Hey guys,
I wanted to add a couple of wall hangings in my room
and thought that using terra cotta clay
was a great way to transition into autumn.
I saw West Elm wall hangings on Pinterest that I liked.
I believe they were made by West Perro.
I used this air dry clay that I bought from Amazon.
For the first wall hanging,
I formed 6 little balls of clay that gradually got bigger.
I noticed that this clay dries very quickly.
So, I kept having to wet it with a damp paper towel.
Take a ball of clay and stick your finger in the center.
Curve your finger and pinch the side,
while rotating the clay.
This should form a dome.
There were cracks in the clay because it was too dry,
so I scored it with an x-acto
and mended it by adding slip.
This is basically very watered down clay
and acts like a glue for clay.
While making my 2nd wall hanging,
I realized that I just had to knead the clay
and add more water to it,
to get a better consistency.
I curved the dome to have a slight cone shape.
Next, set the clay aside to dry overnight.
I flipped it over every once in a while
to help the clay dry evenly.
For my tassel, I used extra pieces of macramé cord.
I cut 12 pieces at 6” and unravelled it.
I cut a piece of cotton string at about 42 1/2”.
I knotted it at the center of the macramé cords,
with 1 side having 6”.
With another piece of string, make a gathering knot.
To do this, form a u-shape with the extra string
and wrap it around all the cords.
I wrapped mine 7 times going down.
Place the end through the loop created.
Pull the top end,
so that the loop gets tucked under the wrapped part.
Then, cut both ends.
Next, I added a wooden bead
through both ends of the long piece of string.
Then, I cut the shorter end.
Double knot the string at the top of the bead.
Leave a gap and double knot the string.
Then, add the smallest clay piece
followed by a bead.
Add a gap and double knot the string again.
Add the next smallest clay piece
followed by a bead.
Repeat this until you reach the largest clay piece.
I tied a loop by the last knot.
I added the last clay piece
followed by a bead.
Then, knotted it.
Then, I trimmed the tassel.
For the 2nd wall hanging, I flattened the clay.
Then, I cut out a circle with an x-acto.
I halved it, creating a semicircle.
I made 2 different sizes of semicircles
and ended up with 5 pieces,
3 small semicircles and 2 bigger ones.
I added a hole near the top center of each piece.
Then, set it aside to dry overnight.
Flip it every once in a while to help the clay dry evenly.
Then, I made a tassel.
I cut a 49” piece of string to hang it.
But this time, I evenly knotted the string to the center.
The order that I made it was 2 small pieces
followed by a bigger piece,
another small piece,
and a bigger piece.
Add a bead to both ends of the string.
Next, insert 1 end of the string
through 1 side of the hole
and the other end through the other side.
I added tape to help me string it.
Then, add a bead
and continue adding a semicircle followed by a bead.
Before adding the last bead,
I formed a loop and made a double knot
above the clay piece.
Then, added the bead.
I cut the ends and covered the knot with the bead.
Then, knotted it.
Then, I trimmed the tassel
and here’s how they turned out.