How to Make a Clay Pot Wreath

Brighten up your home throughout the year with this beautiful wreath made from a grapevine wreath form and clay pots. To add to the vintage appeal, the clay pots have also been distressed with paint for an aged patina. While the wreath looks great on the front door, it’s simply perfect for hanging outdoors — on a front gate, a fence, or even a tree — and filled with moss and succulents. Her’e tips how to make a clay pot wreath!

Things You’ll Need

Step 1: Paint the Clay Pots

Brand new clay pots look too perfect and sterile. To distress the clay pots so they will appear antique, apply a layer of chalk finish paint to the pots with a paint brush. Chalk paint is an acrylic paint that dries to a very matte finish similar to chalk, which is ideal for making objects look worn and vintage. You can find it at crafts stores and some hardware stores.

Tip

You don’t need an even coat of paint. In fact, the more uneven it is, the more vintage it will look in the long run.

Step 2: Sand the Pots

As soon as the paint dries (chalk paint sometimes dries within seconds, especially on clay), rub sandpaper on various spots to remove the paint. Sandpaper with grit in the range of 180 to 220 is ideal because it is abrasive enough to distress the finish, yet fine enough to keep most of the paint in tact.

Tip

You can layer additional coats of paint on top of the first and sand down the new layers to make the pot look even older, as if it were repainted several times through the years.

Step 3: Apply Cream Wax to Pots

Brush on some brown cream wax to the painted pots. Cream wax is sold next to the chalk paint in stores and is specially formulated to work with it. It looks like brown paint, but it is actually a stain and finishing wax. Don’t be afraid to brush it all over the pot.

Immediately after brushing it on, wipe the cream wax off with a rag. The wax will stain the pot, making it look like it’s been passed down for generations. Apply cream wax in a similar fashion to the insides of the pots as well.

Step 4: Run Wire Through Pots

Cut an approximately 30-inch piece of wire with scissors or wire cutters. I use a 24-gauge wire because it is thin and flexible, making it easier to twist. Run the wire through the hole in each pot so that that one end of the wire is on top of the clay pot and one end is at the bottom.

Step 5: Wrap Wire Around Grapevine Wreath

Position each pot where you want it on the grapevine wreath form and wrap the wire around it, with the top end of the wire going around the top and down, and the bottom end going around the bottom and up. Then twist the two ends together in the back of the wreath. For extra reinforcement, wrap the ends of the wire around the wreath one more time and twist the ends together.

Tip

Balance the wreath, both in terms of weight and aesthetics, by positioning similarly-sized pots opposite each other.

Step 6: Fill Some Pots With Moss

Add more visual interest to the wreath by filling some of the pots with Spanish moss, or any other type of moss you prefer. Some of your pots can remain empty, especially the ones which you’ve positioned upside down or tilting sideways.

Step 7: Plant Succulents in Some Pots

Place succulent plants in some of the upright pots for easy-care greenery.

Step 8: Hang the Wreath

Because of the twisting branches in the grapevine form, there is usually no need to add a hanging wire to the wreath. A nail or a hook will catch on one of the vines for a secure hold. Of course, test it first to make sure.

This sturdy clay pot wreath will lend beauty to your home for years — and eventually become vintage for real!

Source: Ehow (All images: Jonathan Fong)