Cottagecore Design: How to Make Air Dry Bread Clay Mushroom Ornaments

 Carolyn J. Braden • 4 Minute Read 

How to Make Air Dry Bread Clay Mushroom Ornaments : Cottagecore Decor

A quick and easy air-dry clay mushroom ornament craft inspired by my great Aunt Sophia’s love of bread dough! After seeing numerous mushrooms lately (2024 was a record year for high rainfall amounts in Southwest Florida, thus lots of mushrooms have been sprouting), it was inevitable that I create a mushroom craft. Read on to learn how to create air dry bread clay mushroom ornaments perfect for cottagecore décor!

Completed bread clay mushrooms

I’ve always loved mushrooms. Their colors are often very inspiring. When we hike in the mountains, I find myself spotting the very colorful ones and I usually snap a photo for inspiration. We have a lot of orange and brown mushrooms sprouting around Sanibel Island. Some are lacy looking; some are basic toadstool looking mushrooms.

Bread dough mushrooms in progress

Toadstool or Mushroom?

If you are wondering what the difference is between a toadstool and a mushroom, I had to do some research myself. According to BBC’s Gardener’s World website, there is no scientific difference between the two. A toadstool term is usually used when it’s a poisonous and has a cute cap and stem, making it the perfect place for a toad to sit (thus, perhaps the nickname origin?). A mushroom usually is loosely used as a term to describe fungi that is edible.

Cute red and white mushroom ornaments

What is a Red and White Mushroom Called?

While I’ve never loved eating mushrooms (well, I’ll eat them if they are chopped up in a dish like lettuce wraps, but I don’t particularly love their texture), I do appreciate their beauty. I loved looking at the Forager Chef’s website, which gave me the name of the mushroom ornament I created. Chef Alan says the red and white mushroom is a “European Amanita Muscaria (common name fly agaric) the well-known version with a red cap from Europe”.

Miniature red and white mushroom ornament

Can You Eat Red and White Mushrooms?

Red and white mushrooms have always been fascinating to me as the colors are quite bold, but they are also cute. You’ve seen these mushrooms in Nintendo’s Mario Brothers game, Alice and Wonderland, fairy tales and more. Chef Alan says they are often edible, but also poisonous and hallucinogenic. I definitely get the use of this particular mushroom in literature and video games now!

I hung my mushroom ornaments on a branch in my home

More Cute Mushroom Things

If you love mushrooms, here are some cute mushroom home décor items we love if you don’t have time to make the bread clay mushroom ornaments. They will definitely help you achieve the “cottagecore” décor trend if you want:

• Mushroom Lamp (Amazon)

• Magic Sprout Mushroom Bookmarks (Amazon)

• Mushroom Pillow (Walmart)

• Mushroom Garden Statuary (Walmart)

Can You Eat Bread Clay?

As far as my fly agaric bread clay ornaments, no you cannot eat them nor can you eat the bread clay/ bread dough. It’s a crafting clay that dries without the use of a kiln, making it homemade air-dry clay. It has glue in the recipe, so please do not eat it.

How To Make Bread Clay/ Bread Dough for Crafting

I wrote my full tutorial for bread clay in this article here (which shows you how to make a bread clay rose too), but I am including it below so you can make it right from this article.

See me make bread dough clay in my 1-minute tutorial below or via my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden:

Discount Code Alert!

I get many of my craft items via Temu. If you use my discount code afe55197 at checkout or shop via my link, you’ll receive 30% off!

Things You Need:

• White Bread (1 slice, mine was a bit stale, so it crumbled easily, which is a good thing)

• Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue (Get it at Walmart here or via Amazon here)

• Cold Cream (I used Noxema, get it at Walmart here or via Amazon here)

• Acrylic paint (I used a matte white for the dough, but other colors and finishes can be used if you want your clay to be a certain color, buy white acrylic paint here on Amazon or here at Walmart and buy red acrylic paint too if you are making red mushrooms

• Measuring spoons (Buy it on Amazon here or via Walmart here)

• Mixing bowl with tight fitting lid (lid is only needed if you plan to store this for later use)

• Something to stir it with (small spatula, spoon….I LOVE these mini spatulas via Amazon)

• Plastic wrap (if you plan to store this for later use)

• Small eye hooks (I bought a set on Amazon)

• Polka dot ribbon or hooks (I bought my super cute shaped hooks on Temu, but Amazon has them too)

• Small detail or miniature paintbrushes (Amazon)

• Optional: Acrylic Seal Spray with a Gloss Finish (Amazon)

Air dry bread clay mushroom ornaments

How To:

1. Remove the crust from your bread crumble it into tiny pieces into a bowl. Mine was a bit stale, so it crumbled easily. If you use fresh bread and want it to crumble easily, leave a slice out on a plate for about an hour before you do the craft. It should dry up a bit, leaving it “stale” enough for crumbling.

2. Measure out 1 tablespoon of the Aleene’s Tacky Glue and add it to the crumbled bread.

3. Add a ½ teaspoon of cold cream to the mixture.

4. Add 15-20 drops of acrylic paint. I used white, so all my clay would be white (then I could paint it later). If you want to use colorful acrylic paint, you can (but your clay will all be that one color).

5. Mix with the spoon or spatula until it starts to all come together.

6. Spread a little cold cream on your hands and pick up the dough and knead it (basically “squish” it in your hands) until the ingredients combine and forms the dough.

Watch me create the mushroom ornaments in my 1-minute video above or via my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden.

If your dough is extremely sticky and cannot be shaped easily, you can add a bit more crumbled bread OR let it sit out for a bit. Mine was a tiny bit sticky, so I just added a bit of cold cream to my hands so it wouldn’t stick.

Shaping the mushroom stem

For the mushroom, I pinched off a small piece of clay (1-inch piece or so) and rolled it into a stem shape for the mushroom.

Shaping the bread clay mushroom top

Next, I pinched off a pea-sized or a bit larger amount of clay, rolled it into a ball and then used my fingers to flatten it into a circle and placed it on top of the stem. You can do some scoring on each piece (basically, lightly roughen the attachment areas with a fork or scoring tool) which will help them stay stuck together.

Placing the mushroom top on the stem

I was able to make 5 small mushrooms from my batch of air-dry bread clay and used the rest to make 6 small roses for another project. 

Bread clay mushrooms by Carolyn J. Braden

I let them dry for about 2 days. Some cracked a little on the stem, and two mushroom caps did pop off (I didn’t score mine, but should have), but paint covers cracks and I used some Aleene’s Liquid Fusion or the Tacky Glue glue to attach the caps back on.

Painting the tops of the mushroom ornaments

Then I painted on 2 coats of red acrylic paint on the caps. I painted two coats of white paint to the stem and the underside of the caps.

Painting spots on the mushroom ornaments

I painted two coats of white paint to form the spots on the top of the mushroom.

I let all the paint dry and then laid them out on some wax paper outside and sprayed 1 coat of acrylic paint sealer on them all. You do not have to do this, but I wanted to make sure mine would last. You could also use Mod Podge.  

Screwing on the small eye hooks on the ornaments

When the sealer was dry (24 hours is what I gave mine to fully dry), I screwed some tiny eye hooks into the top of each mushroom.

Use ribbon or hooks to hang the mushroom ornaments

I threaded some ribbon through the eye hooks for hanging, but you could also use ornament hooks.

Red and white mini mushroom ornaments by Carolyn J. Braden

And then they are done! You can make them bigger or smaller or turn them into necklaces, earrings and more. Bread clay is easy to shape, sculpt and it will last in the fridge (wrapped in plastic wrap and placed in a sealed container) for 2-3 weeks and can be frozen too.

As far as molding, my aunt framed my baby photo in tiny bread dough roses and they have never molded (and she made that craft over 40 years ago). If you are worried about mold, you can paint your bread dough crafts or simply seal it with Mod Podge or some other sealant made for crafting.

If you loved this article, we think you’ll love this one too: How to Make a Varsity Letter Ornament in 10 Minutes

Carolyn J. (C.J.) Braden is the owner of Carolyn’s Blooming Creations is a regular contributor and editor for CBC. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.