Krafts with Kathy

Clay Pot Gnome- September 2020

Materials

  • terra cotta pots in 3 graduated sizes  (Pinterest suggests 2”,4”, & 6”)
  • acrylic craft paint  ( red, black, white & coat color)
  • 1 bottle of Puffy paint in either white, gray or sparkle
  • wooden plug, button or whatever to create a nose
  • pipe cleaner  (optional)
  • wooden ball for top of hat creating the pompom (hole or hole-less will work)
  • pipe cleaner  (color of choice)
  • paint palette, Dixie cup or piece of aluminum foil to put paint on
  • paintbrushes (foam and thin regular)
  • glue for attaching nose to pot  (Gorilla, E6000, hot glue gun, etc)
  • Sealer

Instructions

  1. Paint the two smaller pots red with a minimum of 2 coats of paint allowing them to dry between coats.  Using a foam brush will give you the smoothest coverage.
  2. Paint largest pot with “coat” color.  Let dry and repeat until you have the coverage you want.  Paint entire outside of pot.
  3. Fold pipe cleaner in half and insert the end into the hole on the wooden ball.  Holding the pipe cleaner paint the wooden ball white with several coats and let dry.
  4. Using the paint brush paint a thin black line just above the rim to the upside down pot creating a belt.
  5. Paint 2 half circles of black on the rim of the pot either side of center.  Let dry. These are the feet.
  6. Apply the “beard” by scribbling the paint onto the pot front forming a loose “v” shape which ends near the bottom of the pot.  When scribbling the paint onto the pot try to make it look like strands of hair, keeping the lines vertical.
  7. Wooden Ball:
    1. wooden ball with a hole thru the center: thread the pipe cleaner with the wooden ball still on the end thru the hole in the top pot, then the next pot, and into the bottom pot.  Leave just a little tuft of the pipe cleaner showing thru the hole.
    2. Wooden ball with only 1 hole in bottom of ball: glue to the top pot creating the “pompom”
  8. After beard is completely dry glue wooden disc, flat button, etc to the larger pot just under the rim of the middle pot creating the gnome’s nose
  9. After the paint has completely dried, spray several coats of sealer on the gnome, allowing each coat to dry before applying the next one.
  10. Place in garden and smile.

OPTIONS:

As it was well past flower pot season I was forced to purchase my terra cotta pots at the craft store.

Pinterest suggested using 2”, 4” , and 6” flower pots.  I simply stacked 3 pots of different sizes on top of each other at the craft store until I had a combination that was leasing to my eye.

You can glue the pots together before applying the sealer and create a permanent gnome.  Run a bead of glue around the inside of the smaller pot near the bottom and place on top of the larger pot.  Repeat with next set of 2 pots and then spray the sealer.

                                                                        OR

Spray sealer on each of the 3 pots making sure to cover the bottom edge of each pot.  Stack after sealer has dried.  This allows you to nest the pots together into the largest pot for winter storage

PAST KRAFTS WITH KATHY