The humble clay pot can be used in a number of craft projects to make gardens more interesting.
Clay pots are inexpensive and can be found in different sizes at gardening and DIY stores as well as some craft stores. Although intended to be a plain pot for plants and flowers, they can be decorated to brighten up the garden or incorporated into craft projects to make decorative or functional items for the home and garden.
Sealing Clay Pots
Before beginning any clay pot craft project it is important to remember that you will need to put a finish on the inside if you intend on using the pot to grow plants in. Seal the inside of the pot with two or three coats of oil based polyurethane, available from gardening and DIY stores.
Decorative Crafts for Clay Pots
An obvious craft idea with clay pots is to decorate them on the outside to create brighter, personalized and more interesting pots for the plants in your yard. You can simply paint each pot a different bright color, or decorate them with any painted design of your choice. Water based acrylic craft paint is adequate for painting clay pots, according to the Artistic Garden website.
Decoupage Clay Pots
Decoupage clay pot crafts involve creating a collage-like pattern on the clay pots. You will need some brightly colored paper or thin card stock to make the collage from. The Crafters Love Crafts website suggests using seed packets to give some color to the decoupaged pots. You will need special glue for this purpose, such as Mod Podge decoupage medium. Use the glue to stick the papers on the pot in the arrangement you prefer. Once the pot is covered in paper, cover the entire pot in another layer of the glue and allow it to dry.
Clay Pot Wind Chimes
The Crafters Love Crafts website describes make clay pot wind chimes. Use three or four clay pots in different sizes and paint them in the design of your choice. Take about 3 feet of jute and attach a large wooden bead onto one end. Tie another knot about 1 1/2 feet up from the wooden bead and place a washer on top of the knot. Place the smallest pot onto the jute, so it rests on the knot and washer through the hole in the bottom of the pot. In the same way, continue placing the remaining pots in order of increasing size, so that they hang one above the other, overlapping, and tie a loop to hang the chimes once the last pot has been attached.
