DIY Little Clay Pots

Creating mini pots for your plants is fun and easy, simply by using some air drying clay and paint. 

Here I'll show you how to make this cute cat pot - he looks rather disgruntled doesn't he!

Please note: as these pots are air drying, and not sealed using a kiln, they are purely for decorative use only and should not be used for food.  

Finished Size: 

Cat pot - 8.5 x 6cm (including feet)

You Will Need

• Chopping board or craft mat
• Air drying clay
• Rolling pin
• Votive or pot (to use as a template)
• Knife
• Water
• Saucer
• Fine sandpaper
• Glue 
• Selection of paints (we used pink, white, red and black)
• Paintbrushes (medium and fine)
• Pencil
• Fine black pen
• Plants (5cm potted plants fitted perfectly)

Alternatively get the entire kit here woo hoo!

Making the Pot

1 Working on a chopping board or craft mat, pull off a piece of clay, knead it, then roll it into a long piece roughly about 5mm thick (you want it longer than the circumference of your votive or pot).

2 Place your votive at one end of the piece of clay then, using a knife, cut the clay to the height of your votive. It doesn’t have to be perfect!

3 Roll the clay up around the votive, and cut off any excess with a knife.

4 To make the base of your pot, roll out another piece of clay about 5mm thick, place the votive on the clay and cut around using a knife. Pull away the excess of the clay.

5 Apply a little water to your fingertip and wet the edges of the base piece of clay. Take the long strip and wrap it around the base. Use water to gently smooth the two ends to join together.

6 Roll out a long snake piece of clay, wet it, then place it inside the pot. Press it down into the edges so the base and sides all adhere together.

7 Take three small lumps of clay and mould them into little cones. Make sure they are all the same height (ours measured 2cm), and push the base down onto the mat to get a flat surface as possible. Leave the pots to dry overnight.

8 Once dry, use sandpaper on the lip and edges to smooth out any rough bits and neaten the texture of the pot. 

9 Sand the edges and the base of the three cones. Position them on the base of one of your pots to make sure they are flat and in the right place, then apply glue to the flat side and stick in place - you want to have two near the front, and one towards the back.

Decorating the Cat Pot

1 Paint the whole pot in a pale shade of pink. Once dry, and following our photo as a guide, draw a simple outline of a cat, incorporating the two front cones as if they were the cat’s feet.

2 Use a bright pink and a steady hand to paint along the edge of the cat, then paint the rest of the pot.

3 Draw on eyes, nose and mouth with a black pen (or with a fine paintbrush and black paint). Apply red paint to the cheeks and ears. When dry, draw on the whiskers and some dots along the cat’s body and tail.

Feeling inspired? Check out my best selling Painted Pots Craft Kit. It has everything you need to make lots of cute little pots, perfect for your plant babies!