Cloth Ball Ornaments

Cloth Ball Ornaments



These are very time consuming but utterly gorgeous. They're also apt to set off metal detectors, so if you're making them for gifts and flying, please put them in the checked luggage.

You will need:
Holiday cloth, preferably quilting cotton or iron-safe velvet
Styrofoam balls, about three inches across
A rotary blade, a cutting mat, and a cutting ruler (or you'll be at this forever)
Innumerable sequin pins (or at least ninety per ball)
Wide and narrow ribbon
A corsage pin or other long, attractive pin (but not longer than the ball is wide!) plus two long pins with attractive ends
Sequins, if desired
Crazy glue

You begin by cutting strips of cloth 2 1/2 inches wide and ironing them in half with the good side out. Then you cut the strip into 2 1/2 inch sections (so that if you unfolded them, they would be square.) Then you fold the already folded edge down on either side of the center so that they are triangles and iron again. You will need at least forty such triangles for one ball, preferably in pairs or fours or eights so that each side matches.

To begin, you take a square or scrap that hasn't been ironed and pin it down on one side of the ball. Then you take some of your ironed triangles and unfold them enough to stick a pin through the point. Pin four of those onto the cloth square so that the folded edges are up, as in the center of the picture above. Pin down their corners so that they lay more or less flat against the ball.

Take eight more triangles, possibly of alternating colors, and put pins in their points as well. Pin them halfway up the place where the folds meet on the center triangles and at the same distance from the center in between the triangles. Always overlap them the same direction— make sure that the right side of the triangle goes over the left side, or vice versa. Pin down their points. I find that it saves time and pins to overlap them first, then pin down through the top layer near the points.

Once again, take eight triangles and put pins in their points, and pin them halway down the place where the folds meet on the previous layer. Overlap as before and pin the edges down. The only pins that should be visible at this point are the ones on the outer edge.

Do the other side the same way, making sure that it is directly opposite the first side. I have had to pull out and start over when it became evident that I was way off the mark to begin with, so save yourself time and get it right at the start.

When both sides are done to your satisfaction, pin a length of the wide ribbon around the edges, folding the cut edge under before pinning. This makes it look finished. Then take a contrasting narrow ribbon and wrap it around the ornament as well, pinning it so that a three-inch loop hangs from the "top" of your ornament. Secure it in place with a final corsage pin, and when that is placed to your satisfaction, pull it out a bit, put a bit of glue on the pin, and push it back into place. That will hold it securely.

You may also put a pin with an iridescent or sequinned top in the center of each "star." When I made the ornament pictured above, I didn't have any pretty pins, so I did without.

Blown Egg Ornaments

Blown Eggs
Blown egg ornaments are inexpensive to make, and a lot of fun for the craft-minded. However, they do take some time so plan ahead.

You will need:
Eggs - keep the carton
Tiny drill bits
Something long, thin, and sharp - my father uses a medical instrument used to prick the skin for a blood droplet test. It looks like a claw.
A large bowl
Good lungs or a bulb for blowing eggs; you can also use a syringe

Let the eggs sit out at room temperature for an hour. This means, of course, that you'll have to use them within a day or two. Try to blow eggs just before a cookie-making session or have quiche for dinner. Decide which end you want to be the top; that end will get the larger hole. Take a tiny drill bit and a slightly larger one; use your fingers to make the holes in either end. (It is a bad idea to use a pin or a needle to make the holes because this will lead to cracked eggs.) Use the sharp thing to poke around in the egg; you want to not only break the yolk but make sure all interior membranes are broken.

Blow slowly and carefully into the smaller of the two holes; the egg should come out of the larger. If you blow too strongly you can crack the egg. Artificial aids are good to use if you have them. Set the blown eggs aside on a paper towel. When they are all done put the egg stuff in the refrigerator before proceeding. Get a bowl of soapy water; immerse the eggs. (You can also use a syringe to fill the eggs with soapy water.) Put your fingers over the holes and shake each egg so that the interior is throughly washed; drain and set aside.

This is the time consuming part. Put the eggs someplace until they are completely dry; this can take several days.

Now you will need:
Nylon string to hang the eggs; ribbon deteriorates over time
Hot glue or Krazy glue
Spray lacquer or clear nail polish
Spray paint and craft paint
Any decorations you wish to attach such as sequins, plastic gems, or ribbon

Once the eggs are dry, cut five-inch lengths of the string. Tie a knot in them to make a loop. Feed the knot end into the bigger hole of the egg and glue to secure. Make sure the hole is completely plugged; take a little glue and seal the other hole as well. Once the glue is dry, hang the eggs with cardboard or newspaper behind them; give them a light coating of spray lacquer. Turn them around and repeat. Let it dry and then give them a second coat. (This strengthens them.)

Use the spray paint to give them a base coat; careful spattering can acheive an artistic effect. Paint names, symbols, or pictures on them with the craft paint; glue confetti, glitter, or ribbons on as desired. Decoupage is also a good technique if you know it. Tie a bow around the base of the loop with a pretty ribbon.

Store the egg ornaments in the carton. Over the years you can build up quite a collection; my parents have several dozen, some going back for three or more decades.

Walnut Mice

Walnut Mice

The hardest part of this ornament is cracking the walnuts correctly.

You will need:
Whole walnuts (and a nutcracker)
Felt
Ribbon
Googly eyes
Pipe cleaners
Hot glue or Krazy Glue
Permanent marker

Carefully crack the walnuts along the line; the goal is to get a perfect walnut shell half. Empty out the walnut meat and eat as desired. The pointier end of the walnut shell is the nose of the mouse. Use the marker to put a nose on the little beastie. Draw some whiskers or make them out of pipe cleaners, if you desire. Cut out little half-circle felt ears; glue them on. Give the mouse some googly eyes. Glue a tiny bow on the mouse's "neck." Glue a pipe cleaner tail to the underside of the other end. Take a six-inch piece of pipe cleaner and glue it to the underside of one side; you use this to attach the mouse to a branch.

(Alternately, dry out a mini bagel that has had part of its top "eaten" by putting it in the oven on low heat for several hours; spray lacquer it and glue the walnut mouse right next to the eaten section. Attach a loop to the bagel and glue a ribbon to it.)

Paper Crane Ornaments

Paper Cranes
Paper cranes are a traditional Japanese symbol of peace. There is a legend that the person who folds a thousand cranes will get his wish. They're also very attractive on the Christmas tree.

You will need:
Heavy grade origami paper (try an Asian market for the best styles)
Strong thread
A long, sharp needle
Beads
Little metal rings, 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch
Ribbon, if you like

Fold paper cranes out of the paper. Here's a good How To. Thread the needle with lots of thread (but not so much that you get tangled in it.) Push the needle through the hole in the bottom until it comes out through the top of the crane. Pick a spot 1/4 inch from where the needle came out and push it through there and back out through the original hole. (Lightweight paper tears too easily for this to work.)

Choose which beads you want and put them on the thread. Thread one of the metal rings and then go back down through the beads to the crane. Stitch through the paper again, go back up through the beads, through the metal ring, and back down through the beads. Make sure the string of beads is tight. (But not excessively tight because it will tear the paper.) Push the needle through the top of the crane back down through the hole in the bottom.

Choose some more beads; string them and pick a bead to be the base. (There are many pendant beads for this purpose, but one that coordinates with the thread will also work. Go through that base bead just like you went through the metal ring on the top; go back up through the beads. Stitch through the paper and repeat going through the beads. When you are done, whip stitch around the base of the crane a few times, then slip the needle under the loops, knot the thread, and cut it off. Tie a ribbon bow to disguise the knot; hang from the metal loop.

Seashell Ornaments

Seashells
You will need:
Hot glue gun
Shells
Nylon string
Ribbon

This ornament idea came about primarily as a way to deal with an excessively large seashell collection, most of which never saw the light of day. You may have such a set as well, particularly if you have been given one of those little baskets of seashells that seem to be a common bathroom decoration.

Cut five-inch lengths of string, double them, and knot them. Glue them into the open end of the shell so that it hangs point down; in the case of scallops, glue unobtrusively to the hinge area. Tie a ribbon bow around the string where it meets the shell.

If you have a number of spiral shells of the same type and size, you can make stars. Arrange them on a table, open ends facing in, until you know how many will fit together. Carefully apply hot glue around the open edge of one shell and hold it next to its neighbor until the glue cools. Continue with the rest of the shells until the star is complete, gluing the loop into one of the joins. Tie ribbon around the loop.

Sand dollars are also fun, though fragile. (They are best found on the beaches around San Francisco in October if you can stand the cold; leave them in a bucket of diluted bleach for a week or so, then dry. Don't worry about getting all of the sand out. You can't.) Glue a loop into the hole on the backside, then anchor it with a spot of glue on the edge of the shell so it hangs straight. You can also use craft paint to follow the star patterns on the front; I suggest diluting it so that it looks like watercolor.

Sequin Present Ornaments

Sequin Presents
You will need:
Small cubes of foam, 1.5 inches
Colored sequins and silver or gold sequins
Metallic ribbon, 1/2 inch
An ungodly number of sequin pins (really short)
Longer decorative pins with pearlized balls on the ends (make sure they are not longer than the cube)
Krazy Glue or its equivalent
Thimble

This is pretty simple. You take one color of sequin, red or green or blue or whatever, and a contrasting metallic sequin color. You take one sequin pin per sequin and apply the pins to the cube. The metallic sequins are the "ribbon" around the present, so a typical side of sequins will look like this:

R R G G R R
R R G G R R
R R G G R R
R R G G R R
R R G G R R
R R G G R R

The top and bottom have crosses, as though the ribbons cross.

R R G G R R
R R G G R R
G G G G G G
G G G G G G
R R G G R R
R R G G R R

When the entire cube is be-sequinned, take a length of ribbon of at least sixteen inches, and the long decorative pin. Fold one end of the ribbon over and stick the pin through it; the cut end should be toward the point. Make loops of about two inches by sticking the ribbon on the pin; use the last five inches to make a loop for hanging. Push the pin with its bow through the top of the present. Once the look is to your satisfaction, pull the pin partway out, put some crazy glue on the part right next to the cube, and push it back in. It should bond in a minute or two; after that, you can hang it immediately.