Charms & Letter Stamps

Add personalised charms to your work — small charms and crisp stamped text transform a plain piece of pottery into something uniquely unforgettable. These tiny additions are fast to make but need careful handling to stay strong through drying and firing.

Difficulty: Beginner

Time: 5-15 minutes

Technique: Decorating

What You Need

Small clay ball

Rolling pin

2D plastic stencils pack

Knife or sharp pin tool

Letter stamps (included)

Paintbrush

Slip (clay paste / glue)

Sponge & water

Wooden modelling tool

Step-by-Step: Adding Charms

Roll your slab

Roll a small slab to ~3–4 mm (1/8"–3/16"). Keep the slab even — too thin and charms will warp; too thick and they feel heavy.
Position & cut stencil

Lay the chosen plastic stencil on the slab. Use your knife or pin tool to cut around the stencil cleanly. Cut straight down — a steady angle keeps edges crisp. Make extras!
Lift carefully

Use a thin wooden scraper or brush to slide/push under the charm and lift it off the board. Work slowly so it doesn’t distort.
Prep both surfaces

Score the area on your main piece where the charm will go (score a slightly larger area than the charm — you’ll clean edges later). Score the back of the charm as well. Brush a thin layer of slip onto the scored area of the main piece.
Attach, press, & clean

Align the charm and press it down firmly and evenly until you see slip squeeze out at the seam. With a paintbrush dipped in water, brush around the charm’s edge to remove score marks and tidy the seam. Smooth with a damp sponge or wooden modelling tool.

Step-by-Step: Adding Text

Plan & guide

Lightly mark a baseline or spacing guides on your clay with a pin tool or a ruler to keep text straight and evenly spaced.
Support from behind

Hold/support the reverse side of the clay with your finger or a small pad where you’ll stamp so the clay doesn’t crumple.
Stamp firmly, not through

Press each letter straight down with steady pressure — strong enough to leave a clear impression but not so strong you push through the slab.
Space consistently

Work left-to-right (or right-to-left if you prefer), checking spacing as you go. If you make a spacing error, lift the stamp and re-align — don’t drag.
Clean up

After stamping, use a damp brush to tidy any raised clay at the edges of the letters and a sponge to smooth the surrounding surface. If a letter is too faint, re-stamp while clay is still workable or deepen gently with a pin tool once leather-hard.

Studio Secrets

→ Make extras: Cut more charms than you need — a few will get smudged in the process.

→ Test on scrap Always test stamp depth and charm placement on scrap clay first.

→ Paintbrush handle for stamps: Press letter stamps onto the handle end of the included paintbrush to get steadier, less fiddly stamping.

→ Carve small details: Use a pin tool to add texture or carved lines to charms after cutting.

→ Custom stencils: You can print & cut your own paper stencils for one-off shapes if you don’t have a cutter.

Helpful Fixes

Charm lifts or peels during drying

Rehydrate both surfaces slightly, apply fresh slip, press firmly, and support while drying. Slow drying helps.

Ragged charm edges after cutting

Use a damp brush or a flexible blade to gently smooth and trim edges while the clay is soft.

Charms crack in firing

Often caused by thickness or trapped air — make charms thin & even, remove excess air when cutting, and avoid large unsupported overhangs.

Letters crumple or clay compresses

Clay was too soft or unsupported — let the piece stiffen to leather-hard, support from behind, and re-stamp more gently.

Stamped letters too shallow after drying

Re-press while workable or deepen with a fine tool at leather-hard; you can also accentuate with underglaze after bisque.

Quick Checklist

Roll slab to 3–4 mm (1/8"–3/16")

Cut extras of each charm

Score main area (slightly larger) & score charm back

Apply slip!

Press charm firmly, clean edges with a damp brush

For text: mark guides, support back, use paintbrush handle trick, stamp firmly but not through