Time for this month's CHA Designer Crafts Connection Blog Hop! This month the theme is Thanksgiving / Fall so here's a look at one of my favorite projects - fun little trees made out of polymer clay.
Gobble Gobble Gobble!!
Figuring out the engineering is probably my favorite part of designing a craft. For the tree, I set a piece of armature wire in a pot full of plaster to act as the trunk. Then I constructed some cones out of half circles of paper to act as molds for the polymer clay tree "skirts". I also rolled out some clay balls and logs to act as spacers between the "skirts".
Plaster filled pot, clay spacers and paper cones
Basic Shape A-OK!
Once I got the design of the structure right, it was time to go to town! To form the skirts, I rolled out sheets of white polymer clay, added texture and draped each sheet on a paper cone to get that funnel shape. I added a few clay cutouts and then into the oven they went. I also made a little turkey tree topper by adding a clay tail and head to a tiny gourd body. Once the clay came out of the oven, I painted everything with acrylics. (I also painted the pot and used paint pens to write text along the rim.) Once all the individual pieces were ready, I assembled everything with just a little glue to hold each part in place.
I Can See Your House From Here!
And of course, I couldn't stop there. I went on a crafting spree and made an entire collection of holiday trees!
My Holiday Forest
From left to right above - Thanksgiving/Fall, Winter Wonderland, Halloween, Partridge in a Pear Tree, Valentine's Day.
Holiday Inn
All the trees are topped with tiny gourds with extra clay details like the snowman's hat and scarf. Oh! I almost forgot - each tree stands about fifteen inches tall so they make fun centerpieces. Now that's some Holiday Whobee Whatee for you!
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Be sure to check out all the other fabulous holiday projects in the Designer Crafts Connection Blog Hop! Just click "hop forward" or "hop backward" on the DC Connection badge to visit the other blogs.
















