Friday 25 August 2017

Nativity Scene In A Walnut Shell Tree Decoration.

I seem to be a glutton for punishment as far as making myself crossed eyed is concerned! This is an idea I found on Pinterest, I did do something similar, but smaller, in bottle caps a couple of years back so I already had an idea how to make the figures.
Nativity Scene in a walnut.  Walnut Christmas decorationI started off by making said figures in Fimo and then popped them in the oven giving them a little extra time to what the instructions said, to make doubly sure they were really “cooked”.
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I baked them with their halos (silver jump rings) and shepherds crooks (bent jewellery copper wire) in place, however they didn’t stick, quelle surprise, so I used tiny amounts of E6000 to set them when the figures had gone cold.
Walnut Nativity Christmas decorationWhile the figures were in the oven I split the walnuts as carefully as I could, but some did go by the wayside. I then put a little yellow/gold fimo at the wider end of the walnut and then baked them too. I wasn’t sure if the fimo would stay in place, but fortunately it did.  This then gave me a base on which to stand the figures.  Looking at the finished results now,  I think that when I make some more (when I can find some more walnuts) I can get away with using a lot less fimo in perhaps a subtler shade of light brown. 
I drilled a hole at the pointed end of the walnut for an eye screw hook to hang the finished decoration from, using a little E6000 again for a really secure bond.
Walnut Christmas Decoration. Nativity in a walnutI made around fifteen sets of figures, the sizes differ to account for the varying sizes of the walnuts which I married to the figures accordingly.
I now have to wait for walnuts to hit the shops before I can continue with a few more of the ideas I have ……….. lesson learned from last year, always buy a few more of anything that you think you might need, especially if you plan to start your festive crafting in the summer!

3 comments:

Cheryl W said...

These are adorable! I still treasure the bottle cap nativity you sent to me!

tilly said...

these are soooo cute, wish I could do fiddley ! Tilly

marc said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE but spiting walnuts drove me mad its harder than you think keep some e6000 at hand to fix broken ones no will know lol big love marc