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!

2012 Ornament Design

After many weeks of debate I finally have a complete ornament design for this year!  I debated the concept and design quite a bit.  It was a multi-stage process and I thought you might enjoy seeing how it all came about.  

 

The theme word was they easy part - "Peace".

Easy enough - now how to best set it off?  Originally, I thought I might stick with the general design I had in last year's "Dream" ornaments but change it up and add my favorite harlequin pattern.  So here was Option 1.

 Nice.  I love the pattern but it felt like I had been there and done that.  So I went in a completely different direction.  I had this cute little face begging to be tried out and I decided I would go for a more traditional round-shaped ornament.  Here is Option 2.

Cute, but I still wasn't jumping up and down with excitement.  So back to the drawing board.  I had the idea last year that a stocking would be a great shape to start with. I also threw in the harlequin print for some extra character and tested some fabric rope trim.  And so came Option 3.

Anticipation was mounting but I knew this was not quite it.  I loved the sweet face, the hair was a definite must-use, the shape was great, the pattern really brought it in to my Griffinwyse-y mood but it still needed something.  I realized this really looked like a Carpathian elf and Christmas is the Polar Elves' domain.  Polar elves are happy, lively and traditional with a twist.  Color was one missing element.  I also loved the sweet sleeping elf but wanted to try adding in some individuality and spunk with wide-eyed elflings.  I changed up the harlequin print to a four-color combination, sculpted a new open-eye elf and painted away.  Here is what emerged.

At last!  This had all the best elements of each trial, in my humble opinion of course.  I believe it brings together that one-of-a-kind, hand made, character-unique feeling I strive to bring to my work.  The variety in each piece will be in the individual faces and hair of each elf. I am limiting this to a 25-piece run.  These take quite a bit of time to sculpt and the painting is equally extensive.  This first ornament numbered 1/25 will be available shortly to those people who are signed up for my Members Mailing List and receive my quarterly newsletters.  If you have not signed up please head to my website www.griffinwyse.com and sign up. The rest of the ornaments will be making their way into my shop around the beginning of October!  

Happy Early Holidays!