Make It: Clay Trinket Dishes and Palettes
Follow along with this tutorial by Gazoo Studio on YouTube
Ever wanted to make your own mini clay dishes or palettes for paint, jewellery, or little keepsakes? This project is a great way to start working with clay — no kiln or baking needed.
In this video tutorial by Gazoo Studio, you’ll learn how to shape, smooth and decorate your own set of trinket dishes using air-dry clay. It’s a relaxing, hands-on process that you can do from home with just a few simple materials.
What is air-dry clay?
Air-dry clay is a soft, mouldable material that hardens naturally when left out to dry — no oven or kiln needed. That makes it perfect for people who want to experiment with clay or anyone without access to a pottery studio. You can smooth, paint and seal it once it’s dry, and it’s a great way to explore hand-building techniques.
This is different from traditional ceramic clay, which needs to be fired at high temperatures in a kiln to become solid and waterproof. Fired pottery is more durable, but it’s a bigger process and usually needs a studio setup.
How pots are made — beyond hand-building
In this project, you’ll be using hand-building techniques, which simply means shaping clay with your hands and basic tools — no wheel required. But in pottery, there are a few other methods you might want to explore:
- Throwing: using a potter’s wheel to shape clay while it spins
- Slip casting: pouring liquid clay into moulds
- Press moulding: pressing clay into a form to shape it
Hand-building is a great way to start — it’s simple, creative, and doesn’t require much equipment.
If you enjoy working with air-dry clay, it could be the start of something bigger — or a new direction for what you’re already doing. Clay skills feed into all kinds of creative work, from ceramics and sculpture to prop-making, product design, jewellery and more. Whether you’re building a portfolio, growing a small business, or just experimenting with new materials, exploring different clay techniques can open up fresh ideas and opportunities.
