When I shared with you my new wishbone dining chairs, I also gave you a peek at my newest DIY project, the white decorative edge bowl on the table.

I love that there is a large appreciation for handmade, one of a kind items in home decor lately.  Hand woven baskets, tribal fabrics, pottery and ceramics.  Each piece varies due to the handmade nature, and they truly make a space feel special.  Sometimes those unique items are really expensive though.  I’ll find something I love, but just can’t bring myself to spend that much on it.  That’s where this project was born from.  I like to think of this bowl as being one of those cool handmade items instead of a “craft project”.  Except this one only cost me $16.  The only item I had to purchase for this was a large terra-cotta plant saucer, everything else I already had on hand.

Note:  This DIY evolved as I went.  When I first started out I only had the largest clay balls around the center.  At the end of the project it felt a little too plain so I went back and added smaller clay balls in-between the larger ones for the offset row.  You’ll notice I added more notes to the steps to accommodate this.

What You’ll Need

• Large terra-cotta plant saucer.  Mine is 15 inches wide.
• Oven bake clay
• Glue – I used Loctite GO2 Gel
• Paint – I used a white chalk based paint
• Paint brush
• Felt pads

Step One

To make the clay balls even in size, I first rolled the clay into a cylinder and then cut it into even pieces.  This is one of those things that’s fun to do with the kids.  I then had them help me roll all the pieces into balls.  This isn’t one of those projects where they have to look perfect.  It’s the little imperfections that make this look more special.  Note:  You will also make a grouping of slightly smaller clay balls for the offset row.

Step Two

Position the balls around the edge of the saucer and press down slightly.  This little indention on the bottom will help you out later on when you glue them into place.

Step Three

Bake the clay (indention side down) according to the package directions.

Step Four

While waiting on the clay to bake and cool, paint the saucer.  I used a chalk based paint for this project.

Step Five

Glue the clay balls into place.

Step 6

Once the glue has set, paint over the clay balls and cover any glue that might have seeped out of the bottom.  Note:  I painted those smaller clay balls I ended up adding on later before gluing them into place.  If I was starting the whole thing from scratch I would have glued all of the clay balls on at the same time and then just used a smaller craft brush to paint the hard to reach places in between.

Step Seven

Add felt pads to the bottom of the saucer to prevent it from scratching your tables.

Here you can see the smaller clay balls I added in between the larger ones.

A bowl like this works so many places.  Leave it empty like I did or fill it with some pretty objects.  I can even see me moving this to our coffee table as well.  Where would you use a bowl like this?

Sources:

Dining room post // terra-cotta saucer // oven bake clay // glue // paint

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