Artist replicates ‘iconic’ British biscuits in the form of clay coasters

An artist has replicated popular British biscuits in the form of clay coasters so people can have a bit of “fun” while they drink a cup of tea.

Hayley Tomlinson, who is based in Worcestershire and goes by the name @clayleybyhayley on TikTok, began creating art using clay in 2022 and has since gone on to create realistic coasters of biscuits including Jammie Dodgers, Party Rings, ginger nuts and Jaffa Cakes.

“I remember being a kid and playing with Play-Doh and then I looked into air dry clay and made biscuit coasters because I wanted to make everyday items that you wouldn’t expect to be made from clay.

“What do you pair with coasters? Cups of tea or hot drinks and again, what goes with cups of tea is biscuits, so I thought it would be a bit fun and different to make biscuit coasters.”

She then uses different tools including metal rings and a craft knife to make sure her coasters look as similar to the biscuit she is depicting as possible.

She has to wait for between 24 and 48 hours for the clay to fully dry in her shed before she can paint the coasters, which she said makes them “come to life”.

She said the drying process can be stressful at times, adding: “You can spend hours making a whole series of biscuits and then the next day you go in, wherever you’re drying it, and go and have a look and you’ve got these cracks or breakages in the clay and you have to start again.”

Her Jammie Dodger coaster was her favourite because it was more intricate due to having to create different layers, from the jam filling to the shortcake.

“That’s the controversial one – I’m not sure if it is a cake or a biscuit, but I quite liked making the Jaffa Cake (coaster) because it’s so simple as it only uses two main colours of acrylic paint but once it all comes together, people know straight away that’s a Jaffa Cake,” Ms Tomlinson said.

She said she believes the coasters have been so popular with those on social media because biscuits are such a synonymous thing Britons have with their tea.

“I think the answer is always tea and biscuits to anything … and it reminds me of going to my grandparents and they’ve always got biscuits in the cupboard.

“You can’t go wrong with biscuits as no matter if someone’s not too keen on biscuits, there’s going to be at least one that they like.”

“Coasters need to be stackable so I was thinking of food which could be stacked which is quite endless,” she said.

“Cakes have different layers, burgers have different layers and the fun thing with cakes and burgers is similar to biscuits – it’s not a one size fits all.

Next on her list are Bourbon biscuit and Custard Cream coasters.

Ms Tomlinson’s work can be viewed on her Etsy page: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ClayleyByHayley