How I Made This Folded Poppy Dish

I made this folded poppy dish out of clay, these stencils, and this cutter, and here’s how!

Products I Used

If you want to make one like this, here are the products I used:

• Poppy Love Stencil Set 

• Folded Dish Cutter

• AMACO ceramic ink / underglaze

Step 1: Roll out and smooth the slab

I started by rolling out a slab of clay and then I use a rib to smooth it out to get rid of any uneven texture. I like to start with a nice clean surface so the print goes on well.

Step 2: Print the background layer

For this project, I used the Poppy Love stencil set from EZScreenPrint. It comes with a background pattern, a midground polka dot texture, and of course the poppy stencils.

I started by printing the background pattern first in a light green color. I used a sponge on a stick to push ceramic ink from AMACO through the stencil onto the clay. You can also use your fingers or a rib to push the ink through. If you don't have the inks from AMACO, you can also use thickened underglaze!

One of the nice things about these stencils is that they’re reusable, so you can pick them up and print with them again as many times as you want.

Step 3: Add the midground texture

Next I added the light blue polka dot layer for the midground texture. I just covered the slab however I liked. There’s really no right or wrong with this process, which is one of the things I like about it.

You can layer things pretty freely and just see what looks good as you go.

Step 4: Let things dry a little if needed

Sometimes between layers you might need to let the clay dry a little bit, or use a hairdryer to help speed it up. That just helps keep things from getting too smeary as you build up the design.

Step 5: Print the poppies

The last layer was the poppy flowers.

Same as before, I laid the stencil down and used a sponge to push red ink through the stencil for the flower petals. Then I used black ink for the flower centers.

That final layer is always the fun part because everything starts to come together.

Step 6: Rinse out the stencils

Once I was done printing, I rinsed out the stencils so they’d be ready to go next time. If you let the underglaze dry too much in the stencils they can be trickier to clean out, so I try not to let them sit for too long before I rinse them. 

Step 7: Cut out the dish shape

Once the slab was printed, it was time to turn it into a dish.

I like to lay a piece of plastic wrap over the slab and then use the cutter on top of that. The plastic wrap helps round the edges a little, which means less cleanup later.

After cutting through, I peeled away the excess clay.

Step 8: Score, slip, and fold

Next I scored and slipped the edges of the tabs on the clay.

Then I folded those scored edges up over each other and pressed them together.

Step 9: Finished!

Simple as that, I took a printed slab and turned it into a fun folded dish.

I really like this kind of project because it’s a simple form, but the layered stencil printing gives it so much personality.

What do you think?