DIY air dry clay hanging planter

So today’s craft project wasn’t really intended for the blog (it was more of an experiment) but I took some step by step photos just in case it turned out ok. I’ve been wanting to make another hanging planter for ages and had thought about trying my hand at macrame but I got all over ambitious and decided to make my own planter instead.

I’ve been wanting to try out air dry clay since I saw this project a few years ago so I suppose this was my inspiration along with my love of a hanging planter (see my other planters here and here).

Anyhoo, I learnt a lot from this first project and although the planter did turn out ok, there are things I could improve next time – I’ll tell you about them as I go along. These are brilliant to make to brighten a corner, for herbs in the kitchen or even for lovely homemade gifts (Christmas gifts – yup, I said it).

DIY air dry clay hanging planter tutorial | Pegboard | Home office | Craft room

You will need:

FYI, I have no ‘proper’ equipment i.e. moulding knife.

Air dry clay (I used about 500g for my pot, which is £2’s worth)

– Rolling pin

– Knife

– Template (I used a plant pot)

– Ruler

– Protection for the surface you work on (parchment paper worked well)

– Bowl of water

– Cord

– Kebab stick

– Sand paper

– Scissors

– Paint ( I used white gloss spray paint but you can use any paint you have at home or just a small sample pot), decorator’s tape, cardboard box – if decorating

Step by step

Step 1 – Roll out all of your clay evenly to about 70mm thickness. Cut out a disc for the bottom of the planter using a template. I had a plant in mind for my planter so I used the top of its pot as a template, which measured 9cm in diameter.

DIY air dry clay hanging planter tutorial | Apartment Apothecary

Step 2 – Cut out a rectangular collar, which will form the sides of the pot. Mine measured 9 x 27cm. Make sure there is o.5cm overlap where the collar will join together.

DIY air dry clay hanging planter tutorial | Apartment Apothecary

Step 3 – Using your hands roll out a ‘snake’ of clay the same length as your collar and about 70mm thick.

DIY air dry clay hanging planter tutorial | Apartment Apothecary

Step 4 – Place the disc on a flat surface and wrap your collar around it (don’t place it on top of the disc).

Step 5 – Using your fingers smooth the collar together and use some water to make it stick.

Step 6 – Place the ‘snake’ of clay around the inside of the pot where the disc and collar meet.

DIY air dry clay hanging planter tutorial | Apartment Apothecary

Step 7 – Using your fingers and water (you’ll need to have short nails – this is where better crafters than I would use a moulding knife) smooth the ‘snake’ into the join. At this point the sharp, crisp lines of my pot quickly disappeared as I had to manhandle it so much – hence the need for a proper moulding knife. I should have trimmed the top of my pot at this point as they became a bit wonky, but I’ll know for next time.

DIY air dry clay hanging planter tutorial | Apartment Apothecary

Step 8 – Stick a kebab stick, or anything similar, through the four sides of the planter to create holes for the cords that it will hang from. Wiggle the stick around so that the hole is big enough for your cord.

DIY air dry clay hanging planter tutorial | Apartment Apothecary

Leave your pot to dry for 2-3 days. There really is no point rushing this stage if you want it to last.

Decorating

You can leave your pot undecorated or you can varnish it, which is advised if it is going to come into contact with water. I decided to spray paint mine with some white gloss paint that I bought for another project. I have so many beautiful half glazed pots, cups and vases so I decided to try to achieve anywhere close to that look. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out actually, although it is pretty difficult to see in theses pics – I really like the idea of using a pastel blue, pink, green or grey, too.

Step 9 – Lightly sand your pot once it is dry to remove any bumpy edges. If you want to try the half glazed look use decorator’s tape to cover the bottom half of the bottom.

Step 10 – Place your pot in a cardboard box, if you are using spray paint, and take it outside to spray. Do many thin layers, allowing each one to dry before starting another.

Step 11 – Cut four pieces of cord of equal length.

DIY air dry clay hanging planter tutorial | Apartment Apothecary

Step 12 – Thread the cord through the holes and tie a knot on the inside of the pot. If you have difficulty getting your cord through the holes burn the ends of the cord so that it melts hard and won’t fray as you thread it. Tie all four lengths of cord into a knot at the top.

DIY air dry clay hanging planter tutorial | Apartment Apothecary

If you look really closely you can see the half glaze effect – it looks great in real life, trust me!

Half glaze

I decided to hang mine on my pegboard to brighten up my workspace.

Pegboard and planter

Pegboard

DIY air dry clay hanging planter tutorial | Pegboard | Home office | Craft room

I like this air dry clay game…I’m thinking Christmas could become air dry clay filled 😉

Katy x

P.S. If you would LOVE your own hanging planter without getting crafty I can help with that, too. Check out these beauties from my shop

Urban jungle bloggers: Plants and art

This month’s Urban Jungle Bloggers theme is plants and art and I have decided to keep it as simple as possible and let my beautiful new plant shine. I actually took these pics at my mum’s house last month when I was staying there as I was desperate to take advantage of the one of the beautiful fireplaces in her Georgian townhouse. She normally has a million and one postcards lined up along the mantelpiece so I selected a couple of those as my ‘art’ element. Other than that my new Donkey’s tail (also known as a Burro’s tail or Sedum morganianum) was left to take centre stage.

Urban Jungle Bloggers | Donkey's tail or Burro's tail plant | House plant | Marble fireplace

Urban Jungle Bloggers | Donkey's tail or Burro's tail plant | House plant | Marble fireplace

I can not tell you how inspired I have been by the Urban Jungle Bloggers project, set up by Igor and Judith. If you had asked me about five years ago what I thought of house plants, I would have said I didn’t like them or the amount of space they take up. I considered them clutter. Through this project I have learnt to see house plants in a completely new light; using and displaying them around my house in ways I would never have thought of without the inspiration of the UJB community. This week I even wrote an article about how to bring the outdoors in for the Shurgard blog – pop over and take a look.

Urban Jungle Bloggers | Donkey's tail or Burro's tail plant | House plant | Marble fireplace

Urban Jungle Bloggers | Donkey's tail or Burro's tail plant | House plant | Marble fireplace

Urban Jungle Bloggers | Donkey's tail or Burro's tail plant | House plant | Marble fireplace

Do make sure to search the #UrbanJungleBloggers hashtag on Instagram and Twitter and take a look on the Urban Jungle Bloggers website for more Plants and Art posts.

Katy x

Styling the seasons – August

Without consciously meaning it to, this month’s Styling the Seasons really resembles my March styling in terms of textures and colours. March was a difficult month for me and August is also going to be full of big life stuff, which means we can’t go on holiday and experience all the loveliness that I normally associate with this month. Instead, I’m hoping for a calm and quiet time hence the muted colours and soft tones of all the beautiful ceramics that I have used to style my Pocket String shelf. I do also feel that these colours reflect the way I perceive August; the grass is drying out, the weather becomes hazy and the beautiful blooms of June and July begin to fade. I always connect colours with the different months of the year and August is definitely a yellowy golden month in my mind so the natural stoneware fits in well.

Let me just tell you a little bit about some of the gorgeous pieces that I have been collecting and brought together for this month’s styling. The jug on the top shelf and matching beaker on the middle shelf were lucky eBay finds and they are Welsh Helyg pottery. The two stoneware bottles were bargains I picked up in Hastings. The two white pouring bowls, small pouring jug and large vase are four of my favourite purchases ever. They are all made by Jude Allman who is a potter based on the Isle of Wight and her ceramics are hand thrown on a wheel using stoneware clay. Aren’t they beautiful? I also love the fact that they are such functional pieces. You can find more of Jude’s pieces over on Folksy.

I bought another trailing String of Hearts vine after my July post and I like the contrast between its delicate form and the big chunky leaves of the other plant – anyone know its name?

Styling the Seasons - August | Apartment Apothecary

Styling the Seasons - August | Apartment Apothecary

Handthrown ceramics and pottery on pocket String shelving with trailing plants | Apartment Apothecary

Handthrown ceramics and pottery on pocket String shelving with trailing plants | Apartment Apothecary

Styling the Seasons - August | Apartment Apothecary

Handthrown ceramics and pottery on pocket String shelving with trailing plants | Apartment Apothecary

I’m going to try to get as much rest as possible this month, which means I will only be posting here once a week but I hope to be back at the beginning of September with lots of great posts and to celebrate a whole year of Styling the Seasons! Charlotte and I are so pleased that we can celebrate the year with as many of you as possible as we are joining forces with a group of our favourite bloggers to hold a vintage jumble and prop sale on October 4th in Lindfield, West Sussex, that is open to anyone and everyone that can make it. Please do come along and buy lots of great stuff to style up your home!

Do pop over to see Charlotte’s gorgeous post this month as well as searching the #StylingTheSeasons hashtag over on Instagram for inspiration. Don’t forget to hop over to our Pinterest board with the hundreds of blog posts that have been styled and written since last September. We would love for you to join us this month and style a surface in your home to show what this month means to you. Blog about it or post a picture on your favourite social media platform and tag us in so we can see! I wrote up a few of my photo-styling tips (plus a video of me in action!) last month just in case you are new to the styling game and want a bit of guidance.

Happy summer holidays, everyone!

Katy x

 

Urban Jungle Bloggers: Plant colour pop

For this month’s Urban Jungle Bloggers, Judith and Igor have asked us to choose our favourite plant (just one!) and take a picture of it in front of a colourful background to make it ‘pop’. The hope is to create a vibrant, colourful gallery of shots, ready for a long, hot summer – it’s so hot today! – and then UJB will be back in full swing in September.

The only problem with this month’s theme is that I’m not really in to bright colours. Instead, I have chosen a brightish blue, which goes really well with the pink and green of my current favourite plant who usually lives on my balcony. Can someone please tell me what this plant is called?! I love the pink spears and it is the one I find myself staring at when out on the balcony.

Urban Jungle Bloggers | Apartment Apothecary

I painted the backdrop, that I made from our old puppy guard, in Farrow and Ball’s Lulworth Blue.

Urban Jungle Bloggers | Apartment Apothecary

A couple of weeks ago we took down the puppy guard that we built when we first got Otto to stop him slipping through the gap under the glass on our balcony. Now that he is almost 40kg there is no chance of that happening so I made this photo backdrop from the wood that we used for the guard. I can paint it any colour I like according to what I am photographing. I also bought an enormous wooden bread board from Ardingly antiques fair yesterday, which is what the plant is sitting on. More pics of our haul from yesterday to come this weekend.

Pop over to Happy Interior Blog and Joelix to see Igor’s and Judith’s creative take on the theme. Hope they both have a wondrous summer!

Katy x

 

 

Houseology launch giveaway!

Have you heard that Occa-Home is changing? Houseology has been born and I am running a wondrous giveaway in celebration of the launch.

As well as creating a site filled with the most beautiful designer furniture, lighting and accessories for you to buy, Houseology wants to provide you with everything you need to make informed, stylish decisions for your home – because, let’s face it, not everyone finds it easy to style their home. They’ll bring you tools and technology to help you on your design journey as well as insightful articles, ‘how to’ guides, inspirational images, practical and informative videos, ideas and advice.

I’ve been perusing the brilliant ‘Buying Guides’ because at this time of year I’m always thinking about additions to our roof terrace. Using the advice in the ‘Outdoor Furniture Guide’ I have chosen five GORGEOUS pieces for your garden that will transform your outdoor space into an additional room that can be used all through the summer.

All you have to do to win your choice of one of my five favourite pieces (I WISH I could enter myself!) is complete the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post and keep your fingers crossed!

1. Chimenea

The perfect addition to any outdoor space, especially in this country with our cool summer evenings. This wood or charcoal burning steel chimenea will help to turn your garden into an outdoor room. Isn’t it wonderful?

Houseology launch giveaway! | Apartment Apothecary

2. Bistro set of table and two chairs

This Garden Trading set of table and two chairs in a lovely clay colour is perfect for evening drinks on a terrace, balcony or patio. The simple French style is the perfect addition to any outdoor space.

Houseology launch giveaway! | Apartment Apothecary

3. Cacoon tent

This cacoon tent would be an amazing retreat in your garden for your kids this summer, adding an extra play-space to your home, filled with cushions and toys and easy to hang. The stylish design will look great in any outdoor space.

Houseology launch giveaway! | Apartment Apothecary

4. Rustic steel planters

I love this set of three vintage style Garden Trading planters. They will look beautiful planted up and add a rustic vibe to your garden or outside your front door. I would love these for my balcony.

Houseology launch giveaway! | Apartment Apothecary

5. Globe light

These are amazing! I want a pool full of them! An LED colour-changing globe light that measures 35cm in diameter, which can be placed indoors, outdoors or even floats on water. Taking the indoors outdoors never looked so good.

Houseology launch giveaway! | Apartment Apothecary

Which would you like to win? Just enter here…

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Competition open to mainland UK residents only and some items have a two week delivery time depending on their size. Entries close at 12am on June 15th.