Easy Techniques to Paint Clay Flower Pots with Foam Stamp Kits

Clay flower pots are still one of the most affordable flower pots on the market. Natural clay is attractive in its rustic and earthy state, but paint can change it to match the interior decor of your home. Ordinary clay flower pots can be transformed into works of art with foam stamp kits, acrylic paints or glazes and ordinary latex house paint.

Clay flower pots are easy to find at most stores and are inexpensive. They're available in a wide variety of styles and sizes to suit almost any indoor gardening need. Multi-purpose clay flower pots come in sizes large enough for indoor trees and small enough for those adorable miniature African violets.

Foam stamps (also called foam blocks) can help anyone paint beautiful designs on clay flower pots and other home decor items. They're available at most craft stores. Best of all, the soft foam stamps are durable, user friendly, washable and reusable. The foam's flexibility is especially helpful on the curved surface of the clay pots. Foam stamps can be used with any water-based acrylic paints or glazes.

Each foam stamp kit has several pop-out foam pieces. These can readily be mixed and matched with different kits. This really makes it easy to create a customized look. The clay pots in the photographs were painted with foam stamp kits by Plaid.

Helpful tips for using foam stamps:

Moisten the stamps with water before using. When you're ready to stamp, apply paint to the foam stamps with a small artist's brush or triangular cosmetic sponge. The paint coverage starts somewhat opaque but gets more translucent with each placement of the stamp. They're meant to be stamped with several times before reloading with paint.

More than one color of paint can be applied on the stamp at the same time. Practice by stamping on a piece of paper or paper towel to get the look you want. If you don't like it, wash the stamp and start over.

The foam stamps need to be kept moist during the painting process. Wash them often or use a layer of wet paper towels to lay the stamps on between uses. This keeps them damp and also removes excess paint.

Be sure to wash the stamps before any of the paint dries on the foam. With proper care, the high quality foam will last indefinitely. If you can't wash the stamp immediately, let it soak paint-side-down in water because they do float! Then gently rub the paint off the foam. A cloth or even a soft brush can be used to gently remove imbedded paint in the crevices.

Directions for the clay pot with burgundy grapes

Supplies:

Plaid Grape Design Block Kit

8 " clay pot

household paint brush (I used a 4" trim brush)

artist fine line paint brush

cream latex house paint

2 or 3 shades of green glazes, burgundy, white and dark brown glazes

clear acrylic sealer (opt.)

1. Start with a clean, dry and preferably new clay flower pot. For the largest clay pot in the photo, I used interior latex house paint in cream as a base coat. Place the large clay pot on top of a smaller clay pot or an aluminum can. This makes it easier to paint the bottom half of the pot. Allow the base coat of paint to dry completely before starting the grape design.

2. The burgundy grapes were painted with the foam stamp circles that came in the stamp kit as a base. I then used a small artist's brush and white glaze applied over the wet burgundy glaze to add depth and highlights. After the grapes are dry, add additional highlights as desired.

3. The grape leaves were applied using foam stamps and various shades of green acrylic glaze. When using more than one shade on a light-color background, use the darkest green first and finish with the lightest green to add highlights. Add additional highlights and lowlights freehand if desired. (see photo.)

4. The grapevine was painted freehand with dark brown acrylic glaze. Don't worry about perfection. You can do it!

5. Allow the grape design to dry, then speckle the entire surface very lightly with the dark brown glaze using an old toothbrush. Allow to dry.

6. Finish the clay pot with a clear acrylic sealer if desired.

Directions for the clay pot with green grapes

Supplies::

Plaid Grape Design Block Kit

6" clay pot

paint brushes

cream latex house paint,

2 or 3 shades of green glaze, dark brown and white glaze

clear acrylic sealer

1. Part of the natural beauty of the clay shows with this style. Only the rim of the clay pot is painted in the same cream color interior latex house paint that was used on the first clay pot. Allow to dry.

2. Apply the grapes and/or leaves to the cream rim using the same technique as the first pot starting with dark green glaze and finishing with the light green glaze.

3.This step is opposite because the green grapes and grape leaves are applied on the bare clay. This time start with the lightest shade of green to give the darker green glaze a base coat. If not, the dark green glaze is barely visible on the clay surface. The same applies when painting the green grapes. Start with the lightest color glaze and build the color with the darker glazes.

4. Apply the vines and tendrils freehand with a small artist's brush. Allow to dry completely.

5. Apply 2 or 3 coats of clear sealer over the entire surface of the clay pot, allowing it to dry thoroughly between coats.

Directions for the clay pot with herbs and checkerboard rim

Supplies:

Plaid Herb Design Block Kit

1" square piece cut from the extra foam in the kit,

6" clay pot

paint rag or other lint free rag

latex house paint in a very light neutral shade (beige, almond, cream, etc.)

beige, dark brown and green glazes

clear acrylic sealer (opt.)

1. Use the paint rag and rub the latex paint over the entire surface of the clay pot. The coverage will be sheer allowing some of the clay to show through. Allow to dry

2. Use the 1" square and the beige glaze to apply the dark portion of the checkerboard squares on the rim, allowing the base coat to show in every other square. This forms the checkerboard.

3. Randomly apply the herb leaves and stems to the bottom of the pot with green glaze

4. Use the dark brown glaze on the foam stamp that resembles a seed head in a random pattern.(see photo.) Allow to dry completely.

5. Finish the clay pot with clear acrylic sealer if desired.