I am a fan of garden markers – so are my kids, as the markers always seem to end up being moved to different plants! I have played around making markers in the past from old silverware. You can see those here.

I still have the silverware spoons in my garden and love them but now I feel too much love for old silverware to be beating it flat and imprinting it!

I love the look of terracotta markers in the garden also, however, they are expensive and you can never find the names of all the plants you want to label so as with many things. The solution is to create exactly what you want yourself. Do It Yourself.

I sought out  a product that was like clay/terracotta but did not require firing as I really could not be bothered with the fuss. I wanted to make the markers myself without any special skills or equipment and add them to the new vegetable garden area that we are currently working on.  Yes……I am decorating the new garden area before it is finished 🙂  

These markers were fun and easy to make and the kids got involved and each made a snake for the garden too. They painted theirs. They decided to make snakes to scare the birds away from the garden. 

These markers were relatively inexpensive to make. It cost less than $30 for the materials and we made 27 markers and two snakes. It depends on the size of the markers that you make as to the quantity you will get. I have barely used any of the varnish. It will last for many many many other projects. 

Materials Required:

• Modelling Material 1 kg 
• Jo Sonja’s Satin Varnish *see note below*
• Biscuit cutters or play dough cutters
• Metal letter stamps
• Knife, toothpick or skewer
• Rolling pin – I used the one from the kids play dough set
• Mat to work on – eg: a plastic table mat

The brand of the Modelling Clay that I purchased was DAS. I picked it up at my local art supply store. I did notice that Bunnings had a similar type of product in their craft section.  I also got the varnish there.

Method:

1. Roll, cut or shape the markers into your desired shape.  I tried several shape variations, as you will see from the pictures, until I settled on the one I liked. Use stamps or a sharp object to write the name of the plant
2. Allow the markers to dry for a couple of days (depends on the weather, turn every once in a while)
3. Once dry coat with three coats of the varnish to protect against the outdoors
4. Add them to your gorgeous garden area.

Have fun! 

*Updated 25/03/2013* The varnish mentioned was recommended to me to use however, it has not worked well to protect the markers when placed in soil that is damp, or watered – which is kind of a requirement in the garden! I have now reapplied an outdoor tile varnish and it has worked well.