Minimalist contemporary art from "faux pebbles"

I'm sure you've seen the adorable pebble art that is wildly available around. I decided to make my version of it and DIY contemporary art "faux pebbles" from... wait for it...

Clay!

It was such a fun little project. Perfect for a cold winter day when I can't get into my garage and make something from wood. Also, this week my kids are off from pre-school due to Covid and I felt to make this art would be a perfect project for such a week.

And it's so easy to make. It's also very budget-friendly and could be customized to the interior of your home.

So let's dive in and see what you need for this project.

Materials

Air dry clay
Frame
Textured board
Acrylic paint
Brushes
E6000 glue
Pen and paper

Instructions

Step 1. Prepare the frame

I used a frame that I found in Goodwill for this project but you can use any decent frame that you find at home. Or, if you feel adventurous, make your own frame. I made one for the pinboard and you can read a full tutorial on it here.

How to make a pinboard with butterflies from epoxy

First, prepare your frame. Take a textured board (or in my case I used a drawing paper since I like the texture and it was the only paper in the right size). Take out the backing board and add white paper on display. I removed the glass from the frame since we'll be making 3-D art.

Put it aside.

PIN IT TO MAKE LATER

Step 2. Draw a template

Take a piece of paper and draw shapes on it. I wanted my art to be in the middle and have a lot of negative space. But you can also cover the whole frame with it. It would also look good, but different.

I chose simple geometrical shapes for this project - circles, squares, etc. but let your imagination go wild.

Step 2. Make pebbles from clay

I used air-dry clay but you can also use oven-baked clay. It depends on your preferences. I like the texture of air dry clay so I went with it.

Take a small piece of clay and make a ball out of it. Smooth out all the wrinkles and cracks. You can use water to smooth it out. When you have a perfect ball, shape it according to the shapes that you chose.

The hardest part was to make those cutout shapes. For them I used a clay cutting knife, making sure to smooth all the edges.

All of the shapes are approximately ½" thick. But you can also make them more or less flat.

When you finish making all the shapes, let the clay dry. I left mine for 24 hours.

When I got back it wasn't fully dried but it still was dry enough to move to the next step.

Step 4. Paint the pebbles

In the end, we have these "faux pebbles" that we can either leave the way they are or paint. Of course, I chose colors and decided to paint them in these soft pastel colors.

I used my favorite acrylic paints which I use for most of my projects. Here are also my "go-to" brushes that I always use.

Paint the edges of the pebbles and the top. And then let's move to the next step.