DIY Mud & Plaster Vases | Pottery Barn Inspired

2 Materials
$20
2 Hours
Easy

Are you loving the vintage clay pottery trend as much as I am lately?

I must admit at first I wasn't too sure it was worth trying. But soon I realized how easy it could be with just a few things you can find in your garage or even right outside your house.

Pottery Barn and Crate & Barrel happen to be two of my favorite places to find high quality decor, and occasionally I get lucky and find things on sale but these vases or vintage clay looking vases do not come cheap. Honestly though these two retail home stores are great to walk through for home decor inspiration and so I'm that person just strolling the store for all the inspo.

These DIY vases were in fact inspired by Pottery Barn this time around. And I gotta say I got lucky when I found these two second hand vases, because they were exactly what I was looking for in size even though at the time I didn't know it yet. Sometimes you just happen to be in the right place at the right time.

The smaller vase I found at the OC Goodwill for $3.99 and the larger one I found at another second hand store called EcoTown, which some of you may or may not be familiar with, for $9.99. I figured the larger one was a bit of a splurge considering it was second hand but the size and shape of it was exactly what I wanted. And lately considering the trend, good shape vases are hard to find.

Today I'm going to finally share how I re-created the expensive look of these two vases, step by step. And I'll make sure to link the items I had on hand and where you can easily find them too.


You definitely want to start by giving them a good wipe down.

I'll start by sharing how I DIY'ed the smaller black vase to give it that handcrafted ceramic look.

Step 1. First I gave it a couple of black flat spray paint coats.


Step 2. Then I mixed some dirt with water to get that thick mud consistency.


Step 3. Rub the mud all over the vase in the same direction, in this case I went all around on a horizontal direction. Make sure to get it everywhere.




Step 4. After you've let it dry out in the sun for a few hours, you want to wipe the dry mud off with an old towel or rag. In this case, mine looked just how I expected but I rubbed off the dirt a little too hard and scratched off some of the black paint. So be gentle. Trial and error.


I ended up going back in a few spots with some black chalk paint to add a bit of more texture and to hide some of the imperfections, but the imperfections are exactly what created the look I wanted for this vase. Then I went ahead and sealed it with this.


Regardless of the somewhat visible scratches, I love that they add character and that handcrafted feel to this vase. It's definitely one of my favorite DIY's yet, that of course is besides the next vase I'll be sharing below.__________________________________

This next vase did in fact turn out better than I expected in all honesty. A little into the process I was almost afraid I had already messed it all up and that it was going to be a complete fail. But you'll see below how I managed to make it even more beautiful.

Step 1. I started by giving it two coats of white flat paint.


Step 2. I took a look in my garage for anything that would help me add texture to the vase and luckily we had this Permanent Patch textured caulking compound on hand that we normally use to patch or fix any outdoor stucco if necessary.



I brushed that on in strokes in all different directions to make sure it was all covered and that it had that handmade ceramic look. After applying a single coat which was plenty, you want to let it dry overnight. It has a rubbery finished feel so you have to give it plenty of time to dry.

This is where I wasn't sure if I liked this texture alone. It did have a cool look to it but not the look I was going for.


Step 3. Therefore the next day I decided to play with it some more, it was either going to be a lost cause or a total win. So I went ahead and grabbed some of the spackling that we normally keep around to fill in holes on the walls in the house. I added some water to it to loosen it up and so that it was easy enough to apply to the vase with my hand. I almost felt like I was back in my old high school ceramics class while I was doing this.


I honestly couldn't have been happier with how it turned out. It was definitely a WIN!

Step 4. Finally I knew I wanted to keep the vase neutral to show off the texture of it. Therefore I used some of my favorite, Country Chic Paint in the color Cheesecake.

Make sure to use code CHARMEDCROWN10 for 10% off your purchase.


In the end, this vase didn't need to be sealed, you could, but I didn't want to seal it, I love the clay plaster look it has and the texture all over just screams handmade, when in reality it practically is.



It turned out better beyond my expectations and sometimes you just have to go with your gut in order to figure out if a DIY is going to go as you expect or better. But hey even if it turns out as a fail at least you'll learn from it, it's all in the trial and error.


Sources to the items I used on each of the vases are linked below.


As always, you can find me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest as well.



If you liked this post today please feel free to give it a Share or a Pin so that others can see it too. Thank you!



And Thank you again so much for stopping by the blog today.





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Sandra Joan Living
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Frequently asked questions
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3 of 4 questions
  • Rosetta Rogers Hernandez Rosetta Rogers Hernandez on Mar 26, 2021

    What would I need to do to be able to do this to an outdoor vase, one say 3ft tall that might hold plants?

  • Cindy Cindy on Apr 06, 2021

    I love this project and I want to give it a try. I’ve been looking for vases just like this in various sizes and I was wondering if you can skip step 2 and just do step 3, wouldn’t just using sparkle give you the same look?

  • Hope Hope on Nov 03, 2022

    Hi...

    I really like the black vase...very pretty.


    Did you repaint the whole thing black after the mud treatment or did the sealer make it look that way..?

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  • Mary Jo Mary Jo on May 10, 2021

    Wow, you’re very clever! You must not sleep very well with all the ideas you come up with😴, thank you for sharing all your creativity for those of us that look at a plain vase and see...a plain vase!

  • Alicia Alicia 17 hours ago

    I also added tiny seed beads to the mixture so in areas it gave it a really thick interesting look. I did it to an ostrich egg that I designed. And it was in a juried show

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