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My guest blogger Tatiana Belozerova is an artist and a craftsman who makes very cute decorative toys. She shared her DIY on how to make a snowman. Love it! We will follow her instruction and make one too! Not this year yet... I would like my son to enjoy the process and he is too young this year still for this DIY.
Here is Tatiana's instruction:
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Today I would like to show you how to make a snowman in a technique that is called cotton paper-mache. This is a traditional toy making technique that was around for centuries!
The materials you will need:
- wet wipes;
- flour paste or starch paste;
- natural cotton wool;
- toilet paper;
- white sewing thread;
- aluminum foil;
- newspapers;
- keep a wet towel or a bowl of water handy;
- brushes.
Use your imagination or check Internet for the snowmen designs before you start.
Form a slightly damp newspaper into the lumps of the desired shapes (I used toilet paper for the smallest one), then carefully wrap them in aluminum foil forming a snowman.
I wanted a cute fat snowman, so I filled its waist line with the toilet paper first, then I wrapped it with the foil again (I did not have to make this "waist" in the first place and could form a little fat snowman body out of newspapers from the beginning).
Next wrap the whole body with the layers of the cotton wool, leaving no gaps, then tightly wrap it with the threads. Add more wool in the process if you need to improve the body shape.
Take a flat and wide bristle brush and pick up some flour paste with it (a good amount of it!), then tear the small pieces of the cotton wool, place each piece onto the body and brush it with the paste.
The next step is to make hands. I use a knitting needle for this. Rip a strip of the cotton wool and coat it with the paste on both sides, then wrap it around the needle to form a hand. Leave the ends of the hands loose for the convenience of attaching them to the body.
Use small pieces of the cotton wool to glue the hands to the body.
The nose is made the same way. A piece of the cotton wool is wrapped around the knitting needle and attached with the small pieces of the cotton wool and flour paste.
You can make a hat or a bucket for your snowman's head. You can even crochet them if you know how. It is all up to you!
I made a scarf out of a wet wipe. I coated it with the paste, formed a scarf and wrapped it around my snowman's neck.
Leave your snowman to dry well when it is formed. Then paint it with the white acrylic paint and leave it to dry again. Then you can you color it with the acrylic paints, gouache or watercolor. Varnish your your snowman. You can use hair spray for this. Use glitter if you like!
I hope my instruction is going to be helpful! I wish you good luck and great imagination!
Tatiana Belozerova (Bushmanova).
My online shop (Russian)
