Novelty Food-Themed DIY Napkin Holders

As much of a novice as I still am when it comes to clay projects and anything involving painting, I am still quite proud of these particular creations! I had so much fun planning and making them, and they make for some really cute n’ quirky decor pieces in my house.

If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know about my #1 goal in life to turn my house into a Candy Wonderland, and the choc chip cookie design is another step towards achieving that goal! 😄

These fun decorations would also be great for parties of any kind, as they will look AWESOME on the food table and they’re actually functional since they can hold all the napkins!

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They’ll also help eliminate the disaster that often befalls a napkin pile once food-crazed people get to it, as they’ll all be standing up in these holders. Crisis = averted! 🙌

♡

YOU WILL NEED:

♡ Air dry clay (I use this one)
♡ Paint in yellow, orange, light brown, and dark brown
♡ Rolling pin (used only for clay, not food)
♡ Primer
♡ Ruler
♡ Food safe clay glaze
♡ Paint brushes
♡ Tracing paper
♡ Round tip clay tool (such as the one in this set)
♡ Clay knife
♡ Pencil
♡ Scissors
♡ Strong clay/ceramic glue
♡ Small bowl of water
♡ Objects to prop up drying clay
♡ Powder free vinyl gloves (optional – I just hate getting clay on my hands!)

DIRECTIONS:

Before we start, I always tape down a sheet of baking paper to do my clay creations on to ensure it doesn’t stick to the table. If you wish to do so as well, do it now.

1. Draw or trace two circles onto your tracing paper that are roughly 14cm in diameter, then cut them out.

2. Grab a chunk of clay and start kneading it with your hand to soften. Roll out the clay with your rolling pin until it is wider than your circle, and no thicker than 1cm.

3. Place your paper circle on top of the clay and use your knife to carve around the paper. Put the remaining clay away so it doesn’t dry out, then press the flat side of the knife – or your fingers – against the edges of the circle to smooth them out.

4. Using your ruler, measure where the middle of your circle is. Go upwards two centimetres in both directions before you start decorating, so that there’s four centimetres in the middle of the circle that will remain blank.

5. We’ll start with the cheese design as it’s easier. To do this, use your ball tip clay tool to press shallow indents randomly amongst both ends of the circle. Once you’re happy with the dots, carefully pick up your clay circle by the edges and curve them inwards, whilst ensuring that the middle 4cm part stays flat.

6. Dip your fingers into the small bowl of water and smooth out any edges of the clay that might have torn or cracked, then place two items on both sides of your clay piece to hold prop up the sides, and a smaller item in the middle to ensure that the sides don’t curl inwards.

7. Repeat steps 2-5 to create your second circle of clay. Once again, map out the middle 4cm and ensure you leave the section blank as it will be the part that “sits” on the ground/table.

8. Once again, get your round tip clay tool and start pushing in random indents on both ends of your circle. Since you’re making a chocolate chip cookie this time around, mix up the indents to make them different sizes and shapes, as no two chocolate chips are the same!

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9. Prop up your clay creation the same way you did with the first design, then leave out to dry for at least 24 hours. Once the sides have set for a while – I’d say 10-12 hours – remove the items propping them up so that they can be hit by the air and dry better.

You will always need to remove the item that’s in the middle to ensure that dries properly, and then flip the entire thing upside down so the bottom dries too. I let mine dry over 48 hours in total just to be sure!

10. Once your clay creations have dried 100%, go back to your chocolate chip design. Get some more clay, pinch a tiny piece off, roll it in your hands, and squish it into one of the indents you made. Continue this until you “chocolate chips” that fit inside all the indents, then glue them on.

11. When the glue has dried, sit your two napkin holders up on something so that the bottoms of them aren’t touching the table. Coat as much as both napkin holders as you can in primer, wait for it to dry, then flip them over and get any areas you missed.

12. With your cheese design, paint the inside and outside yellow, but leave the indents plain. Once the yellow has dried, go back with a smaller paint brush and paint the indents orange. Repeat with as many coats as necessary.

13. With your chocolate chip design, paint the inside and outside light brown, but leave the “chips” plain. Once the light brown has dried, go back with a smaller paint brush and paint the chips dark brown. Don’t rush this part as there are lots of small areas to paint! Repeat with as many coats as necessary.

14. After the paint has dried completely on both napkin holders, use the same method as step 11 and coat as much of both of them as you can with your glaze, allow it to dry, then flip it over and coat any parts you missed. Let that dry, then you’re done! You now have some super cute, hunger-inducing napkin holders that will make really fun home and/or party decor  🎉

♡

I actually made these guys as a personal project over a month ago. Whilst I shared the chocolate chip one on my Instagram Stories a few weeks ago, I had no real intention of doing a blog post about them, but I honestly just LOVE them so much that I had to share them with you all! 🙊

My chocolate chip cookie one sits in front of our TV and has all my important doctor and hospital appointments etc in it, which definitely helps lift my mood, as my health issues can be quite draining to deal with.

My cheese design is patiently waiting on a shelf to be filled with some cute recipe cards that I hope to make of my favourite recipes! ☺️ If you were to these adorable clay creations (which you TOTALLY should! It’s impossible not to smile when you see them!), what would YOU use them for? Let me know! 👇

Until next time,
Indya xx

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