Tutorial: How to Make an Easy Swedish Christmas Paper Mache Tomte

God Jul! That means Merry Christmas in Svenska and once again I'm on a quest to meld my husband's Swedish Christmas traditions along with my own American ones to create our own little Christmas.  This year I decided to try to make a paper mache tomte or tomten.  Here is how you can do it too.

Tags: #swedish #tomte #tomten #christmas #elves #tutorial #crafts #decor #paper #mache #diy 

Supply List:

acrylic craft paint

1.9 inch (48 mm) floral foam balls

Activa CelluClay 

water

wide furry ribbon (or furry fabric)

scrap red fleece 

white embroidery thread or any other desired embellishments 

sewing machine with thread or fabric glue

masking tape

plastic knife

newspaper

scrap cardboard from an old box

hot glue gun and glue sticks

Special thank you to Activa for providing me with CelluClay in lieu of me having to mix joint compound and tissue paper in my kitchen. Woo hooo!

Steps:

First I mixed up my paper clay.  With Activa CelluClay you simply add water and kneed to make air dry, paper mache clay.  It's quick to make with less mess, it works great, it's affordable and made from 100% recycled paper.  Talk about a game changer! I totally fell in love with it!

First a drew up a simple dome shape for the body.  I then traced it on a flap from and old shipping box and cut it out. Next I started padding the cutout (on both sides) with crumpled newspaper adding a little hot glue to help hold in place.  I then wrapped the entire body in paper masking tape to help it hold its form.

I hot glued a round foam ball to the top to make the head and another piece of cardboard (cut in a circle) to the bottom to make it stand easier.

Next I covered the entire form in the paper clay using a damp plastic knife to smooth the clay.  I rolled a small ball of clay, added it to the center of the "head" to create a nose and allowed it to dry.

Lots of the things like weather and the thickness of the clay can effect drying time.  You can also use a hair dryer on the project to help speed drying time.  Just make sure the clay is completely dry prior to adding paint.

Once the clay was dry I painted using acrylic craft paint.

Once again I was really impressed with the clay.  It held the paint well and dried quickly.

To make the hat, I cut two triangles from the fleece, stitched a little design on the front of one and sewed it close down both sides.

I used a sewing machine to close the sides but you could always hand stitch or use fabric glue.

I then cut out a beard from the furry ribbon....

and hot glued it to the face.

Next I secured the hat to the head using hot glue and I was all done.

I'm super happy how he turned out! Paper (or papier)  mache is indeed the best kept secret in crafting and home decor.  Many people think that it's either just for kids and for someone with major sculpting skills. That is NOT the case at all.  You can make virtually anything out of paper mache and it is super easy to use! I love it because your really don't HAVE to sculpt.  You just create a base, cover it and done!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and Sweden's Greetings, my friends!

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Tutorial: How to Make an Easy Swedish Christmas Paper Mache Tomte

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Additional Information On Supplies:

Some of the products I used are available at Amazon via the affiliate picture links below.


         

topics: #paper #mache #papier #crafts #paper #recycled #upcycled #diy #tutorial #Christmas #home #Swedish #tomte #tomten #decor