Since around 2014 I have been doing artsy creative holiday swaps with a swell group of people I had befriended during my time in the toy industry.... FUN RIGHT! Everyone involved is super talented and it makes this friend tradition a welcome annual event well minus the pandemic years....but this year we are back with a really cool swap! So yes, recently like this past weekend I took part in a holiday custom nutcracker swap with some of my creative friends! I wanted to share a bit of a behind the scenes on the making of my little Merry Moonlight nutcracker custom. So without further adiu lets get into it!
First I altered the original wooden doll by removing some parts and then began my foil armature which included an embedded hidden rock in the base to weight it down
Then I used super sculpey to get the near final shape and look of this custom. After I was happy with the shape I cooked the Merry Moonlight in the oven for about 15 minutes to set and harden the clay.
Then after it cooled I sanded and then painted the base with gesso before laying in the acrylic layers of paint.
First color base was a rich blue that was then layered up with other colors to create and bring my Merry Moonlights character to life
Final pass I varnished the entire piece with a gloss coating to seal it :D
Check out the short TikTok video I made showing the entire process in under a minute.
.Also check out all the other creative nutty nutcrackers over at my friends blog here
You can take a deeper dive and go watch a mini documentary of how the nights festivities of the swap went over on YouTube or click down below.
See more of my talented friends work at the links below:
Happy Holidays all! I hope you have a peaceful calm moment this season!
More to come soon! :D Till then Sweet Dreams,
Angie