DIY cotton wool toys for the Christmas tree

New Year's celebration is a favorite celebration of adults and children. They wait for it all year and carefully carry out preparatory measures. One of them is purchasing and decorating a Christmas tree. A variety of garlands and toys are used for festive attire. The easiest way is to buy them in a store, but it is much more interesting to make decorations with your own hands. This way you will not only get a beautiful Christmas tree decoration, but also give your tree an original and extraordinary look.

What you need for DIY cotton toys

The simplest option for making your own decoration would be a product made from cotton wool. The Christmas tree was decorated with such figures in the old days. For various figures: vegetables, animals, birds or fish, as well as numerous fairy-tale characters, you will need the following materials:

1. Cotton wool.
2. Wire. It should be quite rigid, but at the same time bend without difficulty.
3. PVA glue.
4. Foil. You can use chocolate packaging or baking foil.
5. Paper. Notebook or landscape sheets, newspaper, sheets for printing.
6. Paints. Acrylic or gouache.
7. Scissors and brushes.
8. Decorative elements: sparkles, sequins, beads.

IMPORTANT! Do not use PVA in its pure form.To use, dilute the glue with boiled water in a ratio of 2:1.

General features of creating toys from cotton wool

Before you start work, you need to decide on the type of future product. To do this, it is advisable to depict your idea on paper. Next, you need to prepare the materials and tools necessary for creation. Then you can move on to the manufacturing process.

No matter how complex your craft is, there are a number of common features for creating them. This is making a frame and ensuring sufficient volume.

Frame making

This is the initial stage for creating complex toys - various figures that have several parts: human figures, animals or birds.

In this case, the work is performed as follows:

1. Create a drawing of the future product.
2. Mark on it the lines of the basis of the future structure. For example, for a person it will be the body, arms, legs.
3. Twist several pieces of wire according to the resulting pattern.
4. Wrap the frame with foil so that the workpiece has no sharp edges.

ATTENTION! For greater strength and adhesion of the elements to each other, it is better to fold the wire in several layers.

Adding volume

When creating a decoration from cotton wool, you should familiarize yourself in advance with the technique of adding volume to your product. To do this, you can use the following methods:

1. Wrap the workpiece with a sufficient amount of cotton wool, periodically gluing the layers and forming the desired contour using a strong thread.
2. Make a base from several layers of soft crumpled paper. For example, by crumpling a paper napkin into a compact ball and wrapping it in foil, all you have to do is apply a small layer of cotton wool and the round piece will be ready.

Options for cotton toys for the Christmas tree

Using this technique, you can build a huge number of different decorations for the Christmas tree. These include toys in the form of various characters from fairy tales: a bun, a snowman, and various figures: children, a cat, a bullfinch. You can also make many imitations of fruits and vegetables: mushrooms, radishes, carrots. Whatever your imagination and creative impulse is enough for. Let's take a closer look at a few manufacturing examples.

Guys

Christmas tree decorations in the shape of people are the most popular option. To create it you need to complete the following steps:

• form, as described above, the frame of the figure;
• wrap the base with paper, to add volume in the right places, and with foil;
• Lubricate the base well with the adhesive solution;
• Apply layers of cotton wool in a spiral and, using a knitting needle or toothpick, give the workpiece the desired shape;
• saturate the workpiece with a starch solution, then you need to let the base dry;
• paint the figures with paints and cover the top with acrylic varnish.

REFERENCE! Toy men can be decorated with various decor: sparkles, beads, beads and ribbons.

Snowman made of cotton wool

What would a New Year's celebration be without a cheerful snowman? This permanent hero and constant companion of Santa Claus is simply necessary to decorate the forest beauty.

To implement this you will need a toothpick, cotton wool, glue and some decor.

Execution process:

• roll three dense balls of different sizes from cotton wool;
• treat the surface of the balls with an adhesive solution and secure them with a toothpick;
• use the decor to create handles, a scarf and a snowman hat;
• paint the product with paints, you can sprinkle the character with pearlescent glitter;
• coat the product with acrylic varnish.

Bullfinch

This lovely bird is one of the symbols of winter.Therefore, the image of this bird is the most popular as a Christmas tree decoration.

It is performed as follows:

• we form the bird’s body from cotton wool as shown in the photo;

• Next, we make the bird’s beak;

• we treat the surface with an adhesive solution and, after drying, paint it with paints;

• Cover the finished figurine with acrylic varnish.

Boletus mushroom

Using the method below, you can build not only a boletus, but also any other fungus, changing the color of the product.

First, take a cotton swab and use cotton wool to form a mushroom stalk. Then, using paper, we make a blank for the hat and glue it to the leg. Cover the resulting workpiece with a layer of cotton wool. Next, we paint our fungus and, after drying, cover it with acrylic varnish.

cat

This process will serve as a guide for making a toy in the form of any animal.

First, draw a cat on paper. Then follow these steps:

• bend the wire frame;

• wrap the workpiece with paper to add volume;
• wrap the resulting workpiece with foil;
• cover the base with cotton wool;
• paint the product with paints and cover with acrylic varnish.

Carrots and radishes

Decorations made from imitation fruits and vegetables look extraordinary and add bright colors to the New Year's tree. For example, we took carrots and radishes.

Execution process:

• to create a base you need to build a ball for the radish, and an oval made of cotton wool for the carrots;
• by slightly stretching a piece of cotton wool on one side and twisting it into a tight rope, you will get a tail of a vegetable;
• color the blank;

• we make the tops of the product from colored paper;

• We attach the tops to the base and, if desired, varnish.

Using the above examples as a basis, you can make other versions of toys.