Hand Print Mother's Day Dish

I saw a post weeks back where a women had used a crochet doily and imprinted it in clay and made it into a bowl.  I loved the idea and wanted to try it myself.  After making one and not being fully happy with it I changed the idea to make it into something more personal for me.

I made a small dish out of clay with my daughter's hand print in the middle and a special message that she picked out for me imprinted along the edge.  I made the bowl knowing it would be perfect for the snipped off ends from when I am crocheting and weaving in the ends.

These would make awesome Mother's Day gifts {hint hint dads! ;) } or even grandma gifts if you gift to grandmas on Mother's Day too. You could even gift something like this for other holidays like Christmas, birthdays, or any other special occasion. Handmade personal gifts rock! :)

For this project you will need:

Not pictured: 

E-ACTO Knife 

Bowl for resting your clay on and cutting around.  Pick a bowl that's lip is the size circle you want for your finished piece. 

Acrylic paint

Mod Podge to seal your finished dish.

Soft sandpaper block.

The clay I used was an air drying clay that you can pick up at your local craft store. 

The doily is optional, I took this photo when I made my first attempt at the doily imprinted one. 

Roll your clay out on your plastic mat or any other surface that you prefer.   We found that it didn't stick as bad on the plastic. You can roll it to your preference for thickness, we did it on the thin side {about 1/8 inch} so it would dry faster and not be weighted down when we draped it over a bowl.  

After you roll out your clay, you will place your bowl down onto your clay softly....DON'T PUSH IT DOWN.  You are just using it for a template.  Take your E-ACTO knife and run it along the bowl, cutting your circle shape into your clay as you go. 

Lift up bowl and pull off your left over clay. 

 Your edges will be rough, that's okay.  Once its dry you will use a soft sandpaper block on the edges to smooth it out. 

Have your little one press their hand into the clay, not too hard but enough to get an imprint.  You can do a quick check by peaking under one of their fingers. :)  Use the ABC stamps to imprint your special message. 

Rest your clay over your bowl, hand print side down.  You will want to let it dry for a few days.  After an initial overnight drying I turned it right side up in the morning so the hand print side could fully dry.  Then I let it sit and dry for another two days to make sure it was fully dry. 

Rub the edges with a soft sandpaper block to smooth them out.  We did this outside so that clay dust didn't get every where.  You can wear a face mask if you want to be 100% that you don't breathe any of the dust in. 

Once dry, have your child paint it in a color of their choosing.  

Let the paint dry for a few hours. 

Paint on a layer of Mod Podge for a sealer coat. 

Admire your fabulous and unique dish that will forever keep a memory of your little one's hand. 

 I tagged the photo with the wrong name using my etsy store handle, still 100% me :)

If I do something like this again, which I probably will for another hand print keepsake,  I would press her hand down a little harder to get a more defined imprint.  

Its a easy, unique, one of a kind gift that will be treasured for many years to come. 

Every time I use this dish it makes me smile. <3