How to Make Clay Disco Snails
Disco what?! Disco snails! Have fun following our step-by-step tutorial to make these adorable clay snails with a shiny disco ball shell. It's an easy clay craft for kids, teens, and adults, and you can personalize the colour and design!
Yield: 1 disco snail
Cost: $2
Instructions
Step 1: Find what you need
- Gather your supplies and materials.
Step 2: Shape the snail
- Condition a piece of air dry clay by squishing it and rolling it into a ball.Then roll it into a thick coil or "snake". We rolled this one to about 3-1/2 inches long and about 1/2 inch thick, but you can make whatever size of snail you'd like.
- Pinch one end of the coil to make it a bit more pointed. This will be the tail.Dip your fingers in water if you need to smooth out any cracks or creases.
- Then, on the opposite end of the coil, pinch 2 little triangles. These will be the tentacles on the top of the snail's head (where their eyes are!).
- Even out the triangle shapes and ensure there's a rounded dip between them.
- Smooth out the head area and the tentacles so there aren't any creases or cracks.We found it helpful to use a silicone brush for precision, but you can also use your fingertips and a bit of water.
- Now bend the snail so it's sitting upright. Place the disco ball on the snail temporarily to get the perfect angle for the shell.Then brace the snail against the side of a bowl to keep it in the proper position.Allow to dry 24 hours. Then flip over so the bottom can dry and wait another 24 hours.
Step 3: Paint and seal the snail
- Once the clay is completely dry, brush on a coat of acrylic paint.You'll probably want to do this in 2 stages -- painting the top first and allowing to dry before painting the bottom.
- If necessary, add a second coat of paint all over the snail. (Again, doing it in stages.)
- For the front of the snail we recommend mixing a small amount of your snail colour of paint (purple, for us) into some white paint.This tints the white paint just enough to remove the starkness and helps it match the snail better.
- Paint the front and most of the bottom of the snail with this colour.Make the painted area rounded at the top, going up to about 1/4 inch below the tentacles.Again, allow to dry, and add a second coat, if needed.
- Once the base paint is dry, choose a complementary colour of paint.Use a dotting tool (or several sizes of dotting tools) to add a design to the front (where the light paint was just added).Allow to dry completely.
- Optional: Seal the clay by brushing on a thin coat of glossy Mod Podge.Allow to dry.
Step 4: Attach the disco ball shell
- Choose a size of disco ball that will fit on your snail. We're using a 1-1/2 inch ball here.Keep reading below the tutorial for more info on where to get mini disco balls.
- Add hot glue or tacky glue to the bottom of the disco ball.
- Attach the disco ball as the snail's shell, placing it by the curve.
- Your disco snail is complete!
- Have fun making a whole group of colourful snails in different sizes!You can use soothing pastel colours for more demure snails, or embrace the party and use bright rainbow shades -- it's all up to you.
Video
Notes
Looking for more cool clay crafts? Here's a few of our favourites:
Clay Mushrooms
Mini Clay Pie
DIY Clay Cactus