendars
  • Preschool + K
    • Alphabet Tracing Worksheets
    • Dot Marker Pages
    • Cut & Paste Crafts
    • Preschool Math
    • Fine Motor Practice Pages
    • Spanish Preschool Pages
  • Coloring Pages
  • Shop
  • Recipes
    • Healthy dessert recipes
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Dot Marker Pages
  • Free Printables
    • Preschool worksheets
    • Free Printable Coloring Pages
    • Printable journals & planners
  • Learning Center
  • Shape Templates
  • Coloring Pages
  • St Pat's Printables
  • Desserts
  • Dot Marker Bundle
  • Shop
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • Dot Marker Pages
    • Free Printables
      • Preschool worksheets
      • Free Printable Coloring Pages
      • Printable journals & planners
    • Learning Center
    • Shape Templates
    • Coloring Pages
    • St Pat's Printables
    • Desserts
    • Dot Marker Bundle
    • Shop
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×
    Home » Uncategorized

    Embossed Air Hardened Clay Ornaments Tutorial

    Published: Nov 5, 2015 · Modified: May 29, 2020

    65 shares
    • Share

    This post may include affiliate links, which means I may make a commission on purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you. 

    My husband tries to call me in the evening when he's working over night. A few days ago when he called I said "You know what I'd really like to learn? Polymer clay. I want to make things with polymer clay." "Me, too!" he replied. And that was that - now we're trying to learn more about using polymer clay. (Edit: We've done a lot of claying in the past few years. You can find polymer clay tutorials here!) This wasn't totally out of nowhere. We have played with clay a bit in the past, but we sort of bumbled along without reading up on anything. Today's tutorial uses air hardened clay, not polymer clay, but thinking about clay inspired me to drag out some Das we bought almost two years ago to see what I could make. These "embossed" clay ornaments were my favorite creation, so I decided to share them in today's tutorial!

    embossed air hardened clay ornaments tutorialWhile I call these ornaments embossed, you actually use a stamp. You could use any kind of stamp, but a large pattern or texture stamp works best. No matter what stamp you use, make sure it's as clean as possible and free of old ink, embossing powder, glitter, etc.

    Supplies needed for air hardened clay ornaments

    • Non-toxic air hardening clay (I used Das)
    • A very clean work surface. This can be a countertop, plastic mat, or silicone baking mat & a piece of parchment or wax paper
    • A rolling pin (an acrylic roller is a better choice than the wooden one shown!)
    • At least one stamp (large texture/pattern stamps work best)
    • Cookie cutters
    • Ink pads (I love and use Stazon)
    • A wooden skewer or large needle
    • Ribbon, baker's twine, or thread
    • Fine sand paper, optional (I used 400 grit)

    If you're a crafter or have kids, you probably already have most of these supplies at home! While I have not tried this technique with a salt dough/baking soda dough/etc, if you have a homemade air drying clay recipe you like and trust, feel free to use it in place of purchased clay.

    supplies for embossed clay ornaments

    How to make embossed air hardened clay ornaments

    1. Tear off a piece of clay. The amount you need depends on how many ornaments you want to make and how thick you want them to be, but I recommend starting with a piece no larger than your fist.

    2. Using a clean work surface, roll your clay out to a uniform thickness of about ⅛". Thicker will be heavy and thinner more fragile. If you're using a silicone mat, like a Silpat, that has a woven texture, roll your clay out on a piece of parchment or wax paper if you want to avoid transferring mat's the texture to your clay.

    roll out clay

    3. Position your stamp and use the roller to press it firmly and evenly into the clay. Don't try to completely squish the clay, but don't be afraid to apply a little pressure, either! You want the design to be visible. Reposition your stamp, as necessary, and roll again. If you used parchment or wax paper, immediately move the rolled/stamped clay to a non-porous surface (such as the un-covered silicone mat!). Parchment and wax paper will quickly begin to wrinkle under the wet clay, leaving unsightly marks on your ornaments.

    stamp the clay

    stamped rolled out clay

    4. Use your cookie cutters to cut your ornaments.

    use a cookie cutter to cut the ornaments

    5. Open your stamp pad and lightly tap the pad on each ornament to transfer some color to the raised areas. I've found it's easier to hold the ink pad and leave the still-moist ornament on the work surface. Play around with colors! You don't have to make your ornaments monochromatic.

    stamp the clay ornaments

    stamped embossed ornaments

    6. Carefully pick up each ornament and use a wooden skewer or large needle to poke a hole to hang it from.

    make holes in the ornaments

    7. Allow the ornaments to dry. This should take about 24 hours, depending on the air's humidity.

    8. If you find there are any fuzzy edges on your ornaments (as seen in the photo above), lightly sand the dried ornament's edges with a fine grit sandpaper.

    9. Now it's time to string your ornaments! I used narrow ribbon and singed one end with a lighter to make it hard and pointy. I then strung all the ornaments on one continuous piece of ribbon. This technique also saves time when you're using a beading needle because you don't have to rethread the needle constantly.

    thread ribbon through ornaments

    10. Once all the ornaments are strung, simply space them out then cut the ribbon or twine, tie the ends together, et voila! Your ornaments are ready to hang.

    Embossed Air Dry Clay Ornaments

    To protect your tools, make sure to throughly wash everything after using it on the clay. You don't want to ruin your stamp with bits of hardened clay. =)

    Embossed Air Hardened Clay Ornaments

    I love that this technique is so versatile! Depending on the cutters, stamps, and colors you use, you could make Christmas, Valentines, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Halloween, or even Thanksgiving ornaments! They'd also make cute favors, if you're one of those people who likes to go all out for holiday dinners.

    How would you use this technique? What shapes and patterns of ornaments would you like to make?

    More Uncategorized

    • Text "free printable all about my teacher questionnaire" with a preview of a cute teacher questionnaire printable
      Free Printable All About my Teacher Questionnaire
    • Text "fine motor tracing worksheets" with a preview of seven fine motor tracing worksheets for preschoolers
      Free Printable Thanksgiving Prewriting Worksheets
    • Free Printable Beginner 4x4 Sudoku Puzzles
    • A preview of two printable November calendar pages for 2023
      Free Printable November Calendar 2023
    65 shares
    • Share
    text "access hundreds of printables now"

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Marieken

      November 06, 2015 at 8:11 am

      Wow, they turned out great! I happen to have some clay around the house from another project. Never would have thought about using ink for colouring.

      Reply
      • Natashalh

        November 07, 2015 at 8:52 am

        Thank you! I'd love to see pictures if you ever decide to make some =)
        Like most ideas I have, I'm not entirely sure where that one came from.

        Reply
    2. D. Renée Wilson

      November 06, 2015 at 6:36 am

      These are darling!
      They sort of remind me of the intaglio process I use with plaster paintings . You can create so many different lovely things with these materials. Beautiful!

      Reply
      • Natashalh

        November 06, 2015 at 8:04 am

        I've never done plaster painting, but I've actually made cast things in plaster! I'm a huge nerd and used to be big into tabletop gaming/have worked at a game store, so I've done my share of miniature painting and scenery construction.

        Reply
    « Older Comments
    Newer Comments »

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Text "Hello! I'm Natasha!" with an image of a woman a blue shirt

    Hi, I’m Natasha! I'm so glad you're here.

    I'm a former classroom teacher with a Masters of the Arts in Teaching turned homeschooler. I share educational & planner printables for busy parents and teachers. Simplify your life when you discover how to instantly access 700+ printables here!

    More about me →

    Popular

    • text "free printable reading log trackers for kids" with a preview of two reading tracker printables
      Free Printable Reading Logs
    • text "free printable reading coloring pages" with a preview of three reading coloring pages for kids
      Free Printable Reading Coloring Pages
    • text "free printable reading log bookmarks' with a preview of two pages of printable reading bookmark
      Free Printable Reading Tracker Bookmarks
    • text "free printable emotions coloring pages for kids" with a preview of three emotions and feelings coloring pages
      Free Printable Emotions and Feelings Coloring Pages

    The Artisan Life is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

    The Artisan Life also uses affiliate links for other sites. For a full look at my policy, please visit its page here.

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • Privacy Policy
    • Disclaimer

    Save Time

    • Join the Learning Center for quick & easy access to hundreds of printables

    Contact

    • Contact

    If you have any questions feel free to contact me directly here: natashalh(at)stalkingthewildsnark(dot)com. I do not accept guest posts and will not respond to unsolicited requests for guest posts or links. Stock images by Depositphotos

    COPYRIGHT © 2012 – 2025 The Artisan Life · ALL RIGHTS RESERVED