DIY Reliefs

Right now the fields are everywhere with grain and flowers are slowly starting to go into seed pods. That is why right now you should go out and gather together. Various grains, leaves, seed pods, flowers and branches for prints, for decorations, for bouquets, for wreaths and for passing seeds. You can use some of them to make these wonderful reliefs. You can buy self-hardening clay and make "imprints" of the various things into the clay, as you see here on the right.

If you want to make them as Janne from Anno 1808 has made below, in addition to clay, you must use gypsum powder, elephant wire or fence wire to hang small pieces of battens, wooden strips for the frame and possibly antique wax in a brown shade for patination. You will also need a rolling pin, nails, hammer, brush, pliers and possibly an old whisk, which you can use to mix the plaster with to avoid lumps.

Start by sawing off four strips in the size that your finished relief should have. Nail these four pieces of wood together with some small nails. They must not be nailed together too tightly, because they must be broken apart again when the plaster is dry.

Now you take your decorating clay and roll it out so that the surface is large enough for your wooden frame to be on top. Press the wooden frame lightly into the clay and then remove it from the clay again so you can see where the outline of the wooden frame is. This makes it easier to place the decoration.

Now you can place your motif of grains, leaves, branches, seed pods or flowers. When the decoration has been placed as you would like it, you roll over the decoration with the rolling pin and press the plants firmly into the clay. Then you pull it all out of the clay again.

The motif is then ready for casting. You again place your wooden frame on the clay and tap it down lightly all the way around, so you are sure that there are no air holes in the edge between the wooden frame and the clay, otherwise your plaster mixture will run out.

Mix the plaster and pour it over the clay with a thickness of approx. 2 cm. The plaster must not be too thick, but should rather be a little thin, as your impressions will then be more obvious. If your relief is to be able to hang, you must bend a small eyelet in fence wire and stick it into the plaster so that it is molded into the plaster relief.

When the plaster is dry after approx. 30 min., you pull the clay off the plaster and break your wooden frame apart using large pliers. You can use the wooden frame and the clay again for several impressions, so wrap the clay in a bag so that it does not dry out.

Now you have your fine plaster relief, and it is always fun to see how the relief has turned out when the clay is removed. Wash the clay off the plaster before it dries. After that, you can apply a little wax to the relief with a small brush if you want it to have a little patina.

Enjoy.