Sometimes creative projects are born of necessity. Sure, you could find a generic, off-the-shelf nightlight to guide the way to the baby’s crib or light the path to your midnight snack. But why, when DIY nightlights could be so much cuter? Our artists crafted designs out of clay to match nurseries and brighten powder rooms and pretty-up other overlooked corners in their homes.
What you’ll need for DIY nightlights
- Original Sculpey® oven bake clay (we used white)
- Clay tools to sculpt with
- Paper (or something to cover your workspace)
- Oven (toaster or normal kitchen sized)
- White spray primer
- Water-based acrylic paints
- Paint brushes
- DIY night light (we used these)
- Super glue
Creating your DIY nightlights
First, prep your clay: This basically means smacking and kneading and rolling it around until it’s smooth and pliable.
Then it’s creativity time: Roll out the clay and create your sculpture.
Pro tips
- Roll it thin enough to be lightweight—you don’t want it so heavy it pulls the nightlight off the wall—but not so thin it cracks and breaks.
- Sculpey isn’t super-translucent, so you’ll get more light if you incorporate pinholes or openings in your design.
Follow instructions on the package to bake your sculpture, then let it cool and do any sanding you need to.
We hit our DIY nightlights white spray primer to even out the color.
The minimalists among us left their nightlights white. The rest painted them with water-based acrylics.
To finish up, use super glue to affix the clay design to the nightlight. Done! Just plug ’em in and light ’em up.
So many owls, y’all. Who knew? (See what we did there?)
Do you need a new nightlight? Make one! We’d love to see it. Tag us on Instagram @think.make.share or on our Facebook page. Find more home decor inspiration in the archives.
Photography by Pat Bush