Earthy Impressions

It looks like warmer weather is finally here! While we may all be keeping close to home, there’s an abundance of nature wherever you look. Make stamped clay medallions inspired by the outdoors using materials that you find in your garden, around your home, or at the local park. Here’s how…

You can also download the instructions as a PDF

What You Need:

Homemade clay (try one of our 5 homemade clay recipes)
Materials found in your garden, home, or local park including flowers, leaves, twigs, stones, walnut shells, snail shells, or anything else that reminds you of nature
A straw, or stick
A small rolling pin (if you have one)
Cookie cutter (optional)
Paint

Instructions:

1) Collect natural materials from your garden, home, or local park. Be creative, but remember to follow social distancing guidelines.

2) Make your clay using one of the recipes above. Basic Play Clay, Model Magic Clay, or 3 Ingredient Salt Clay would work best for this activity.

3) Roll out or flatten a small piece of clay and form your medallion by using your hands or a cookie cutter. It can be any flat shape you want!

4) Poke a hole near the top of your medallion with a straw or stick. This will allow you to hang your it by a string.

5) Carefully place your leaves, flowers, or other natural materials onto the surfaces of the medallion and press down using your hands or a rolling pin. Then remove the object to see the imprint it leaves in the clay.

6) Let your medallion dry.

7) Once it’s dry, fill in the impressions left by your natural materials with paint.

8) Thread a string through the hole. Now you can hang your medallion around your neck or somewhere in your home.

We’d love to see what you created! Take a photo of your work and post it to social media using the hashtag #GardinerFromHome.