Terracotta Fairy Gardens

I’ve spent the last two days playing with terracotta pots and turning them into fairy gardens. I’m teaching Terracotta Fairy Gardens in Art Club in March. My policy is to make the project myself before I teach the kids how to do it.

I drew a couple of ideas in my sketch book and then chose to dive into the castle first. I painted the pot and then pressed the oven bake clay onto the painted surface. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when I baked it. I figured if all the stones fell off, I would grab the E-6000 glue and reapply them. So far they are staying attached. I’m not going to complain.

The second pot I put the white clay directly onto the the unpainted pot. It didn’t stick on. To be fair, the pieces of clay were bigger. So I’m not sure if it is a weight problem or the porous nature of the terracotta pot that made the difference. Probably the latter.

After the door and window openings were baked, I used E-6000 to glue them onto the pot and then painted the whole pot to make it look like it was made out of adobe. I really liked the effect and the result of painting the clay. I would have made more if I hadn’t run out of time and energy.

I took popsicle sticks to make doors and shutters and a ladder and then I watered down some Burnt Umber paint to give it a wash so it looks more like it is stained wood.

I might have done more fairy gardens if I hadn’t run out of pots and spent so much time on the details of the clothes line, the curtains, the sticks, the banners, etc on the second one. I was a lovely time. At the end of the process, I had brought in so many details to work with my desk hardly had room left for me to work.

Here’s a picture from the beginning of my day (it got more crowded as the day passed):