Harvest Leaf Napkin Ring

These Harvest Leaf Napkin Rings from Gloria Uhler will add a beautiful touch to your Thanksgiving table. Made with simple clay and painted with the colors of fall, these lovely napkin rings are just the thing to help create a lovely table display. Don't want to paint them? Leave the napkin rings as is. Even as simple white leaves or feathers, these napkin rings are universal for any reason or season.

Clay napkin rings

Materials:

Sculpey Ultralight Clay
Leaf stencil
Rolling pin or cylinder for rolling clay smooth
Craft knife
Plastic spatula
Acrylic Paint (Red, Daisy, Dark Green)
Aztek airbrush
Foil covered cookie sheet
Wax paper
1.75” round metal cookie cutter or napkin ring

Instructions:

Cover your surface with wax paper. Break off a small fist size piece of clay to work with. Knead it a few minutes until it becomes a bit soft. Pull it into an oval shape about 1/4” thick. Place wax paper on top of the clay. My finished napkin ring measures 1.75” round, so I rolled my clay out to a length of about 5” to allow for joining the ends. Roll across the clay until it is the right size and the surface is smooth. Peel off the wax paper.
Place a leaf stencil on the clay followed by wax paper and roll across it to transfer the leaf impression.
Use a craft knife to cut the outline of the leaf.
With a plastic knife or spatula press into the leaf center to emphasize the stem. Don’t cut through the clay, just press lightly.
Use the spatula to lift the clay off the wax paper. Wrap the leaf around a 1.75” metal cookie cutter or a metal ovenproof napkin ring. To join the leaf, ress the smaller end over the larger end but don’t flatten it. Bend some of the jagged edges slightly forward to create an interesting look.
Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and bake the clay with the seam side down for 20 minutes at 275 degrees.
Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and allow the clay to completely cool.
To remove the cookie cutter, squeeze the leaf ring slightly. It will pull away from the metal cutter.