DIY Gnomes and Angels out of Clay
Each year we search high and low to make some cute and unique Christmas decorations. We use them either as DIY ornaments or as handmade Christmas decorations for our home. These crafts need to be easy enough for kids to help to make them since this is one of our favorite family Christmas tradition! So this year, we decided to make some DIY gnomes and angels out of clay!!!
These are super easy to make and such a fun craft!!! You can use homemade clay, using our recipe here, or use store-bought modeling clay. I had a package of modeling clay lying around forever, so we used that this time.
Materials you will need to make DIY gnomes and angels out of clay
- Modeling clay or homemade clay, white or colored per your preferences
- Simple modeling tools or use what you have in your home, like spatulas or spoons
- Acrylic paint and small paintbrushes if you want to color the sculptures
- A bowl with some water to use as glue or for when the clay dries out
- Fine sanding paper
How to make DIY Clay Gnomes
Making DIY gnomes out of clay is fairly simple if you want to keep it simple. All you need is to form a cylinder-shaped body, a round puffy nose, and a beanie made out of rolled out clay. Put it all together and use some water as glue. I made mine small. Their body had a height of approximately 5 cm.
If you want to use them as decorations, make sure they stand upright on their own. On the other hand, if you want to use them as fridge magnets, make sure their backs are flat and the beanie is aligned correctly.
You can add some details to the gnomes beard if you want.
If the parts don’t stay glued, you can use some crafting glue or hot glue to secure them in place when everything is dry.
Let the sculpture dry completely, turning it from now to then. Don’t dry it too fast near a heating source, since that can lead to cracks in the clay.
Once dry and everything is in place, use the sanding paper to smooth any edges out.
Color the figure if you want with paint and brushes. I use my portable painting station for this! It’s really practical! Check it out here: DIY Painting Station Hack for Small Projects
You can add a magnet or a ribbon with a hot glue gun on the back and use them as tree ornaments or fridge magnets.
DIY Angels out of clay
To make the clay angels, you will need to roll the clay out. Use two cookie cutters. One round-shaped and one heart-shaped, in appropriate sizes. Also, you will need to form a round head for the angel.
Assemble the angel by using water as glue. Put the head on top of the heart which will become the angel’s wings. Then put the round shape over the heart, so it becomes the angel’s body. Now fold the round shaped edges, so it will look like the angel’s clothes.
You can add some details to it if you want.
Let the angel dry completely. If needed, secure the parts with some glue.
When dry, use sanding paper to smooth everything out. You can add some color to the angel if you want to. I like them mostly white, but my daughter wanted to add some glittery gold to them!
Make Christmas special!!!
And this was our Christmas craft for this year! DIY gnomes and angels out of clay!!! We are so happy with how they turned out that we will be giving some of them away together with our Christmas presents! I hope everyone likes them! We try to make Christmas special each year, and I believe that spending time together is the key to that!
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