Add elegance and texture to your Christmas tree by making these woodgrain tree ornaments.
This post was originally published in 2011 and updated in 2019.
These woodgrain tree ornaments are by far my favorite ornaments on the Christmas tree. I love the texture that the woodgrain stamp adds to the clay! For the original ornaments, I used a salt dough recipe, which is included in this post. I made the salt dough trees in 2011 and they still look beautiful eight years later. For the update, I recreated these ornaments using air-dry clay, which also turned out gorgeous!
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I’ve been seeing a lot of salt dough ornaments on the internet lately and I have to admit, they look a lot cooler than they did when I was in kindergarten. Lots of shapes, different kinds of paint and texturizing with rubber stamps. Salt dough is super easy and cheap to make and most likely you have all the ingredients necessary in your kitchen.
It’s no secret around here that I love woodgrain. It just looks so..natural. So I decided to combine the two and make some woodgrain textured ornaments. This large woodgrain rubber stamp is fantastic and leaves a great imprint on the clay!
Woodgrain Tree Clay Ornaments
Materials
Instructions
- Lay wax paper out on flat surface.
- Grab a handful of clay and knead between hands so that it becomes warm and more pliable.
- Roll out clay evenly to about 1/4 inch thickness.
- Press woodgrain stamp into the clay to leave an impression, making sure to press evenly in the middle and all sides. If it doesn't stamp evenly the first time, go over with the rolling pin and smooth it out and try again.
- If your cookie cutter is larger than the woodgrain stamp, you can overlap the stamped area to increase the woodgrain impression.
- Press your cookie cutter into the clay. Do not remove.
- Use the coffee straw to make a hole at the top of the tree.
- Remove the extra surrounding clay from the cookie cutter.
- Gently remove the cookie cutter.
- Use a damp finger to smooth any rough edges.
- If using air-dry clay, take tree ornament and let dry on a flat surface. To prevent edges from lifting up, flip ornament on to other side every few hours.
Notes
If using salt dough, the ornaments can be placed on a cookie sheet in the oven for a couple hours at 200°, turning them over every 30 minutes or so. Then leave them out overnight. The ornaments take a couple days to completely dry.
DO NOT PUT AIR DRY CLAY IN THE OVEN. It will ruin the ornament and could be flammable.
Recommended Products
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Christmas Ornament Ideas
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Shrink Plastic Christmas Ornaments
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Mini Poinsettia Hoop Wreath Ornament
These sculpted clay poinsettias on a small hoop looks gorgeous hanging from the tree!
Jingle Bell Mini Wreath
Jingle away with this easy to make jingle bell wreath ornament.
Sculpted Clay Poinsettias
These dramatic sculpted clay poinsettias are gorgeous on a tree or wreath or just by themselves!
Icy Tree Branch Decor with Hand Glittered Ornaments
Glitter the inside of your ornaments with this fun tutorial!
Gold Leaf Teardrop Ornament
Use gold leaf to add dramatic flair to your tree!
Pin This For Later
Making salt dough ornaments even as I write. I’m really wishing I had that woodgrain stamp after seeing this! Very nice!
I love that these are so simple modern and cute! I would love you to share them at The Corson Cottage for our {Home for the Holidays} link party ~ Carrie
http://thecorsoncottage.blogspot.com/2011/12/home-for-holidays-link-party-features.html
Loving these! That wood grain stamp could have so may neat uses, thanks for sharing!
Your “neighbor” at Tatertots and Jello,
Miranda @http://ohboyohjoy.blogspot.com/
I’m glad you left them white! These are so simple and elegant! Love!
I’m also glad that you left it white. This was a great use for your stamp! This is a really easy yet beautiful craft.
Clicked over from Swapbot to see if you had posted about how you made your great ornaments! What a neat technique. I’m definitely going to have to try some stamped clay ornaments myself. Thanks!
This looks awesome! Great idea!
You are my kind of Christmas crafting genius. 🙂
So glad I found your project via Centsational Girl.
I would love for you to visit DTA as I am in the midst of a “Gifts You Can Make” series.
Be merry and bright!
I love the whole woodgrain trend and your simple woodgrain Christmas decorations are fantastic.
love it
Adding the woodgrain to the clay was such a great idea. I really love how these turned out!
These are so cute! Great job … pinning them for next year 🙂
What a GREAT use of that stamp!! I love this. Thanks SO much for sharing it at the Winter Wonderland party over at my place!!
Featured on my facebook page!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Igottacreate/100573240032625?sk=wall
<3
That is such a neat idea to use the woodgrained stamp to add more dimension to your salt dough ornaments. Pinned.
These turned out great! I love the wood grain!
This is so cool! I love the idea of using a wood grain stamp to give clay some interest. Will have to add the stamp to my craft tools.. Pinned.
I’m wondering how durable salt dough clay is. Would it be durable enough to bubble wrap and send in the mail for example? I have not had much luck with air dry clay. Is the salt dough clay more durable than air dry clay?
I know when I first made the salt dough version years ago, I mailed one and it handled just fine. I still have one, that has held up over the years, so it can’t hurt to try.
Hello, Where did you get the little tiny heart cut out at? Very nice I’m going to attempt these.😀
I found it on Amazon. It’s a cookie cutter for pie crusts.