Dressing up your table a bit for a dinner with friends or a romantic evening in doesn’t have to be an elaborate amount of work. Sometimes just adding some pretty silverware and a cute napkin ring and cloth napkins can signal that you wanted to make the event a little more special. Making your own napkin rings out of clay is surprisingly easy (and it’s pretty cost effective too). So they make a great homemade gift or housewarming present for a pal. Here’s how to make your own!
Supplies:
–oven bake clay
-acrylic paint
-small paint brush
-rolling pin
-wax paper
–clay glaze (optional)
Roll out a long section of 1/4″ thick clay on top of wax paper. To keep a consistent thickness, you can place two stacks of 1/4″ papers on either sides of the clay to act as a thickness guide. Silicon rollers are best with clay, but if you don’t have one, you can simply place another sheet of wax paper on top of the clay and that will keep your roller from sticking.
Use a knife or pizza cutter and a ruler to cut out a long rectangle the width you want for your napkin ring.
I used this bead organizer tube as my guide for how long to cut each strip, but you can also just measure a distance and cut all your rectangles that long (mine were about 8″ long).
On a glass or metal pan, connect the ends of your clay rectangles together to make a circle and smooth the two ends into each other with your fingers (it’s OK if they aren’t perfectly smoothed together, that can be the bottom side of the napkin ring). Bake according to the clay instructions and allow to cool.
Mix a small amount of your black paint with some water until you have more of an ink consistency. Place your napkin rings on a piece of cardboard or scrap paper and fling a brush loaded with paint at the ring from different angles until you have the perfect splatter pattern (doing this outside is best for obvious reasons if possible!). You can practice a bit on the paper before adding the ring if you want some practice first. Allow the paint to fully dry, and then you can add a clear glaze on top if you want to seal the ring and add some shine.
I love how the inky paint blotches look on the white background (although you can use any color clay or paint, totally up to you), and the great thing about splatter painting is that anyone can do it and it usually comes out pretty cool. This would be a great gift to give in a set of 4 or 6 along with some pretty napkins, and they are a modern way to dress up a tablescape without seeming too fancy or over the top. So cute! xo. Laura
Credits // Author and Photography: Laura Gummerman. Photos edited with the NEW A Beautiful Mess actions.
11 Comments
They’re so cool, love the splatter and black-and-white design!
https://www.makeandmess.com/
They look so cool! It’s such a great idea
Super smart (and affordable) way to work with clay! I spy target dollar spot napkins too <3 Thanks for the idea Laura!
Reminds me of white birch, which I love. Nice DIY.
These are such an excellent idea! They look super chic too, awesome post!
http://www.englishgirlinnewyork.org
Such a great idea. I was thinking, if you wanted to decorate for Halloween and go creepy style, you could use red paint and make it look like blood splatter. Bwahahahaha.
Thanks for sharing. As always, love your ideas!
These are so cute! http://www.hannamarielei.com
I’m giving up on finding napkin rings and taking your DIY advice. I never seem to find napkin rings I like, and when I do I lose them. I love your idea here with the black and white as black/white goes with just about anything. Of course the options are endless when you do it yourself 🙂
Blessings,
Elizabeth
I seen this featured on the Paper n Stitch blog and had to come check it out!
Love that spattered paint look!
Great job with this one 🙂
I love the spattered paint look! This is gorgeous and a perfect addition to any dining table!
Of all the sites I’ve looked at for DIY clay napkin rings, this is the most informative but it’s still is missing something as all the others did. How much clay is needed or at least approximately how much is needed to make four napkin rings? I can double that for the eight I plan to make. Being new to this I don’t know how far eight ounces of clay will go, or do I need a pound of it for eight rings?