I never really gave much thought as to what my ring bearer would carry down the aisle when I began planning this wedding. FSIL Lab got married in December of 2007 and said I could use any of her ceremony accessories. I figured I could borrow her ring bearer pillow and that was that.
Until I found these little jewels from
Paloma's Nest:
As gorgeous as these creations are, I just couldn't justify the price tags with my budget. So my brain began thinking of ways I could get one on the cheap. Of course, I entered the current contest right here on Weddingbee for a
free ring bowl, but I know my chances of winning are VERY slim.* That's when I decided to just make one for myself! How hard could it be?
Actually, it wasn't that hard at all! I hit the neighborhood craft store (they're probably sick of me by now) and purchased the following items:
3 packs of oven bake clay (in pearl), a spool of twine, metallic gold paint, needle tool, and a paint brush (leftover from previous project).
I ended up only using two of the clay packs. I started off my kneading the clay to make it softer and easier to work with. You can't tell it in this picture, but the pearl clay has a pretty shimmer to it. Just one way of making it more custom for me!
To make the bowl shape, I just put the clay in a bowl! Ha ha, imagine that! ;)
Then I had to get really creative with a way to smooth it out. I ended up finding a bulb that had blown out, and gently smoothed the clay using it. I know there's plenty of clay supplies at the craft store to do this for me, but if I spent a small fortune of the supplies, what's the point of a DIY project to save money?
After I was happy with the smoothing (it wasn't perfect, but good enough), I began etching a quote of my liking. I ended up using the ball tip of a bobby pin instead of the needle tool I bought. I returned the tool along with my extra pack of clay. Remember, the point is to save money!
If you don't think you could trust your hand writing, you could always use
letter stamps to write out your message.
Any guesses to what quote this is and what made it famous?
It's Beethoven's except from "
Letters to the Immortal Beloved" made famous by the
Sex and the City Movie! I've been in love with that quote ever since the movie and knew I had to incorporate it into our wedding somehow. I think it's very fitting for his ring, my ring, our rings. :) I also included our wedding date to make it extra special.
(You'll have to forgive me for the following photos. My camera died and I had to take the rest with FSIL Lab's Crackberry.)
I made the holes for the twine using another creative method: an eyeliner cap! Aren't I resourceful?
Because the bowl I was using had a very shallow bottom, I used tin foil to shape a deeper dish for the clay to bake in and give the bowl higher sides.
When I was sure I was happy with my bowl, I popped it into the oven for about 20 minutes at 275 degrees to harden. Make sure to check your clay packaging for specific baking instructions!
After it finished baking, I let it cool for about 10 minutes. Then I painted the outside trim and the entire backside gold (I wanted it to be a little different from the Paloma signature bowls).
And here's the final product with my e-ring taking a test run in place of my wedding band!
Argh! I wish my camera were working so you could see more of the detail!
It's not nearly as drool-worthy as Paloma's creations, but I kinda like the "homemade"-ness of it. I can't wait to see my nephew hand us our rings on this pretty platter! :D
Cost Breakdown:
2 packs of oven bake clay: $3.58
Metallic gold paint: $1.59
Spool of twine: $2.19 (smallest spool they had which was still way too much)
Grand Total Including Tax: $7.88That's a savings of $46 over the custom gold leaf edge ring bowl! I say if you can afford Paloma, go for it! But if not, it's super easy to make a ring bowl yourself!
*If I should happen to win (again, very unlikely), I will graciously hand over the prize to a random commenter on this post!
