Project #25: What to make with pinecones
Meet Mr Pine Cone Gnome, the perfect preschool activity
Time: 20 minutes maximum
Difficulty: Hardest part is finding the pine cone!
Down by the river, there is a row of tall pine trees. I went down there looking for some pine cones but there wasn’t a single one. (I’m thinking that there may be a REAL pine cone gnome here in Brunswick Heads, taking all the pine cones for warm winter fires. I’m going to keep my eye out!) I asked my neighbour if she knew of anywhere I might find them around these parts and she said, “wait there”. Five minutes later, she was back with an armload, straight from the Christmas decorations box. Yay for happy hoarders of goodness!
This is my first pine cone project. (Number Two will come tomorrow.) Simple but oh so lovely. Baby Jack was a little perplexed but I think he likes him too.
1. The first thing to do is to make the head, by rolling a piece of beeswax (flesh coloured if you have it) into a ball about the size of a 20 cent piece or super size bead. If not, modelling clay (such as fimo) would probably work too.
2. To make the hat, cut a piece of your favourite coloured felt into a triangle about 8 cm tall. Fold the triangle in half longways, and make sure it can fit around your ‘head’. Adjust as necessary. Blanket stitch along the length from the tip to the base and knot your thread to finish.
3. Attach a strip of decoration along the base. Cut your strip into points, or curves, or waves. Whatever you fancy. Stitch it to the hat using straight stitch.
4. Place your hat firmly over your head.
5. Push your head onto the top spike of your pine cone.
6. Give him a pair of cute shoes. (Shoes are a fab accessory to help balance your pine cone too evidently!) Mold a bit of beeswax into a shoe shape, then flatten out the back piece. Place the flat part underneath the base of the pinecone and gently press the pinecone down to fix the shoes in place. To make the shoelaces, thread a tiny bead with a piece of your favourite coloured embroidery thread and tie a bow. Trim thread. Push the bead with bow into the top of the beeswax shoe. Add another plain bead below this one for effect. Repeat for the other shoe.
Sometimes the easiest things are the CUTEST!
Do you think so too?
To see all 30 Nature Crafts, visit here.
[...] I made a gnome using a pine cone and I promised another pine cone craft today. Pine cones are not the easiest of nature finds to work [...]
[…] 25. Meet Mr Pinecone Gnome […]