Winter Cardinal Sitting on a Bell - A Polymer Clay Ornament
by
Donna
4 Materials
$12
3 Hours
Medium
We love watching cardinals visit our backyard feeder during the winter months. So I couldn't resist making a cute cardinal ornament for our Christmas tree this year! Although this tutorial shows you how to make a cardinal, you could use a photo for reference to make a variety of birds for this ornament.
This ornament is made with a metal bell and a variety of colors of polymer clay. I used the large bell you see above (about 2 inches in diameter), but my resulting ornament is quite heavy and will probably have to rest on a sturdy branch rather than hang. I think I should have used the smaller bell. I might try to make a smaller ornament too if I have time before the holiday, using the same tutorial.
These directions are for someone experienced in working with polymer clay. But if you are new to clay, I have more detailed instructions and photos, with a list of materials, on my blog.
The first step is to roll out 3 or 4 coils of brown clay. Then twist these coils into a thicker rope. Wrap the thicker rope around the top of your bell, trim the ends, and join together to form a ring. This will be your bird's nest. I have directions on how to cover the seam on my blog.
Next, use some red clay to form your cardinal's body. Shape the clay into a teardrop with an extended tail. Once you like the shape of your bird's body, you can use your tools to make some simple feather details on the tail.
Sit the body into your nest and begin working on the head. Take a smaller piece of red clay and roll this into another teardrop shape, this time with a short tail. This tail will create the feathers on the top of your cardinal's head.
I have directions on attaching the head, and making the eyes and beak, on my blog.
I used a stamp to decorate my bird's wings before cutting them out of a circle of clay. However, this is optional. You can just draw some simple lines to create the look of feathers.
Adhere the wings on either side of the cardinal's body, making sure they are even.
Before baking your ornament, you can add some leaves and berries to your bird's nest.
After my ornament was baked and cooled, I glued some small black beads into the eye holes to finish my cardinal's features. This, however, is optional.
I love how my red cardinal decoration came out. I hope you like it too! Happy Holidays!
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Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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2 comments
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cute!! I love how festive this is with the bell :)
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