Sustainable DIY fox planter | The best birthday gift for a plant lover

13 February, 2021

Sustainability

My entire blog is dedicated to sustainability in the interior. I want to make sure, during my lifetime, I will do as little damage to the climate as possible. Saying that, I want to call myself an ambassador of sustainability.

Birthday gift for a man

A friend of mine was turning 37. I knew about his passion for everything creative, so I decided to make a birthday gift myself, instead of buying him something from Amazon. I started browsing ideas on the Internet and found this wonderful and cute DIY fox planter. Funnily, my friend’s favorite animal was a fox. Coincidence?

Materials of a sustainable DIY fox planter

At first, it looked like a simple task. A minimal number of materials and easy to make. But in the end, it turned out to be a little more complicated. First of all, the shops were closed due to the lockdown in Berlin, and the only option I had was to order online.

The materials I used for this project:

Terracotta pot Ø 18cm
Terracotta clay 1kg
Acrylic paints set came with small paintbrushes
Bigger paintbrushes

That was it. Besides, I have purchased a plant right from the flower shop. Ironically, even though it was closed, you can still buy it, if you don’t enter the shop, but just tell the shop owner what you want. Easy business.

A little note to myself: acrylic paint is not sustainable, so I was making sure I used as little paint as possible. For my next project, I will be using eco-friendly oil paints.

Instructions

Now, the creative part. My cure sustainable DIY fox planter was a work of 3 days, 30-60 minutes each day.

Day 1

I have made legs and triangular ears of my fox from clay and attached them to the pot. I also wanted to close the hole in the bottom of the pot, and for that, I used some more clay. Then I placed the pot in the oven for 40 minutes, as instructed in the clay brochure. I had to extend it for another 20 minutes afterwards, as it was not dry enough.

When the base of the fox was ready, the clay was dry and cool, using the biggest paintbrush I applied the first layer of the white acrylic paint.

Day 2

I applied the second layer of white paint, which should be covered entirely because I didn’t want it to have a brown-ish terracotta colour.

After the paint dried, I took a pen and drew carefully the face of the fox. When it was done, I started applying the acrylic paints in orange, brown, yellow and black colours and let me tell you, it turned out amazingly cute. At this point, I was in love with my planter.

Day 3

I wanted to brush up the edges and re-painted the face, ears and legs, where I felt it needed a second layer.

Finally, my sustainable DIY fox planter was ready. I only needed it to dry and take a nice photo session for you guys. I put the plant I have purchased for my friend, and it looked super cute.