How to make a Pinch Pot Heart

Easy Pinch Pot Hearts ideal for Valentine’s Day or as a lovely Mother’s Day Gift idea too! It compliments our existing set of Creative Pinch Pot Ideas for Kids and beginners. Pinch pots are a super fun way to explore the world of air drying clay and try out a new medium. They are great for dexterity and finger strengthening, as are all air drying clay projects here.

To make Pinch Pots you will need:

Air Drying Clay
Acrylic paints
Glitter (optional)
Paint pens (optional)

We like to buy clay in bulk – and usually get clay like this:

(affiliate links added for convenience)

grey clay (US/ UK) (the best for buying in bulk)
terracotta clay (US / UK) (great for earthy projects)

But this white clay is also popular

white air drying clay (US/ UK) (a lovely clay for when you want that clean white finish without painting, however it is MUCH more expensive and therefor best for small projects such as ornaments)

If you have some harden air drying clay, this is how you can soften air drying clay to reuse. It only works for natural clay though and not polymer clays.

You can watch our pinch pot video tutorial or follow the step by step photos below!

Start with the ball of clay for the pinch pot

Pinch Pots Step 1 - make a ball of clay that fits in your palm

Making pinch pots really is very easy!!! Personally I find working from a basic round shape best! So begin with the basic shape and go from there.

Begin by kneeding your clay into a nice smooth ball. If you clay is a little hard, you can a little water as you go. If it is VERY hard, do soften your air drying clay the day before you use it.

Using your thumb and index finger to shape the pinch pot

Shaping your pinch pots with your thumbs

Once you have a ball of clay that fits nicely into the palm of your hand, take your two thumbs and press into the middle.

Using your thumb and index finger start shaping the sides of the walls. And smoothing down cracks with water as you go.

Shaping the Pinch Pot into a Heart

When you have a basic circle shaped clay pinch pot, take your index finger and push into the side of the bowl to create the top of the heart indent.

Pinching the bottom end of the heart into shape

Now go to the opposite end and pinch your wall together make the point part of your heart.

Spend a good 5 minutes going round the pinch pot heart smoothing down the top, sides and insides.

Once you are happy you can either give a final little curve to the bottom of the heart or just set it aside as is to dry!

Once fully dried (this may take 3-4 days depending on how warm and humid it is where you live), you can then paint your Heart Pinch Pots with acrylic paints or gloss enamels which have a lovely finish. My daughter also likes to sprinkle some glitter onto the paint whilst it dries. You can also use some black paint pens (or a black sharpie!!) to add some cute Kawaii faces!

As mentioned before we have a whole set of Creative Pinch Pot Ideas for all seasons here on Red Ted Art. Do check them out. Which is your favourite?

Want to level it up? Try these other Air Drying Clay Projects for Kids:

You can also watch our video tutorial on youtube:

To make Pinch Pots you will need:

We like to buy clay in bulk – and usually get clay like this:

But this white clay is also popular