Its safe to show you my gift now for the Christmas Decoration Swap ran by Marsha at http://sassyminidolls.blogspot.com/ because it has arrived with my partner. Here's a link to my swap partner Moriah at http://mlbetterly.blogspot.com/ I love Moriahs work, its amazing!
For some days i played around with trying to make a large candle with an elecrtic tealight inserted that flickered. I wanted the candle to have a face similar to my miniature candles but more detailed. I tried and tried for days, each step kept going wrong and in the end gave up. I know it would have been lovely but really struggled to work in such a large scale.
So i made a stocking instead. The candycanes and gingerbread are polymer clay. The foil wrapped sweets can be eaten. I dyed the material myself and used my mini sewing machine (£30 one in previous posts to sew it together... great machine).
Next year i'll try for that candle again!
Very creative. Nice!
ReplyDeleteYour ornament is beautiful Nikki! I'm sure that Moriah loves it!
ReplyDeleteIts gorgeous Nikki, Moriah is very lucky to have you as a swap partner :)
ReplyDeleteJulia xxx
Its fabulous Nikki. I'm sure Moriah Loves it. An ornament and chocolates what could be better. xxx
ReplyDeleteI love this stocking the gingerbread man is so cute i could eat him!
ReplyDeleteI just love the stocking you created for Moriah! I know what you're getting, tee hee!!!
ReplyDeleteYou two gals are so talented! I KNOW you'll figure out that candle!!
xxoo
You are so talented. I love that stocking.
ReplyDeleteReally Great Stocking. So Pretty!!
ReplyDelete-Kim :)
LOVE IT!! I really like the turned up toe. It has Elf written all over it...LOL!!!
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Regi
Beautiful arrangement. Great idea.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful ! Are the leaves and berries hand made or silk leaves? Do you just use a normal cookie cutter for the gingerbread mean, Id love to know how you made the gingerbread men and decorated them, what colour fim etc as Id like to have a go making some for the tree for the children. I know they dont like them to eat so fimo ones would be great. Thanks Nikki, Kate xxx
ReplyDeleteGlad you all like the swap.
ReplyDeleteKate, the leaves and berries i bought in hobbycraft last year but know they have some again this year. I just took them apart and rearranged.
I made the gingerbread man without a cutter. I just printed of the shape, cut it out, they lay it over the clay and used a really sharp knife to cut around. Then i just held it carfeully and smoothed all the edges. I did give it a little bit of a paint. I mixed the gingerbread colour paint with pva (half and half) and stippled it so there was a little texture. I think i used my stippling brush while the clay was still soft too for texture (cant remember). Think i did two layers of the stippling with the paint and pva.
To make the icing i mixed pva with acrylic paint (half and half) and used a cocktail stick to paint the patterns on. just do lots of dots ad then run the cocktail stick back and forward.
Kate, you could tie pretty ribbons around their necks add real buttons. You could also dry brush darker edges to make them more realistic.
I painted the pink cheeks with just acrylics.
Have you seen the gingerbread with chewed off legs? You could do them too and have some with arms and parts of their heads missing etc.
If you need any help just ask.
You could always get a cutter for the children to make it easier for them or even make with salt dough.
If you need loads of clay you could use the large block of fimo for doll making and add some brown and white clay to it so its not so pink before painting. Its a nice soft clay so will be easy for the children to mix and smooth etc.
Have fun!
Forgot to say.
ReplyDeleteKate to get the gingerbread colour in the clay mix white, lots of yellow ochre, maybe some sahara and some kind of oaty colour, maybe a little brown too.
Same with the paint, make sure there is some ochre in the mix.
Nikki xxx
Such a lovely gift, I'm sure Marsha was thrilled when she received it! I know what you went through with you candle project. Sometimes what is in your head is harder to produce than you think it will be. You were smart to bail out and save the project for another day. Maybe when you are not under such a time pressure, the method will present itself to you? Hopefully. Sounds like a cool project!
ReplyDeleteWow, so cool. Looks like you put a lot of time into that.
ReplyDeleteI truly love it, Nikki! I'll post about it on my blog here soon. Thanks so much for an awesome ornament!! Hugs!
ReplyDeleteThanks Nikki I HAVE to try this and the children are going to love it especailly lola! Loads of great tips thankyou, i hope they come out half as good as yours! a trip to Hobbycraft too me thinks to check out their Christmas goodies and hint to John about one of those sewing machine, may help my fear of sewing!!! Kate xxxx
ReplyDeleteOooo, your talents cross many paths! You have a good eye!
ReplyDeleteI'm jealous! I pretend to have artistic abilities, but this stocking is amazing!
ReplyDelete