Decorative Bowls

Decorative Bowls by Iris Rodriguez

Hello Makers!

Today, I bring you three easy to make decorative bowls for your home or to give as gifts for any occasion. The bowls can also hold small, non-edible objects, such as rings. The bowls’ surface was designed with texture rubber stamps and a Makin’s® texture sheet. I made a round Steampunk Bowl with a gear surface design. The other two are more of a rectangle shaped bowls. One is a blue/green patina with holes, the other is butterfly and cursive lettering bowl. So let’s find out how to make these cute bowls.

Materials:

Makin's Clay® Black or White
Makin's® Roller

Makin's®Texture Sheet Set F - Eyelag Screws, Gears, Hex Bolts, Sprockets Makin's Professional® Cutting Mat
Texture Rubber Stamps (desired design)
Black Gesso
Gilders Paste; Silver, Foundry Bronze, Bronze, German Silver, Patina
Bowls (any artifact that can be used drape the clay over, to give it shape)

Instructions:

The three bowls are made by taking impressions from the texture sheet and rubber stamp onto the clay. They were all made by using the same technique.

For all three bowls roll Makin's Clay® to approximately 1/8" thickness.

The Steampunk Bowl

For the Steampunk Bowl I used a small round glass bowl to shape the clay.

Place the clay on top of the desired texture sheet, or place the texture sheet over the clay. Both sides of the texture sheets will work - one will create a raised design, the other an inset design. Use the clay roller to roll the clay and transfer the design. To get an even look, turn the texture sheet 90 degree and roll again. I rolled sheets of the two sets of gears and screws for this project.

If you have issues with the fresh clay sticking to the texture sheets, a light dusting of corn starch will eliminate the sticking. Or, I used a very small amount of olive oil on a paper towel - any corn starch or oil which transfers to the clay can be easily removed with a soft damp cloth.

Place the clay inside the bowl, measure desired proportions, then cut excess clay. This can be done inside the bowl or on a flat surface.

Smooth out the edges against the bowl.

Leave the clay inside the bowl and let it cure for 24 hours. The clay will take the shape of the bowl.

Once the clay has cured, then paint it with black gesso, even if the clay is black. The gesso gives a distressed look and allows the metallic wax to better adhere.

Add Gilders Paste with fingers or cotton cloth. For this bowl I used Foundry Bronze, German Silver and Silver.

Rectangle Patina Bowl

For the rectangle bowls, I used small bowl used for soy sauce, but I use it for beads and clay shaping.

For this bowl I used Christi Friesen’s Strata Texture Stamp. It has wonky squares and have cut out some of the squares.

Place stamp over the clay and roll the stamp using the roller.

Drape the clay over bowl, shape the clay a little; Makin’s Clay® will retain the shape. This is to get an idea of the location of edges, so that holes can be cut strategically.

Remove clay from the bowl and cut the holes. The holes can be cut while the clay is the bowl, but it’s easier to cut in a flat surface. After cutting out the holes, ensure to smooth out the edges with your finger or clay shaping tool.