Woven Clay Bas
Materials
- Self-hardening clay (e.g. Crayola Model Magic)
- Bowl, cup or wide-mouthed jar
- Petroleum jelly
- Plastic knife
- Scissors
Safety Tips
- Watch out for this sign
. It means adult help is needed for the particular step.
ket
Weave strips of self-hardening clay around a mold to make these crafty baskets.
Watch out for this sign
2.Position the mold bottom side up. Plan the color scheme for your basket. You can use a single color for the entire basket or choose your favorite color combinations. This may be a good opportunity to apply color theories and color families.
4.Continue making more sausage shape pieces and positioning them in evenly-spaced intervals to make the basket's frame. Typically you will need about 6-10 sausage-shaped pieces to make a 12 to 20-spoked frame. My frame has 8 clay pieces having 16 spokes. A smaller basket will need less spokes while a larger one will require more.
* Self-hardening clay usually hardens quite quickly so keep unused clay well-covered in plastic wrap or in its original plastic packaging.
13.Now that you're done weaving, carefully turn the mold over, with its mouth facing up. Gently press on the bottom of the mold to flatten the clay at the base. This will allow your basket to balance nicely on any flat surface.
16.Trim the ends of the clay spokes that jut out of the basket's mouth.
17.Conceal the trimmed spokes of the frame by wrapping the edges of the bowl with clay.
18.If you prefer a basket without a handle, allow the clay lining to set before using your basket.
19.Create a handle by fastening the ends of a pipe cleaner on either side of the clay basket after Step 16.
20.Cover the basket's mouth with clay as illustrated in Step 17. You may also wrap the pipe cleaner handle in clay. Try coiling a long sausage-shaped piece of clay around the handle as shown in the photo. A more straightforward option is to cover the handle entirely with clay just like you did with the basket's mouth.
More Ideas
After lining the basket's mouth with clay, you may further accessorize your basket with shapes and characters molded from clay. Stick these shapes around the basket's mouth. The tiny pumpkin on this basket highlights the basket's Halloween theme. Create similar baskets for Easter, Christmas, and birthday parties.
Materials
- Self-hardening clay (e.g. Crayola Model Magic)
- Bowl, cup or wide-mouthed jar
- Petroleum jelly
- Plastic knife
- Scissors
Safety Tips
Watch out for this sign . It means adult help is needed for the particular step.
Steps
1.Choose a small or medium-sized wide-mouthed container for your mold (e.g. bowl, cup, wide-mouthed jar, food canister). Grease the outside of the mold with petroleum jelly.
2.Position the mold bottom side up. Plan the color scheme for your basket. You can use a single color for the entire basket or choose your favorite color combinations. This may be a good opportunity to apply color theories and color families.
Roll self-hardening clay into a thin sausage shape piece that can span the diameter of your mold. Position this piece at the center section of your mold.
3.Make another sausage shape and position it at right angles with the first piece.
4.Continue making more sausage shape pieces and positioning them in evenly-spaced intervals to make the basket's frame. Typically you will need about 6-10 sausage-shaped pieces to make a 12 to 20-spoked frame. My frame has 8 clay pieces having 16 spokes. A smaller basket will need less spokes while a larger one will require more.
5.Press gently on the center area of the frame to fix the clay spokes in place.
6.Roll a different color of clay into a shorter sausage shape and tuck one end under one of the frame spokes, keeping it close to the center of the frame. Press on the area where it joins the frame to fix it in place.
7.Weave this clay piece through the frame by lifting up every other spoke as you position it in place.
8.Tuck the free end of the woven clay piece under its starting end to complete a circle. Press gently on the areas where the woven piece intersects the frame to fix the weave in place.
9.Roll another piece of clay into a sausage shape longer than the first and weave this through the frame following steps 6 to 7. The only difference is that where the first woven clay piece is positioned on top of a spoke, the second clay piece is woven beneath the same spoke, giving your basket an alternating woven pattern.
10.Tuck the free end of the woven clay piece under its starting end to complete the second circle.
11.Continue weaving more layers around the frame. You can stick with one color for all the woven layers or opt for multiple colors, depending on your intended effect. Also note that you'll need to use increasingly longer clay pieces as you move from one woven circle to the next. In case your clay piece falls short of the required length, simply lengthen by connecting another sausage shape and continue weaving until you complete a woven circle.
12.Work patiently from one woven circle to the next until you cover the entire surface of the mold or until you reach the desired height for your basket (in case you used a very tall mold).
* Self-hardening clay usually hardens quite quickly so keep unused clay well-covered in plastic wrap or in its original plastic packaging.
14.Allow your woven clay project to dry. This normally takes between 1 to 2 days.
15.Once the clay has set completely, carefully remove your clay basket from its mold. If the basket does not come off that easily, gently run a plastic knife between the clay and the walls of the mold before easing out the entire clay basket.
16.Trim the ends of the clay spokes that jut out of the basket's mouth.
17.Conceal the trimmed spokes of the frame by wrapping the edges of the bowl with clay.
18.If you prefer a basket without a handle, allow the clay lining to set before using your basket.
19.Create a handle by fastening the ends of a pipe cleaner on either side of the clay basket after Step 16.
20.Cover the basket's mouth with clay as illustrated in Step 17. You may also wrap the pipe cleaner handle in clay. Try coiling a long sausage-shaped piece of clay around the handle as shown in the photo. A more straightforward option is to cover the handle entirely with clay just like you did with the basket's mouth.
More Ideas
Instead of wrapping the pipe cleaner in clay, another way to accent the handle is to string beads along its length or tie a colorful bow in the middle.
After lining the basket's mouth with clay, you may further accessorize your basket with shapes and characters molded from clay. Stick these shapes around the basket's mouth. The tiny pumpkin on this basket highlights the basket's Halloween theme. Create similar baskets for Easter, Christmas, and birthday parties.
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