Let me be honest about the title first.
You really can make a whole batch of these in one afternoon.
Kneading, rolling, cutting, stamping, poking the holes, all of it, in about 2 hours (the time it takes me to drink two coffees).
The finishing is the slow part.
You can’t finish them that day.
The clay needs days to dry before it takes paint or sealer, and almost none of the pins I saved over the years mention that part.
My first batch went on the tree half-wet, and two of them cracked right through by Christmas Eve.
So here’s the plan I wish I’d had: make them on a weekend afternoon, leave them alone, then paint and seal them later that week.
Plan it like that and you get a box of white stars, stamped hearts and little trees for the price of one tub of clay.
No oven, no kiln, nothing fancy.
Just a lot of patience.
An Afternoon to Make, Three Days to Finish
Here’s the timeline nobody puts on the pin.
Crayola says its air dry clay takes about 24 hours to dry to the touch and 72 hours to dry completely.
The Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library’s ornament guide gives 24 to 48 hours, depending on how thick the piece is.
Both can be true, because touch-dry and done are not the same thing.
I go by the longer number.
A star that feels dry on top can still be damp in the middle (mine always are at the 24 hour mark), and if you paint it then you seal that water in.
Crayola’s own advice is to seal a piece only once it’s completely dry after 72 hours, so that’s my rule too.
My week looks like this.
Saturday afternoon I make them.
Saturday night, Sunday morning and Sunday night I flip them.
By Tuesday afternoon they’ve had their 72 hours, and Tuesday night is painting night, with a coffee and a bad holiday movie.
Making them as gifts?
Work backward from the day you hand them over.
Give yourself at least 4 days from the first roll to the last coat, plus whatever drying time it says on your sealer’s bottle.
What You Need (Most of It Is Already in a Drawer)
The library’s supply list is short, and I didn’t have to buy most of it:
- Air dry clay, white or colored
- A rolling pin, or a smooth glass bottle
- Cookie cutters: stars, hearts, trees, circles
- A straw or a skewer for the hanging hole
- Something to press a texture in: lace, leaves, stamps, a fork
- Acrylic paint or markers
- Ribbon, twine or string
- Wax paper or a silicone mat to work on
One line in that guide stopped me.
Once a rolling pin or cutter has been used on clay, it shouldn’t go back to food.
So my good rolling pin stayed in the drawer.
I grabbed an old wooden one at the thrift store for $2 and wrote CLAY on the handle in marker.
My cheap set of star and tree cutters is craft-only now too.
Worth it for the peace of mind.
If you’re buying markers, read Crayola’s tip first.
Washable markers can clog when you color a big area of clay.
Permanent pigment-based markers work well for writing words, which is what I use them for: names and the year.
And yes, Biscuit was under the table the whole afternoon.
If your dog sheds like mine, keep a lint roller close.
Dog hair pressed into wet clay is there forever.
Knead It, Then Roll a Quarter Inch Thick
Don’t skip the kneading.
Pull off a chunk and work it in your hands for a few minutes (I count about 5 minutes), until it feels smooth and bends without splitting at the edges.
The library guide says good kneading is what keeps cracks away later.
If your chunk feels stiff, it suggests wrapping it in a damp cloth for a few minutes first.
Roll it out on wax paper or a silicone mat so it won’t glue itself to your table.
Aim for about ¼ inch.
Thinner looks delicate, sure.
But it curls and snaps.
Thicker takes forever to dry and pulls a skinny branch down.
Turn the slab a little every few passes, like you’re turning a pie crust.
It keeps the thickness even, and even is what stops warping.
My very first slab was thick on one side and thin on the other.
The stars from the thin side curled up like potato chips.
Here’s my lazy fix for that.
Lay two flat wood strips that are ¼ inch thick (the craft aisle sells basswood strips by thickness) on either side of the clay.
Roll right over them.
The pin can’t go any lower than the strips, so every ornament comes out the same.
Cut, Stamp, Then Poke the Hole
Press the cutter straight down, firmly, then give it a tiny wiggle before you lift.
That wiggle is the difference between a clean edge and a ragged one.
Peel the extra clay away, ball it up and roll it again.
You’ll get a lot more ornaments out of one block than you think, at least with cutters around 3 inches across like mine.
Then comes the fun part.
Lay a scrap of lace over the cut shapes and press it in with the rolling pin.
Peel it off and you’ve got a pattern that looks way fancier than it was.
Real leaves and pine sprigs work the same way.
So do rubber stamps, a fork, a button or a bottle cap from the junk drawer.
My favorite tool is the cheapest one, though: a toothpick.
Write a name, a date, or just the year right into the clay.
Those are the ornaments people actually keep.
The library guide also says subtle textures often look more elegant once painted, and I agree.
A deep stamp gets messy under paint.
A light press looks expensive.
Before you move a single piece, poke the hanging hole near the top with a straw, a skewer or the end of a paintbrush.
Make it bigger than you think you need.
Ribbon looks thin until you try to push it through a tiny hole in hard clay.
Then run a damp fingertip around the hole to smooth it.
The library says that little step helps prevent cracks while it dries, and turns out the hole is exactly where my first cracks started.
Drying Them Flat, Flipped Every 12 Hours
Lay them flat on wax paper and walk away.
That’s most of it.
The library guide says to flip them every 12 hours so they don’t curl or warp.
I set a reminder on my phone, which felt a little silly.
Then I skipped one flip, and three stars came out with a slight cup shape that rocked on the table.
The reminder stays.
Keep them out of direct sun and away from heaters.
Fast, uneven drying is how you get cracks, and slow, even drying is what you want.
In my rental the warmest spot is the shelf above the radiator, which makes it the worst spot in the whole place for clay.
Once they’re fully dry, sand any rough edges lightly with fine-grit sandpaper.
An old emery board works great on the small ones.
Do it over a paper towel, because the dust gets everywhere.
Painting and Sealing (Then Keeping Them Indoors)
I leave about half of mine plain white.
White clay with natural twine looks clean and calm on a green tree, and honestly it’s my favorite look of the whole batch.
For the rest, Crayola says tempera, acrylic or watercolor all work on thoroughly dry clay.
I use acrylic, and I keep it simple: a metallic gold edge, a soft green wash, or one color on the stamped part only.
Paint pens, glitter glue or a bit of gold leaf add sparkle if you want it (I don’t, mostly).
Then seal them.
The library suggests a clear varnish or Mod Podge.
Crayola suggests an acrylic varnish once the piece is completely dry, and says to test it before you put it on a finished piece.
Do that test.
I make one extra ornament just to try the sealer on.
Here’s what surprised me most.
Sealing does not make them waterproof.
Crayola says water and outdoor weather will damage the clay, and to display your pieces indoors.
So these aren’t for the porch tree or the wreath on your front door.
They’re for the tree in my living room, a window, a mantel garland, or the top of a gift.
Five I’m Making This Year
I made about a dozen designs last year and these five are the ones I’d make again:
- Plain white stars on jute twine. No paint at all. They look like something from a boutique and cost almost nothing.
- Lace-pressed rounds with a gold rim. Press the lace, dry them, then paint only the edge.
- Name ornaments that double as gift tags. A name and the year written in with a toothpick, tied right onto the present.
- Pressed pine sprigs. Press a real sprig in, peel it off, and brush a watery green into the print.
- Little tree shapes with painted dots. A few dots of red and gold, like tiny lights. Kids love doing the dots.
Want more ideas beyond clay?
My big list of DIY Christmas ornaments ideas has folded paper ones and cinnamon stick ones too.
And if you’re making them with little ones, these Christmas ornaments for kids are easy wins.
Wrapping Them as Gifts and Storing Them Flat
A clay ornament makes the best gift tag.
Thread the ribbon from the package through the hole and tie it on.
The tag is the gift, and nobody throws it away on Christmas morning.
If you’re mailing one, wrap it in tissue and lay it flat in a small box with some padding.
The edges are the weak spot, and a padded mailer alone didn’t save one I sent my sister.
It showed up as two halves of a tree.
After the holidays, store them flat in a box with tissue between the layers, somewhere dry.
Since the clay doesn’t like water, a damp basement or a garage is a bad idea.
A closet shelf is perfect.
Mine live in an old shoebox with the year written on the lid.
And if you love the look of clay but want something for the rest of the year, I rounded up my favorite DIY clay home decor projects too.
Related read: Things I Wish I Knew Before I Decorated My First Home — Instant PDF + Kindle download. Secure checkout by Stripe