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Ideas For DIY

Easy Homemade Pottery: Make Your Own Stylish Decor Using Polymer and Air-Dry Clay

by

Creating amazing clay home décor doesn’t require a pottery studio. Following DIY pro-Francesca Stone’s easy, step-by-step techniques for working with air-dry and polymer clay, readers can craft contemporary accents for every room. These clays are affordable and easy to find, and only a few tools are required to create artisan quality home décor and gifts. This book covers everything readers need to know, including rolling and cutting the clay and adding creative patterns and textures. All final pieces can be air-dried or baked in a home oven. Featuring up-to-date, natural colors, these projects are deceptively easy and effortlessly chic.

Readers can personalize their home with useful, handmade items like coasters, candle holders and book ends, which make creative use of geometric patterns and shapes. It’s fun to get creative with home accents such as nesting dishes, floral platters, and even a mobile. With wall planters and hanging planters, readers can create unique homes for their many houseplants. This is the perfect primer to start making beautiful clay pieces at home, and get that handmade ceramic look without the expense and mess of studio pottery.

This book will have 40 projects, and 40 photos plus step-by-step images. You can purchase this book here.

If you are in Australia Kmart Air drying clay is also great for beginners.

Have you read?

DIY Giant Eyeball Lanterns – Creepy Halloween Decoration

When it comes to Halloween, bigger is always better—and these giant eyeball lanterns prove it! With nothing more than plain white paper lanterns, a little paint, and some imagination, you can create huge, spooky eyes that look like they’ve popped right out of a monster movie.

They’re perfect for hanging from ceilings, displaying on porches, or grouping together in a corner for an eerie effect. Best of all, paper lanterns are super inexpensive (you can grab them on eBay, Amazon, or even your local dollar store), which makes this a great budget-friendly craft for big impact Halloween décor.

Supplies You’ll Need

  • Large round white paper lanterns (various sizes look best) 
  • Acrylic paints or craft paints in black, brown, green, red, orange, or blue (for irises) 
  • Wide paintbrush for background color 
  • Small paintbrush for details 
  • Black construction paper or cardstock (optional for spiky “lashes” or accents) 
  • Hot glue gun or strong craft glue 
  • String or fishing line (if you want to hang them) 

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Prep the Lanterns

  1. Assemble your white paper lanterns according to the package directions. 
  2. Make sure they’re fully open and the wire insert is in place so the surface is taut for painting. 

Step 2: Paint the Iris

  1. Using a wide brush, paint a large circle in the center of the lantern to create the iris. 
  2. Choose spooky colors—green, red, orange, or blue work wonderfully. 
  3. Don’t worry about making it perfectly smooth; streaks and uneven textures add to the eerie, organic look. 

Step 3: Add the Pupil

  1. Once the iris paint is dry, use black paint to fill in the pupil at the very center. 
  2. Make it large enough to stand out against the iris. 

Step 4: Detail the Eye

  • Use a smaller brush to add darker or lighter streaks in the iris for a more realistic effect. 
  • You can even add thin vein lines in red around the iris to give it that bloodshot look. 

Step 5: Optional Spiky Lashes

  1. Cut long triangles from black construction paper or cardstock. 
  2. Glue them around one side of the lantern so they stick out like sharp monster eyelashes. 
  3. This makes the eyeballs look even more monstrous and stylized. 

Step 6: Display Your Giant Eyeballs

  • Hanging: Use string or fishing line to suspend them from ceilings, trees, or porch rafters so they look like floating eyeballs. 
  • Stacked: Place them in corners, along stairs, or even grouped on your lawn for a spooky display. 
  • Tabletop: Use them as oversized Halloween party props. 

Tips & Variations

  • Glowing Eyes: Insert battery-powered LED lights into the lanterns so they glow from the inside. 
  • Rainbow Eyes: Mix up the colors and make a whole rainbow of creepy eyes. 
  • Monster Cluster: Group multiple eyeballs together in different sizes for a scarier effect. 

This DIY Giant Eyeball Lantern craft is quick, cheap, and gives you maximum Halloween spook factor with minimal effort. Whether you make one or a whole creepy collection, your haunted house setup will definitely be eye-catching!