You may have thought we were running out of Autumnal crafts as we seem to be crafting a lot but I have a new one to share today. I finally got round to trying leaf printing on air drying clay. I like air drying clay, it’s really versatile and I wanted to do something with the leaves my 3 year old keeps giving me.

Equipment to make leaf-printed air drying clay decorations

Air drying clay
Leaves
Rolling pin
Greaseproof paper
Circular cookie cutter
Gold and silver metallic paint

How to make leaf-printed air drying clay decorations

I rolled out the air drying clay until it was a couple of millimetres thick then placed a selection of different leaves on top.

I placed a sheet of greaseproof paper on top and gently used a rolling pin to press the leaves into the clay.

This is what it looked like. Aren’t those Autumn leaves so pretty?

I used a pin to careful lift up a corner of the leaves and removed them from the clay.

I actually made two of these. One I left as it was for painting when dry.

The other I made into small decorations by cutting out circles from the clay using a round cutter.

Then I left the clay impressions on a small tray out of reach of my children for a few days until they had completely dried. If you want to hang your decorations make sure to make a small hole with a knitting needle.

When the clay circles had dried I painted over them with gold and silver metallic paint. The paint seemed to pick up the details of the leaves really well. I added some Bakers twine and hung them on our seasonal tree. They make great decorations and I would be happy to make these with my children too.