Personalized Nutcracker Tutorial

Here is a fun holiday project you can make for yourself or as a gift.

I am always on the lookout for things to fix up, make over or personalize.  I was in a drugstore last week and came across these nutcrackers.  Nutcrackers have been made to be all kinds of things and make them perfect for gift-giving and collectinng.  They can become movie characters, sport figures, animals, or representatives of countries, hobbies and occupations.  They are the perfect item to personalize for your own holiday decor or to give as a gift.  In this tutorial I will transform a three-pack of small 3-inch nutcrackers and one large nutcracker with Creative Paperclay and some acrylic paints.  Here is a list of supplies to gather.

• I package of Creative Paperclay
• acrylic craft paint
• paintbrushes
• container of water
• gesso
• Fabritac or other basic glue
• aluminum foil (optional)
• varnish (optional)

Here are the small nutcrackers fresh out of the package. The first step is to rip off any ornamentation that is not desired, especially the hair.  Hair can usually be pulled off easily and saved to be replaced after you repaint your figure.

Press the Creative Paperclay onto the nutcrackers to form simple shapes for your desired themes.  Nutcrackers are usually stiff and have clean, simple shapes. In this example I chose a male and female gnome and a football player.  Once your new clothing is sculpted allow the figure to dry overnight.  When the figure is dry, lightly paint any areas that will need to be repainted with gesso.  In this case I covered the original uniforms and the female's face (since I didn't want her to have a mustache!).

Use your acrylic paints to paint the new clothing and faces.

Here are the newly transformed figures!  The gnomes will be handy gifts and the football player is now proudly representing my daughters' high school football team.

If you would like to tackle a larger project, this is a 14-inch nutcracker.  This fine gentleman was stripped down first and is on his way to an Alice in Wonderland makeover.

Here he is with all of his unnecessary items pulled off, ready to be transformed.

I pressed on a simple Mad Hatter style hat and bulked out his arms a bit.

I decided I wanted him to have a longer coat so I used aluminum foil to fill in some space so I would not have to use as much clay to lengthen the jacket.  I also wanted some more substantial looking boots.

Here is the new jacket and boots.  I allowed the nutcracker to dry overnight and painted any exposed paint with gesso.

Once the Creative Paperclay and gesso had dried, I painted the basic clothing.

Details make all the difference in the final piece.  In order to get a little more Alice In Wonderland feel, I added a bit of the Queen of Hearts, the Cheshire Cat's smile, some mushroom cap sleeves, some beaded hat pins, the "Eat Me" cake and "Drink Me" bottle, and a few of my favorite quotes.  You may add a protective coat of varnish to preserve your work, too.  I replaced the hair with a bit of new faux fur, but you should be able to reuse the hair you pulled off initially.

These are just a few ideas of what you can create.  You can transform your nutcracker to fit any person- think of their hobbies, interests, occupations, etc.  You may want a nutcracker to compliment your decor or have one that has been beaten up a little over the years that you want to make new again.  A little Creative Paperclay and paint can transform that dollar store or tired old nutcracker into something you can love for years to come!
Think big, be creative and Happy Holidays!

Halloween Ornament Recycling Project

My girls and I just decorated our house top to bottom for Halloween.  Part of that exciting day is pulling out all of our costumes and seeing what we have to work with.  It is always interesting to inspect the mangled remains of wigs that managed to look decent for one or two days of wear (if you didn't move too much and definitely did not try to brush it). But what can you do with them once they are matted and tangled?  I have the perfect project that will keep that wig out of the landfill AND give you some fun, recycled Halloween Shrunken Head ornaments for years to come!

Here is a list of items you will need

• Halloween costume wig- the messier the better
• Creative Paperclay 
• acrylic paints in browns and black
• paint brush
• small bit of wire (or a paperclip) and wire cutters
• scrap fabric (I rip woven cotton and cut strips of burlap, or raid discarded costume parts)
• wooden beads
• assortment of string, twine, raffia
• scissors
• Glue (I am using Fabri-tac for this sample and highly recommend it for this project)
• about 12 inches of aluminum foil

1.  Begin by scrunching up and shaping your aluminum foil into a rough head shape with a "neck" as shown in the photo.  The neck is important because you will be adding decorative elements later.
   
   
2. My example is made of Creative Paperclay but you can use polymer clay as well. Cover the foil base with the paperclay and rough out a face.  The beauty of sculpting a shrunken head is that you do not have to worry about it being a perfect face.  In fact, the more lopsided, bumpy and odd it is the more character it will have!  If you want open eyes you can simply press black beads into your clay and roll clay eyelids over the top as shown in the photo on the left below.  I wanted mine to have eyes "sewn" shut so I covered the eyes and rolled small pieces of paperclay to look like stitches.
   
3. Use a sculpting tool or toothpick to make holes in the lips and ears.  You can also add holes at the brows or insert a stick or broken toothpick through the nose.  Be sure the holes are large enough that you will be able to get your thread through them later.
   
4. Cut about 2 inches of wire and twist into to form a loop on one end (as shown in the supplies photo).  You can also use half of a paperclip bent to a similar shape.  Insert into the top of the head. You will attach a string hanger to this later.
5. Allow your head to dry completely.
6. Once your head is dry you are ready to give this guy or gal some character!  Paint the head in your selected colors.  I am using a selection of browns and blacks for my example but you can really go crazy here- especially if you have some crazy wig colors, or try glow-in-the-dark paint!  Again, a rough paint job only adds to the rustic charm so don't worry about skill levels, just have fun.
   
7. Once your paint is dry it is time to thread your chosen string through the holes in the face and ears.  Tie at least one knot to secure string before adding beads.  Use your imagination and remnants here-braid in raffia, tie in a feather, add a stray plastic spider, etc.
   
8. To decorate the neck run some glue around the surface to secure your fabric to. Now take your ripped fabric and/or burlap and tie it to the neck.  You can also add more of your string or raffia here depending on the overall look you desire.
   
9. To apply the hair, gather small portions of the wig's hair in about 8-inch lengths and cut in a straight line.  Keep that cut line in your fingers, apply glue along that edge and work the glue into the tips of the hair to bind it together. Set this piece aside to dry and continue cutting and gluing clumps of hair.  Some wigs can be very knotted but keep in mind that this will look great once it is applied and go ahead and cut right through knots or matted areas.  You will need about 5 or six lengths of hair for most heads.
   
10. Apply a fairly wide glue strip along hairline on your sculpted head and place your lengths of hair TOWARD the face and neck as shown. This will give you a clean hairline once you pull the hair up to style it.  Wait a few minutes for the glue to set. 
    
     
11. Tie a long piece of twine to the wire loop.  This will be your hanger so make sure it is longer than your hair. 
12. Now it is time to style the hair. If you have fairly straight hair clumps (like the ones I have here) you can tease the hair for a fuller look. Now gather the hair up above the head and tie it to the twine hanger. Your shrunken head is complete and ready to hang!