These Clothespin Trivets are Heat Resistant!

Learn how to make clothespin trivets with a few simple supplies! These are easy and high heat resistant so you can use them with hot pots.

Skills Required: None. Even if you’ve never crafted before, you can easily make these with glue. They are definitely a perfect craft idea for a beginner.

I’m so excited to share this clothespin trivet DIY with you today! Why? Because we did a lot of testing on this particular kitchen craft to make sure that it could withstand high heat temperatures. And I’m excited to share my results with you!

If this is your first clothespin craft, get excited – it’s really fun making things with clothespins. At first I made these clothespin butterflies and then had enough pins leftover to make this clothespin napkin holder.

After that I just started purchasing clothespins to make things, and I have a ton of them in my craft stash right now! Once you start crafting with these fun wood pins, you’re not going to stop. I promise!

Anyway, our first iteration of clothespin trivets was a flop. We tried to use:

• High Heat Enamel Spray Paint
• High Heat Enamel Spray Paint with clear High Heat Coating
• Acrylic Craft Paint with clear High Heat Coating

None of them worked. Every time we boiled water and put the pot on the trivet, it stuck or made marks in the paint or coating. And I know for a fact that regular resin is only heat resistant up to about 110 degrees typically (some are higher, but not boiling pot higher).

SO – unless you are willing to spend the money for high heat resin, which I didn’t want to for what was to be an inexpensive DIY trivet, you should use plain clothespins. AND you can seal them with a cutting board or mineral oil so that they don’t try out and split. I’m going to show you how to do it below!

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DIY Trivets

Gather These Supplies

• Wooden clothespins – 32 (these are the 3.3″ length)
• Craft glue or wood glue
• Cutting board or mineral oil
• Paintbrush and/or soft cloth

Separate the Clothespins

You’re going to use the clothespins without the springs – so the first thing you need to do is remove them! Begin by twisting the two half of the clothespin and removing one side. Then you’ll easily be able to remove the clip from the other half. Do this with 32 clothespins.

Glue the Clothespins

Keep your clothespins and your glue handy, because you’re going to glue a bunch of pairs together! You’ll start by gluing the flat sides of clothespins. You’ll need 32 of these pairs, which are 32 clothespin halves.

Place a line of glue down the flat side of a clothespin half and press the other side to it. Hold and let dry. Repeat with the other clothespins and let them all dry.

Create Your Design

Now you’re going to create the design. The best way for you to do this is to first lay out your clothespins into the trivet shape before you glue, just to make sure everything fits together.

Then start gluing! Place glue on the side of a clothespin, and then sandwich another clothespin to it . . .

then hold then together to let them set.

Continue working your way around the circle, gluing clothespins together and holding.

You’re going to continue working around the “imaginary circle” in the middle, gluing clothespins to make your trivet.

Once you finish, your trivet should look like this, and you should let it dry completely. I actually made two of these bad boys!

Sealing the Trivet

Now here’s the part that’s fun and easy. You’re going to seal your trivet with some cutting board oil! This will keep it from cracking when hot temperatures are constantly applied.

Add the oil to a small container, then use a paintbrush to apply over the entire top surface.

Get in the nooks and crannies with a paintbrush – a smaller paintbrush makes it easier.

After you’re done, you’re going to rub the oil away (what didn’t soak in) and then let dry. Repeat two more times for a total of three coats of cutting board oil on your DIY trivet.

Update 2024: Great comment from Dave in regard to sealing this project: “Use regular mineral oil purchased at the drug store for about a fifth of the cost. Also I would recommend that you “soak” the trivet in mineral oil to be sure it soaks fully into the wood. Let it soak for a couple hours, remove excess and let it dry for a couple DAYS! No need to re-coat a second time; it’s protected.”

Guess what, my friends? Your trivet(s) are ready to accept hot dishes! Just like a tile trivet. We road tested them and they can handle a boiling pot straight from the stove or a hot dish directly from the oven. Plus the natural wood looks so nice, especially when accented with the oil. These make great gifts!

I’d love to know if you make this easy adult craft, and what you think of it in the comments!

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I’d also love for you to take a peek at these other awesome ideas:

• DIY Light Fixtures For Your Home to Obsess Over
• How to Make Cork Trivets in Four Easy Steps
• This Clothespin Clock is Easy to Make
• DIY Wine Cork Wreath for Easy Decor
• Yarn Wall Hanging on a Budget in a Few Easy Steps