Hari Raya is a festival of returning — to homes, to traditions, to the textures and motifs that define the season. This year, instead of buying mass-produced ketupat ornaments and crescent decorations, try making them at home with the family. A single 500 g pack of JOVI Air-Dry Clay (RM28.90) gives an afternoon of activity for parents and children, leaves you with a set of handmade decorations that will last years, and creates a memory the kids will associate with Raya for a long time. This guide walks through three Raya-themed projects of increasing ambition.
What you'll need for the whole afternoon
One 500 g pack of JOVI Air-Dry Clay — Pure White is the most versatile because it accepts every paint colour cleanly. A small rolling pin or wine bottle. A JOVI 5-piece Modelling Spatula set for textures and detail. Acrylic paints in green, yellow, red and metallic gold or silver. Brushes — a flat 8 mm for filling and a fine 1 mm for outlines. PVA glue (the Daiso white craft glue works) thinned 1:1 with water for sealing. Twine or ribbon for hanging. A baking tray lined with baking paper for drying.
Project 1: Mini ketupat charms (30 minutes)
The ketupat motif is the most recognisable Raya symbol — woven palm fronds folded into a tight diamond. We'll make a stylised clay version. Take a 30 g ball of clay, roll it between your palms until smooth, then shape into a small cube about 3 cm on a side. Press lightly on each face to flatten them. Using a JOVI spatula, score parallel diagonal lines across each face — first one direction, then a perpendicular set crossing over — to mimic the woven palm pattern. Repeat to make a set of six. Once dry (48 hours in Malaysian humidity), paint green with a brown undertone on the score lines. Tie a length of twine through a small hole pierced at the top while wet. Hang as a Raya tree decoration or a window ornament.
Project 2: Crescent moon door hangers (45 minutes)
The crescent is the second great Raya motif. Roll out a 150 g portion of clay to 6 mm thick. Cut a crescent shape — easiest method is to use a round bowl rim to score one arc, then a smaller bowl to score the second arc 3 cm inside it. The crescent should be 15–20 cm tall. Smooth the edges with a damp finger. Press a small hole at the top of each tip for hanging ribbon. Optionally, decorate the surface with the spatula tip: small dots, parallel lines, or a calligraphic 'Selamat Hari Raya' if you're confident with a fine point. Dry for 72 hours flat on baking paper, paint metallic gold or silver, seal with PVA. Thread a green ribbon through the hanging holes and tie to a door handle or hang above a window.
Project 3: Geometric tile coasters (60 minutes)
Roll a 200 g portion of clay to a uniform 8 mm thickness. Cut into 10 cm × 10 cm squares using a ruler and a butter knife. The thickness matters here — coasters need to be robust enough to take a hot teh tarik glass. While the clay is still soft, press a Raya-themed pattern into the surface. Three pattern ideas that work well: an Islamic geometric star (eight-pointed, made by overlaying two squares rotated 45 degrees); a tessellated ketupat-weave grid drawn lightly with the spatula tip; a simple bismillah calligraphic outline (if you're confident with brush calligraphy, draw it in pencil on the wet clay surface and trace it with the spatula). Dry for 72 hours, sand the edges smooth, paint in two contrasting colours — traditionally green and gold for Raya — and seal with two coats of PVA. A set of four matching coasters is a meaningful gift for visiting relatives.
Tips that save the afternoon
Keep unused clay in the airtight bag at all times. Air-dry clay starts curing the moment it's exposed, and on a humid Malaysian afternoon you have maybe 90 minutes of working time before the clay starts to stiffen. Work on baking paper, not directly on the table — clay residue is easier to roll up and discard. If a piece cracks while drying, mix a small lump of fresh clay with water to make a slurry, smear it into the crack, let it dry, then sand smooth and repaint. The fix is invisible at normal viewing distance.
Painting palette ideas for Raya
Traditional Raya colours: deep green (Selangor green) with metallic gold accents; soft cream with brown ketupat-weave detail; emerald with silver. Modern Raya palettes seen on Pinterest in 2026: terracotta with sage green; dusty mauve with copper; navy with rose gold. Mixing colours: a touch of brown in green softens it from cartoonish to traditional; a drop of red in gold gives a warm rose-gold for crescents. All standard acrylic paints work on JOVI clay; no primer needed.
Display and gifting ideas
A set of six mini ketupat charms strung on a single length of green satin ribbon makes a 1.5-metre Raya garland — beautiful draped across the top of a doorway or down a staircase banister. Crescent moon door hangers can be hung in pairs on either side of the front door for a symmetrical entry. Geometric coasters travel well wrapped in tissue and ribbon — give a set of four to your parents or in-laws as a small Raya gift. Children can sign and date the underside of their pieces — these become annual heirlooms the family pulls out every year.
Cost & shopping list
Total cost for an afternoon of family crafting: 500 g JOVI Air-Dry Clay (RM28.90), 5-piece Modelling Spatulas (RM12.50, reusable for many projects), acrylic paints from Daiso (RM5.90 each, you need three or four colours), Daiso PVA glue (RM5.90), ribbon and twine (RM5). Total under RM80 for a whole afternoon of activity and a Raya-decoration set you'll re-use for the next 5 years. Compared to buying ready-made decorations of similar quality at RM30+ each, the value is obvious.
Ramping up for next year
If this works for your family, consider trying the same approach for Deepavali (kolam-pattern coasters in JOVI Terracotta), CNY (gold-painted lantern ornaments with red tassels), and Christmas (white-clay snowflakes with metallic detail). The same RM30 air-dry clay pack handles all of them. Annual family craft afternoons are how traditions get built — and how craft skills get passed down.