Clay conversation hearts are the sweetest Valentine’s Day craft! These colourful little hearts are so much fun to make, and you can customize them with your favorite sayings, Valentine’s themed words, or even the names of your loved ones. These clay hearts are the perfect personalized Valentine’s Day clay craft!
Gift them to friends, decorate your desk, or use them as cute Valentine’s Day party decor. This craft is simple enough for beginners and also enjoyable for seasoned crafters. Get ready to spread the love, one heart at a time!
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How to Make Clay Conversation Hearts
Equipment:
- Clay roller (or rolling pin)
Watch the step-by-step video tutorial:
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
- Gather your supplies and materials.
Step 2: Make the clay hearts
- Cover your surface with parchment paper or plastic wrap to stop the clay from sticking.Break off a 2 inch ball of air dry clay. Condition the ball of clay, squeezing it in your hands until it’s soft.
- Roll out the clay to 1/2 inch thick. We used a clay roller, but a regular rolling pin works too.
- Push a small heart-shaped cookie cutter into the clay. Our cookie cutter is about 1 inch in size.
- Lift the cookie cutter straight up and gently push the clay heart out.
- Repeat to make a second heart (or however many you’d like).
- Dip your fingertip in water and smooth out the edges and surface of the hearts.
Step 3: Add lettering
- Use small alphabet stamps to press words into the clay hearts.
- Allow the clay to dry overnight.
Step 4: Paint the clay hearts
- Apply a small amount of acrylic paint over the letters on the heart.
- Wipe the paint off with a paper towel. Paint should stay in the imprinted letters and get mostly removed from the flat surface of the heart. Let the paint dry.
- Repeat, adding a different colour to the second heart.Paint one heart at a time, adding paint to one and wiping it off before moving to the next. Otherwise, too much paint may stay in place as it dries.
- Add a wet paintbrush to watercolour paint that matches the acrylic paint and mix it around to get colour on your brush.
- Paint all the surfaces of the clay heart with watercolour paint – front, sides, and back.
- Repeat, using a different colour on the second heart. Allow the paint to dry.
- Your clay conversation hearts are complete!
Helpful Tips:
- You can easily whip up a batch of these conversation hearts instead of making just 2. Simply roll out a larger amount clay and cut as many hearts from it as will fit. Then, re-roll the leftover clay and cut some more until you have no clay left.
- You can use any size cookie cutter for this craft, depending how big or small you’d like your conversation hearts to be. Be sure to consider the size of your letter stamps when choosing a heart size. If the heart is small and the letter stamps big, you won’t be able to fit many letters on the heart.
Do I have to use 2 different types of paint for my air dry clay hearts?
You don’t have to use 2 different types of paint, but if you’re only using 1, we recommend using the acrylic paint, as it will show up darker in the imprinted letters than the watercolour.
We chose the watercolour paint for the surface painting because of its transparency. But a transparent or semi-opaque acrylic paint can be diluted to a similar consistency. You may want to thin the acrylic paint with an acrylic glazing medium instead of water, to make sure the paint adheres well to the clay.
Do I have to paint my clay hearts the same colour as the lettering?
You don’t have to paint your clay conversation hearts the same colour as the lettering, but we recommend the lettering be a darker colour than the heart.
As you paint the heart, some of the paint will get into the imprinted letters, which may change the colour of the lettering. If your lettering is darker than the heart colour, it won’t affect the letter colouring as much.
Where can I find metal letter stamps for my clay valentines?
Our metal stamps came from a stamping kit designed for punching into leather, but they work well for lots of other crafts, including imprinting on clay. Our letter stamps are about 6mm tall.
These clay conversation hearts are an adorable way to craft a little love for Valentine’s Day! These colorful creations can be displayed in a dish, gifted as thoughtful keepsakes, or even turned into playful magnets.
However you use them, they’re sure to add a heartfelt touch to your celebrations and bring smiles all around!
Here’s even more Valentine’s Day craft ideas:
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon Canada
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