How To Use Sculpey Clay to Make Interchangeable Clay Garden Markers for Plants

This easy DIY project is the perfect way to label your garden and what you've planted — so cute, too!
Dress up your garden with these pretty markers made from oven-bake clay. Get the full DIY at Jojotastic.com

Can we talk about Joanna’s garden for a minute? Never mind the beautiful flowers and chickens and wiener dogs running around, those planter boxes are basically bursting at the seams with lush kale, chard, herbs and more. It’s a major urban farming success story (and makes me extremely jealous of her yard!) and it deserved to be dressed up a little bit with some pretty garden markers to help differentiate the fennel from the dill — I’m looking at you, Oprah.

We wanted to create something that was both beautiful and useful, and I think these clay beauties do the trick. The best thing about them is they are designed with separate name plates that hang from a hook on the markers, so you can change them out every season depending on what you’re growing that year.

Dress up your garden with these pretty markers made from oven-bake clay. Get the full DIY at Jojotastic.com

How To Make Interchangeable Plant Markers For Your Garden with Sculpey Clay

Tools:

Materials:

Dress up your garden with these pretty markers made from oven-bake clay. Get the full DIY at Jojotastic.com

Instructions:

Start by printing the two templates provided above and cutting them out. There is one for the marker and one for the interchangeable name plates. Then pre-heat the oven to 275°F (or whatever temperature your clay package calls for).

Now it’s time to create the perfect shade of charcoal grey. In order to do that, you’ll need to take four parts black clay and one part white clay and roll them each in to long, skinny strands. Then, twist the strands together over and over again until the colors are fully mixed. At this point, you can add in a bit more white or black, depending on the shade of grey you’re looking for.

Roll the clay into a ball and place it on the cutting board. Using your rolling pin (or a spare bottle of wine, if you don’t have a proper rolling pin laying around), roll the clay until it’s an even 1/8″ thick and large enough to fit the marker template. If you can, try to roll out enough clay that you can trace two or three makers at a time.

Place the template atop the clay, and use the X-Acto knife to carefully trace around it. Peel away the excess clay, then carefully peel off the clay marker and put it on your baking sheet. Repeat until you’ve made as many markers as you like.

Bake the clay in the oven according to the package—if you’re using Sculpey, that means you’ll need to bake your markers for about 8 minutes. After the marker has cooled a bit but is still slightly warm, carefully screw a hook about 1/2″ from the top. Be careful not to screw it in too tightly or the clay might crack.

Dress up your garden with these pretty markers made from oven-bake clay. Get the full DIY at Jojotastic.com

While those cool, mix together the mint green clay using eight parts white clay and one part green clay. Repeat the same process as above to roll out the clay and cut out the name plates. Use a spare screw hook to create a hole about 1/3″ from the top of the name plate. Bake and let cool.

Using the paint pen, write the name of a plant atop the name plate. Then paint a white border around the edges and the sides. Once the paint is dry, you can add a coat of sealant if you’re worried about water making the paint run.

Hang the name plates on the markers and plant them in your growing garden!

Dress up your garden with these pretty markers made from oven-bake clay. Get the full DIY at Jojotastic.com
Dress up your garden with these pretty markers made from oven-bake clay. Get the full DIY at Jojotastic.com
Dress up your garden with these pretty markers made from oven-bake clay. Get the full DIY at Jojotastic.com

So what do you think of these easy to make plant markers?? Their a super-fun craft project to try with kids, too. What are you growing in your garden this season? Leave a comment and let me know!

Photography by Meghan Klein. DIY by Homemade Banana for Jojotastic.

Behind The Blog

Joanna Hawley-McBride is a Pacific Northwest-based social media strategist, content creator, and former textile designer. Joanna is the founder and editor-in-chief of Jojotastic, a lifestyle blog focused on Joanna’s work-in-progress cabin, finding the best pair of underwear through #UnderwearThesis, and empowering women to explore nature — all in her signature unfiltered style. Her work has been featured in Domino, CNBC, and Eating Well.

Let's stay in touch:

Shop my picks on Amazon

Shop now

Please note that I use affiliate links at times here, as well as on my social media accounts. This means that if you click on a link to a product and purchase that product, I may receive a commission based on your purchase. I only feature products that truly inspire me. Any products that have been gifted to Jojotastic for review are noted at the bottom of the post. Sponsored posts are noted as such. All opinions are my own and always will be! Thanks for supporting content that keeps Jojotastic going.

Leave a Comment