Polymer Clay Vase – DIY

 

 

 

 

Ever since I made the Polymer Clay Jewelry Dish I had been thinking of making a Vase out of Polymer Clay. I finally got around making one last week. I simply took a thoroughly cleaned Beer bottle and transformed it into a beautiful vase! Hope you guys like it as much as I did!

 

I took the design inspiration from a canvas painting I made a couple of years ago. It is pretty easy to make but just a little time taking to carve out the different elements of the design.

 

Things you’ll need:

 

– A beer bottle or any glass vase (make sure that the glass vase can go into the oven)

– Polymer Clay – 1 oz each of the desired colors (I bought a 12 piece pack)

– Carving Tools

 

Directions:

 

1. Take an empty beer bottle, soak it in hot water, remove the labels, use a nail polish remover to remove the grease/residue left by the labels, then thoroughly wash it and let it dry completely.

2. I wanted a background for the design instead of the glass, so rolled out the white polymer clay in batches and pasted onto the vase. To blend together the different pieces of clay, I simply took the roller and went over them lightly.

3. Make a rough layout of the design you want to put on the vase. Decide the colors that go with your design. Instead of using the plain colors as it is, to give a natural shade I blended colors – light and dark brown for the branches and twigs, green and yellow for the leaves, light pink and white for the flowers and a pale grey and pale blue for the bird. (Just think of them as a base color, you can still paint over them after baking the vase.)

4. So, I started by rolling out the blended clay for the branches, followed by the leaves, flowers and then the bird.

 

 

 

Simultaneously, I started putting out the elements onto the vase as per my design. After laying out everything it was time to bake!

 

 

 

5. The key thing to know before placing the vase in the oven is to make sure the glass is oven safe. And obviously a beer bottle doesn’t say if it’s oven safe. So, I checked a number of sources online to check tips from people who brew beer at home. The important point was keep a low temperature and avoid any sudden temperature changes. So, I removed one rack of the oven, placed the vase on a baking sheet, shut the oven and then turned it on set to 225 deg F. Let it bake for 15 mins. Turned off the oven but let the vase sit in the oven for another 20 mins until it cools down a little. Then, removed it and let it cool for another 30 mins or so.

6. Finally, it was time for touch-ups. The bird looked pretty bland, so I used some paint over it. And ta-da! it’s all done!

 

 

You could place the vase as it is, or arrange some flowers or twigs to adorn any dull space!