Craft Time! Get A Jump On The Seasons Ahead.

Let’s make decorative bottles and wreaths that will impress.  This could be a hostess gift for Thanksgiving or your favorite holiday in December.  The Solstice is December 21st.
Take a clean, empty bottle, paint a background color on it.  Let dry throughly. Now choose colors of clay to make a scene over that.  Or extrude the clay to make ribbons or strings of clay.  Swirl them, filigree them make grasses on the bottle with them.  Add clay flowers.  This is easier than you think.
Condition the clay with your warm hands until it molds easily.  The warming makes it much more malleable.  
Now pinch off enough clay to make petals, flattening the clay in your fingers until it is thin.  Pinch off a small piece and make the center of a rose by making a cone of it without closing the top. Make another petal and attach it to the bottom of the first.  
Continue around to make as large a rose as you desire for your project.   Stick it to the bottle. Cover the base if you like in green leaves made of clay.

Make a leaf shape and score the inside like a leaf with veins. Stick it onto the bottle and continue until the bottle is pretty enough to suit you.  Fire it according to the instructions that come with the clay.  Seal it with sealer in a aerosol can from the hobby store. You could even spray some householdwax (furniture polish) to make it glow.
Air hardening clay will work too but it dries slower.  Water Putty from the hardware store can be molded and air dries too.  Color the mixture first or leave it to dry like hard ivory, and now it could be sprayed with a sealer to protect against water.  Paining is possible before it is sealed.
Fill the bottle with something good like rose water, glycerin, cologne, or for the winter, lamp oil.  Wine bottles cam be made special with “embossed” labels for the occasion or, say,  remembrance of an anniversary.
Vinegar bottles of your own vinegar could be decorated as gifts or just to make your kitchen special. Speciality oils and pickle jars can be personalized because they don’t have to be refrigerated and clays and putty dislike moisture.
Cover a small bottle with artwork to use as a caddy for your eye make-up pencils and lipstick brush.  Elegance is the name of the game.  Embed beads in the clay for an added glamor.  If the beads don’t stick after firing and sometimes one will come out, glue it back and use or give away to a lucky
person. Have kids help with this for fun and good memories.  (Mom gave me a kit when I was a kid with modeling clay and plastic beads to decorate things with. I loved that idea and quickly used up the makings.  This is n adult adaption of that.  Thanks again, Mom.  Miss you.)   ***
Firing the clay the easy way. (Polymer clay is toxic so use care with it, especially around kids.)  
To avoid fumes from the firing, encase the art work loosely with aluminum foil so as not to distort it.  I use a shoe box and set the art inside and cover it all. Bake according to directions for the clay.  Take the whole package outside to cool and open it there with lots of air.  This keeps your oven clean and non-toxic.  I disliked the idea of having to clean the oven every time I wanted to make a project as the manufacturers directed.
And may I mention that a plain bowl from the Dollar Store or some such emporium can be made into a Halloween dish? Don’t ever use clay for touching food: Toxic, remember?  Outside of a bowl to hold candy is fine.  Hand wash.

If you are really good, mold a cat, or a witch or pumpkins out of clay and decorate away!  
Are you Really, Really good? Make corn shocks or a wreath of leaves and autumn stuff to have each year.  Cover jewelry wire with the clay for strength and add leaves of various colors, pine cones from outside, no need to make these from scratch.  Add whatever embellishments you like: Ribbons, beads, glitter, clay flowers, dried flowers intertwining the wreath, tiny animals – plastic, not real chipmunks.
You could take a shortcut and buy a wreath form at Hobby Lobby or Wal-mart. Same rules apply for decorating.  I made a Christmas wreath years back,  but the autumn ones are beautiful as are the ones for spring. Summer or holiday wreaths are nifty too, if you just get crafty urges all year long. Why not an Easter wreath?  And valentines are easy, or shamrocks for St. Paddy’s day, March 17th.  OK, You get the idea: Go nuts with inspiration. A wedding wreath?  Why not? * * *