I love working with clay. There are some simple house hold supplies and materials you can use to create great texture on any of your craft projects made out of clay. Whether you are using air drying clay or traditional clay that need to be fire you can sue all of these methods of creating unique patterns and textures.
Just remember almost any small object can be pressed into soft clay to create a texture. Simply look around your home office, kitchen, through the kid’s toys, and even in some of our arts and crafts supplies for inspiration. You can even look outside for texture. For some more inspiration and unique textures in you clay why not use some of your tools. Nails screws, tape, drywall tape, and hooks are real wonderful for making textures in clay.
Buttons and doilies are perfect pressed into clay for texture.
A cheese slicer will cut straight through block of clay. You can also use it to pres into clay and make some rows of straight inns.
Use you cake decorating icing tips to press into clay to make starts, circles, and almost any repetitive design.
Cookie cutters can be use to create patterned edges in a slab of clay. You don’t just have to use them to cut their original shape out of clay. For instance a round cookie cutter can make uniform scalloped edge in clay.
Use a rolling pin to press almost anything into the surface of slab of clay. You can use leaves from the yard, textured fabrics, and even embossed images. Burlap fabric, linen fabric, corduroy fabric, and even denim fabric all create unwise textures when pressed into clay. You could also press flower petals, fern branches, and even sand into clay. You can even simply roll the edge of a piece of paper into clay repeatedly to create a textured pattern on the surface.
I also like to use inexpensive jewelry and bead to press texture into clay. Just make sure you use something that can be washed easily and won’t be damaged by the moisture in the clay. You can press old brooches, costume jewelry, and even earring into other surface of clay to create texture.
Rubber stamps form ink project work perfectly to create very specific designs and texture in a clay surface. They are great on a slab of clay or even a finished piece of pottery or box made out of clay.
Paring knives, wooden skewers, pencil tips, pen points, pen and ink nibs, and even twigs cut into a pot in all make fine details and patterns in clay.
You can use a metal or tine can to roll in the surface of clay. This will cause indentations where the lines of the can are. Most cans are not perfectly flat; they had indentation tat travel around the can horizontally.
To add a natural texture to your clay pot that us already finishes you can slip you hand into an old cotton cook. Start gently pressing texture into the surface of the clay.
Pill bottles and the bottom of drinking glasses make great uniform circles on a piece of clay.
If you have some old pineapple skin that is another great way to add a rough texture to clay.
The bottom of a pair of tennis shoes or sneaker can also make some great zip zag texture in any clay surface. Just wash off the bottom of your shoe with water after you finish!
Finally, this one is gross and you should never eat this afterwards, but can use a pretzel stick or even on of those pork rinds to press texture into clay. Just be sure to toss the food after you do this!
