Acorn Baby Walnut Cradles

This is the idea I have been trying to work out, as a way of using up some of the not so perfect walnut shell halves I bought in a 1kg bag from eBay of a few weeks ago.

There’s not a lot to them, but I think, now they are sitting on my desk, there’s room for improvement.

I used  irregular walnut shell halves, a natural, wooden bead and some very small acorn cups, collected by Iris and Bertie last autumn, so they (the cup not Iris and Bertie) have had plenty of time to dry out.

I started by drilling a hole at each end of the shell, aligned as equally as I could, so that the cradle would balanced when hung.

I then added a gold or silver cord through the holes, with the knots on the inside, so as not to show.  I did add some glue to hold the knots in place, but then decided it wasn’t really necessary.

Then with a generous dollop of glue gun glue in the bottom, I placed the baby in the shell, the cotton bud stem giving me some leeway to bend the head into position.

To make the babies I glued an acorn  cup and a wooden bead together and then added two tiny 2mm black flat back gems for the eyes. I used gems instead of drawing the eyes as I didn’t want to run the risk of the ink bleeding into the unvarnished wood or getting odd sized, wonky eyes.

I then rammed a trimmed off cotton bud into the bead holes and wrapped the stem with a bit of cotton wool pad to form a sort of body to help provide a base to hold the “baby” in place inside the walnut shell, if you know what I mean.  It also provided the air drying clay cover with something to lie on and stop the possibility of it sinking into the shell when dried out.

Using white Hobbycraft Superlight Air Drying clay (£1 for a 30g packet, lots of other colours available), I fashioned a cover big enough to go across and just over the sides of the cradle, a bit like putting the pastry top on a pie.  I am really enjoying working with this clay, despite it’s odd chewing gum type texture. It really does dry super quick to a good solid finish.  I am just wondering if it could be lightly coloured perhaps or even drawn on????   I have since ordered quite a few more packets, as I can see me using it time after time in the run up to this Christmas and beyond.

Once I was happy with the cover positioning, I added  a little mock stitching across the top fold and the sides using a pin, which I know I need to fine tune.

The final touch came from two, tiny, holly hole punchies (Hobbycraft, £1, a year or so ago) with three, tiny 2mm red, pearl gems for the berries, to add a little extra colour and texture.

I think they work,  but now these have been photographed they are destined to have the covers removed and done again. While I was playing with ideas for decoration, the clay became quite grey and battered looking, however, it shouldn’t take too long to put right.  I also wonder, if I make any more, should I perhaps put a “pillow” behind the babies head?

And this (below) is my disaster ………. I was thinking  about making an Autumnal cradle, colouring the clay with felt pen, then kneading it in and using the leaf scatter confetti I got from The Range ………

…… but where I was after a whimsical, soft, natural look, I ended up with brash and over the top.  It’s all too much, so I am off to the drawing board again to try using small punched leaves and softer colours instead ……..