Woven Clay Check Mitten Ornament

Instructions

1. Lay a sheet of parchment paper on your work surface and knead the clay to get it soft. Do the colors separately and use separate sheets of parchment paper, too, for each color. The color clay bleeds. After kneading clay, lay another sheet of parchment paper on top.

2. Roll out the clay using a rolling pin into the largest piece possible.

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3. Using a pizza cutter, begin cutting 1/2" strips.

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4. You can only get so many strip from 1.7 ounces of clay - six to be exact. Group the same color strips together. The pieces should be large enough when grouped together to accommodate the mitten cookie cutter.

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5. To weave the strips: Starting with the green strips, lift every other strip and fold it gently back.

6. Place a strip of red horizontal across the green flat strips, then bring the folded strips back down.

7. Do the same thing for the next row, alternating strips, lifting every other strip and folding them gently back, and then placing a strip down over the flat strips.

8. Continue following the same steps for each row folding the strips back repeating the pattern of laying a strip down horizontal until all the strips are woven together.

9. Then lay parchment paper on top and gently roll the strips with a rolling pin to make the weave tighter.

10. Next, place the mitten cookie cutter down on the woven clay and cut out the mitten, removing the excess clay from around the cookie cutter.

11. Then, roll out a small section of white clay and use just the cuff of the cooke cutter to cut out and place on the bottom of the clay mitten. Press down to seal the pieces together.

12. Use the flat end of a skewer stick to fluff up the white clay to mimic a fur cuff.

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13. And finally, use the skewer stick to make a hole in the middle of the cuff for hanging.

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