These simple white air-dry clay tiny houses are accentuated with driftwood, making these little clay buildings a lot of fun to make. Read how to make them with these simple steps.
Miniature houses are traditional decorative pieces. There is so much inspiration when it comes to making tiny clay houses. But one that caught my attention is from Red Rocking Bird’s creation. The driftwood accent makes the clay houses unique, simple, and timeless.
After watching her video tutorial, I know I have to go to the lake to pick some driftwoods. Luckily that time, the snow had just started.
How to Make Clay Houses
Watch the video here on how to make these timeless rustic cottages that you can use as Christmas decor or display all year round.
Materials:
DAS Modeling Clay (If this is not available, check our air-dry clay recipe)
Driftwoods (choose angular form)
Foam board (or corrugated box)
Knife
Rolling pin (or empty bottle)
Hot glue
Procedure:
1. To save clay, use a foam board or corrugated box as the structure of the house. Pick angular driftwood and make it as a guide on how the shape of the roof of the house will look like.
2. Roll out the air dry clay about 1/4 inch thick. You don’t need a fancy tool to do this, an empty bottle works perfectly.
3. Cover the foam board structure with the clay. If you are a fondant cake decorator, then this step is easy for you. For me, this was the hardest part. But once you’ll get the hang out of it it’s easy peasy.
4. To connect two clays, score the part of the clay that you will connect using a sharp object. Brush it with water or air-dry clay slip. A slip is a mixture of 1 part clay and 1 part of water.
5. Brush a small amount of water and use your finger to smoothen the edges and surface of the clay.
6. Add more details like windows and doors. A small cookie cutter is a great tool or you can use shapes to stamp onto the clay.
7. Let it dry completely. Keep an eye on the houses while they dry and turn them over, as the base side will be wetter.
The drying time depends on how thick the clay is and the temperature of the surroundings.
8. Once dry, you can sand and paint the houses. I prefer not sanding the clay houses because it looks aged, which compliments the rustic look of the driftwood.
The DAS clay I used is white, so I didn’t paint the clay houses.
10. Finally, place the driftwood using hot glue.
My Thoughts About This Project
The output of this DIY is incredible. It’s perfect for farmhouse and rustic decor enthusiasts.
It’s a perfect display as Christmas cottages or Christmas tree ornaments. It’s unique and the drift woods makes them look timeless. And you can even use them all year round as a decoration.
The only challenging part is putting the parts of the houses together. But definitely, a fun project that you can do. This DIY makes my heart flutter. I am easy to please, you know, especially handmade pieces like these
.
Look how this clay house perfectly matches our DIY yarn Christmas tree. By the way, if you are curious how we did the yarn Christmas tree, we made a step-by-step video on our YouTube channel, watch it here.
Let me know in the comment what you think of this project.
And by the way, I’m into air-dry clay recently, so expect more DIYs using this medium. You can also check some of our clay projects here.