|
Finished clothespin dolls dressed at skiers. |
Clothespin dolls dressed as skiers have been crafted by many people to decorate Christmas trees for the past 100 years.
I have made two of my own versions here . . . both female and male. They wear the fashions of modern skiers: their coats are made of tiny sock remnants; their warm hoods, ear muffs and scarves are fashioned after the winter sportswear worn on the slopes of Colorado today.
Supply List:- wooden clothespins
- wooden craft sticks
- wooden toothpicks
- scrap cardboard
- baby socks
- chenille stems
- pom poms
- yarn
- two or three cotton balls
- yarn for hair
- acrylic paints for painted eyes
- needle and thread
- hot glue gun and hot glue
- wood glue
- felt scraps
Step-by-Step Instructions:
- First, paint your clothespin head a flesh color.
- Use a solid bright color like blue, yellow or red to paint the skier's pant legs. Then paint their boots in an obvious contrasting color.
- Bend a chenille stem about the shoulder area of the clothespin below the neck. Tape and glue this in place.
- Wrap the arms and neck of this chenille stem using yarn or twine.
- Trim off the arms to an arm length but leave enough to wrap around the end point of a toothpick.
- Cover these "hands" with a bit of cotton batting and wood glue. Paint the mittens a color you like.
- Cut tiny round shapes from cardboard to insert the opposite ends of the toothpick through to make the ski poles. Paint them if you like.
- Cut wooden craft sticks into the shapes of skies. My skies have traditional pointed tips.
- Use the wood glue to attach the tiny toy skies to the ends of each clothespin leg. Let the glue dry solid.
- Use felt scraps to trim a faux fur about the top of the boots if you like. I show the male skier with this trim.
- Now cut and shape with a needle and thread the coats of each doll. I layered cotton underneath their jackets to make them look bulky. The coats are simple tube shapes.
- After fitting the coats to your clothespin doll body, glue it in place.
- Now use the remaining toe sections of the socks to shape hoods for each jacket and glue these in place, up or down.
- I glued ear muffs using pom poms and a colorful chenille stem onto the head of the male skier. He also has a black pom pom between the muffs to act as his hair.
- I glued a black yarn braid to the top of the girl skier's forehead after gluing her hood on the back of her head.
- I used a very tiny paint brush to make their eyes. First dab on the white and let this dry. Then add a tiny speck of black for the pupil.
|
The clothespin skiers are shown here from different angles so that you can see all the details. |
|
The male skier wears winter ski garments in yellow, grey, red and white. He is quite a fashion plate to behold on his way down the slopes, I think! |
|
The girl skier is his younger sister. She is also fashionably dressed in bright blue and hot pink! |
|
Both wooden dolls are ready to conquer the slopes and meet with friends afterwards for hot cocoa. |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your thoughts. All comments are moderated. Spam is not published. Have a good day!