The other day I was scrolling through TikTok for hours at a time (as one does) when I saw a video of someone turning old vases into boho looking terracotta vases using only paint and baking soda. I looked at their hashtag #trashtoterracotta and saw it’s a trend all the cool kids are trying out, so in my attempt to be a youngin’ who totally understands Tiktok, here’s my contribution to the faux terracotta vase trend.
Here’s the Tiktok I made if you want to see the process of making these cute terracotta vases!
Ps. My Tiktok is @lexcollects if you want to follow along.
I’ve been needing some cute decor for my house since it still looks pretty empty. So I decided I’d give it a go! Once I decided to paint the vases, I remembered I had seen a cool way to make fake dried palm leaves, and figured those would look great in our vases.
My kids ended up having a snow day today, and one of them loves helping me with my projects, so the more projects the merrier!
Here’s what you’ll need:
For the terracotta vases
- Vases / glass containers
- Acrylic paint
- Paint brushes (we used the black foam brushes)
- Baking powder
For the faux palm leaves
- Large paper. (You can use kraft paper, but I used the poster board size paper at most craft stores that are for drawing / painting and sold individually.)
- Tape
- Skewers or dowels
- Super glue (optional)
I ran to the thrift store and got all of these vases for only $15.
Step 1:
First, we mixed the paint colors we wanted. I mixed a tan and an orange color to get the terracotta color I wanted. My daughter did one plain black, and another a cream color. You can mix your own colors or buy the exact color you want from the craft store.
After you mix the colors you want, add baking powder. I eyeballed the amounts, but I’d say we used a teaspoon of baking powder for every tablespoon of paint.
Step 2:
Next, we just started painting! The darker colors applied easier with less streaks, and the lighter colors were more translucent.
Step 3:
While the paint is still streaky, let the vases dry. It doesn’t take long. After they’re completely dry, do another coat. Repeat as many times as necessary. The cream colored vase needed three coats.
That’s all for the vases! Now, for the palm leaves to put inside of them!
Faux dried palm leaves
Step 1:
Take your paper and draw shapes like the photo below on them. Make them bigger than you want your palms. Once we fold them they’ll be a lot smaller! My favorites were the ones that took up half the paper, they turned out so big and pretty.
Step 2:
Cut those shapes out, fold in half, and accordion fold from the middle to the edge. Then, to the other edge. Accordion fold until the whole paper is folded. The smaller the folds, the smaller the “leaves” will be, so how small you fold is up to you! I liked the smaller folds as opposed to the larger folds.
Step 3:
Now, you’ll want to determine which side is going to be the front of your leaves. The folds that face the back, you’ll cut. Cut the “peaks” that face the back, to make gaps between your leaves. It’s hard to explain the cuts, so here’s a video:
Now your palm should look something like this:
Step 4:
Now, grab your skewer or dowel. This will act as the stem. I used large bamboo skewers. Scrunch the bottom of your palm together, and stick the skewer into one of the folds so the palm covers the top of the stem. Now, super glue or tape the skewer into the palm. I used tape but realized super glue would’ve helped a lot.
Step 5:
Where your palm is scrunched together at the bottom, you’ll need to wrap tape around that so it will stay. Don’t worry how it looks, you’ll be covering it up!
Step 6:
Cut a small strip of your excess paper to wrap around the taped part. Use super glue (or tape in the back) to get the little strip of paper to stay around the stem.
Now you’re done! I love how these turned out, and now my kids want to make a hundred more for their rooms. I’ll definitely be making more of the vases, and painting anything I can get my hands on with paint and baking powder.
Here’s the finished product!
I put some in my room and the rest on the mantle to go with the blanket ladder I just made.
If you try this, tag me on instagram or Tiktok to let me know, or comment below!
Don’t forget to pin this post so you have it for reference later!
