A few years ago, my mom got me the cutest frickin ring dish for my kitchen. It had a cat on it and you placed your rings on the cat’s tail. One day, we were cleaning up the kitchen and it fell onto the kitchen counter and his tail snapped off! WAAHHH! So sad 🙁 So I have been thinking about making a new one. I came across one online (probably Pinterest) and decided to attempt my own. One for the kitchen and one for the bathroom. I seriously had so much fun. D sat across from me and played with the clay. He loved it. Side note, it’s a great fine motor activity! He didn’t want me to bake it though – he likes squishy things. He also prefers not to wear clothes whenever possible. Whatever.

Supplies:

*2 oz package of oven bake polymer clay – your color of choice (I used Sculpey – because it was least expensive and on sale – yeah!)
*Rubber stamps
*Acrylic paint
*Paint brush – super thin!
*Nail file or sandpaper
*2 pieces of wax or parchment paper
*Place mat or craft mat
*2 different sized glass, oven safe bowls
*Cookie sheet
*Rolling pin
*A pairing knife
*An oven
*Acrylic sealant (if desired)

Instructions:
*Preheat your oven to whatever temperature your clay says (Sculpey is 275).
*Remove your clay and start to work it around in your hands. At first it’s totally going to feel like it’s never going to get soft, but with the heat of your hands, it sure will.
*Flatten out your clay onto one piece of parchment / wax paper.
*Place the other piece of parchment / wax paper on top.
*Use your rolling pin and roll out the clay.
*I will roll it out until it’s big enough for the opening of the bigger bowl.
*It helps if you every once in a while lift off the paper, take the clay off of the other layer of paper and place it back on. I do it once or twice while I’m rolling it out.
*Place your bigger bowl on the clay.

*Use the pairing knife to cut around the bowl.

*If your bowl is thick (like mine), don’t push down the bowl. It will leave a line on the inside, but after it’s baked you can file it out.

*Now is your time to use your rubber stamps! Spell out words, names, do designs, whatever! This is where you make it fun!
  

*Place your circle clay into the smaller bowl.
*Flatten out the clay so it’s flush against the side of the bowl.

*Bake according to package directions – Sculpey says 15 minutes per 1/4 inch thickness. This is how thick mine was, so I did 30 minutes.

*Remove the clay – it’s not going to be totally hard yet. It hardens as it cools.
*Flip the bowl over on the cooling rack. After a few minutes, it will fall out of the bowl. Flip the ring dish right side up on the cooling rack.
*Once it’s cooled, use your nail file to file down the edges of the dish.
*If you want to paint it, it has to be completely cool.
*Paint away! I found it easiest to use the tiniest paintbrush I found at JoAnn Fabrics. Not gonna lie, the painting was a pain in the ass, hence why it sucks. I read on a few blogs that you can paint the whole area so the paint gets in the grooves and then wipe off the excess with a wet towel, but, big surprise, that was a giant fail for me. The paint stayed on the surface.
*After your paint has dried, you can spray it with a sealant or a gloss clay cover.

I made one for my kitchen and one for my bathroom – and a few gifts. I am also adding these to my Etsy shop! I am loving all the designs and painting I can do. It is such a cool DIY project – so easy and so cheap! Post a picture of yours!

Happy crafting!