Stamped Clay Trinket Dishes

Use alphabet stamps to create pretty personalized trinket dishes!

Ok, if we’re being totally honest right now, my house is kind of overrun with trinket dishes at the moment (anyone familiar with my favorite Mitch Hedburg joke? “My apartment is infested with koala bears. It’s the cutest infestation ever…”). Anyway, I probably should start giving some of them away as gifts or something. However in our house they’re actually pretty handy because I happen to be married to someone who tends to leave said trinkets all over the place. I’m constantly finding piles of change, collar stays, thumb drives, earbuds and extra pens (omg, the pens!) all over the place. So at least if they’re sitting on a cute little trinket dish on the bookshelf it looks less like they were randomly discarded and more like we intended it? Maybe? (Or maybe that’s clutter rationalization. I shudder to think what Marie Kondo would think about this…) Anyway, a certain adorable someone is about to become mobile and we’re used to a fairly well behaved 5 year old (this is the same child who rarely, if ever, put anything in his mouth that wasn’t food, even as a baby) so we really need to get a handle on it. Bring on the trinket dishes! Contain the clutter and choking hazards!

Anyway, my clay obsession continues and the other weekend, while playing with clay I whipped up these adorable stamped trinket dishes. (You kinda have to use all the clay in the package once it’s open, know what I mean? Oh darn! *sarcasm* ) But they were super super easy to make and I think really would make a great gift if you personalized them with a meaningful word or name for someone you love, don’t you think? Here’s how to make your own:

Stamped Clay Trinket Dishes

My favorite air dry clay

Rolling pin

Set of alphabet stamps

Creamy white acrylic craft paint

my favorite gold craft paint

1. Roll your clay out to about 1/4″ thickness and use a craft knife or clay tools to cut it into whatever shape you want. I prefer mine to look irregular and handmade, but you could certainly trace a drinking glass or a plate or something.2. Get the tip of your finger wet and smooth the edges and any rough spots on the surface. Then gently lift and shape the edges of the dish. 3. Pick out the letters you need and line them up next to the dish to figure out the spacing. 4. Gently press each letter into the clay. I didn’t mind if a little bit of the square stamp outline showed up but if that bothers you, don’t press quite as hard.  Also, if you get clay residue on your stamps, clean them right away, it’s harder to get off once it’s dry. 5. Let your dishes dry. When they are fully dry, give them two coats of a creamy white acrylic paint. 6. Then using a teeny tiny brush, I filled in the letters with gold paint. I also painted the edge of the dish gold. It would also look cool in a bright color! And that’s it! You’re all set! Use these pretty dishes to hold your jewelry, spare change, extra buttons, bobby pins, cufflinks or anything else!

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Cassie May

Craft and Knitwear Designer at Little Red Window Design

Welcome to Little Red Window! I’m Cassie, a professional craft and knitwear designer working in the field for more than 10 years. I have a degree in Art History from Northwestern University and a Master's Degree in Architecture and Design from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I've designed more than 300 separate knitting patterns, hundreds of craft projects, and I love to bring joy to your crafts and knitting with well-designed, easy to understand tutorials and patterns.

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