Family members love receiving handprint art and crafts that kids can make. A DIY marbled clay jewelry dish or ring bowl keepsake craft makes a unique homemade gift idea that kids can make for an upcoming birthday, Christmas, Mother’s Day, or Father’s Day.
Related: Four Season Handprint and Fingerprint Tree
Related: Fingerprint Art Glass Magnets
How to Make a Handprint Art Jewelry Dish Keepsake Craft
These clay handprint art jewelry dishes and ring bowls were inspired by these clay ring dishes by A beautiful mess. Instead of making the clay jewelry bowls round like they did, I decided to make them into the shape of my daughter’s handprint. Her grandparents are going to love them!
The necklace in the jewelry dish is a drawing of my daughters that I had made into a necklace. For more information about kid’s art jewelry click HERE!
Another fun idea is to have your child make a beaded mom necklace to complete the gift.
Related: Shell Frames with Handprint Art Keepsake Craft
Handprint Art Jewelry Dish Keepsake Craft Materials
- Polyform clay assorted Colors & White
- Rolling pin or polyform Sculpey acrylic clay roller
- Precision glass cutting mat
- X-acto Knife or clay tools
- Child’s hand
- Cardstock or paper
- Pencil
- Bake safe bowl
- Acrylic metallic paint
- Paintbrush
- Oven bake clay bond and glaze pack (optional)
Related: Thumbprint Art Glass Magnets
Handprint Art Jewelry Dish Keepsake Craft Step By Step Tutorial
Step 1 – Make Handprint Art Template
Trace your child’s hand. It is a lot easier (and safer) to trace a handprint art template to cut the clay with an Exacto-knife than your child’s real hand.
We used cardstock to have a sturdy template to use over and over again, but you can also use regular paper. It’s almost impossible to trace your child’s hand perfectly, clean up the lines until you like the shape and then cut it out.
You only need to trace one hand. You can flip it to either side to make a left or right-handed jewelry dish.
Related: Hand and Footprint Heart Keepsake Gift
Step 2 – Check Out the Ring Dishes Made by A Beautiful Mess
The ring bowls by A Beautiful Mess were the inspiration for our handprint art marbled clay jewelry dishes. We started out using their directions and then played with mixing the clays in different ways to get different effects. We have come up with a few additional tips below.
- Select a few colors and roll them into differently sized snakes (thin vs thick) to vary the effect.
- A tiny bit of black clay added into the mix really gives them the best look with or without the gray.
- To get a super marbled swirly look, roll your mixed ball of clay into a snake again. Next, fold it in half and twist it up super tight AGAIN!
- Reuse the scraps from two or more dishes to make another dish. Roll the scraps from each dish into one or more snakes and then twist them together. You can even add in some extra clay of any color if you like.
- Make them as thick as you can. Jewelry dishes and ring bowls that are made too thin are extremely fragile.
Step 3 – Roll Out Marbled Polyform Clay and Trace Handprint Art Template
- Roll your twisted marbled clay into a ball and use a rolling pin to flatten.
- Place your hand template on top and cut it out using clay tools or an x-acto knife. (Note: This step should be completed by an adult.)
We used a precision glass cutting mat for rolling out and cutting our hand-shaped ring dishes. We love using it to protect our tables and counters from stains and cuts, and it is also great for using as a painting pallet.
Step 4 – Bake Handprint Art Jewelry Dish Keepsake Craft
Place the clay handprint art into an oven safe bowl and bake according to the polyform clay manufacturer’s directions. We cooked ours for 15-20 minutes @275 degrees.
Step 5 – Allow Handprint Art Marbled Clay Jewelry Dish to Cool
Allow all of the handprint art jewelry dishes to cool completely before moving on to the next step.
Step 6 – Paint the Rim of the Handprint Art Jewelry Dish and Ring Bowl
Use a small brush to paint acrylic metallic paint around the rim of each handprint art jewelry dish or ring bowl and allow to dry. Have a wet rag close by to keep the marble clay ring dish clean as you work.
Step 7 – (optional) Use glaze to seal and protect Marbled Clay Handprint Art Jewelry Dish
Use a glaze in the glaze pack to seal and protect your handprint art jewelry dish if desired.
Related: Fingerprint Flower Glass Magnets
Handprint Art Jewelry Dish or DIY Ring Bowl Keepsake Gift Idea
Handprint art jewelry dishes and DIY ring bowls make gorgeous gifts that kids can make for family and friends with a little help from a caregiver. Complete the gift with any of the easy ideas below!
Give the gift of kids artwork on a necklace, bracelet or keychain!
The necklace in the hand on the left and in the hand below is a drawing of my daughters that I had made into a necklace. For more information about kid’s art jewelry click HERE! Another idea is to invite your child make a mom necklace or mother-daughter set!
Other beautiful ideas to gift with a handprint art jewelry dish:
- Disc necklace with birthstones
- Two circle pendant necklace
- Personalized family necklace
- Personalized name necklace
- Delicate name rings
A marbled clay jewelry dish keepsake makes a unique gift idea that friends and family will love.
Even more gorgeous gift ideas can be found in this awesome collection of handmade gift ideas kids can make!
Learn more about Rhythms of Play HERE!
If You Liked Handprint Art Ring Bowls, You may also like:
- Keepsake Gift Ideas
- Favorite Things Gift Ideas for Mom
- Four Season Handprint and Fingerprint Tree
- Fingerprint Art Glass Magnet Keepsake Craft
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How much clay does it take for each hand?
Good question Carla. You’ll need a small handful for each hand. Do you best to keep the hand at least 1/4 inch thick. If it is too thin it will easily break. I hope that helps!
I absolutely love this idea for a mother’s day project for the kiddos. I have watched multiple YouTube “how to” videos and I don’t see why the adhesive is necessary in this project. I bought the three pack glaze as suggested but I’m left thinking of how to incorporate the adhesive. Is it in case we add bling?
Yes, Adriana, the only use for it is to add bling. You don’t really need it for this project. We found it useful for making snowman ornaments to make sure the twig arms stuck and the carrot nose stayed put.