Restoring Broken or Brighten up Nutcrackers

Desiree'
by Desiree'
I still do not know how I started falling in love with the nutcrackers ladies and gentlemen but I think it has to do with the Nutcracker story I saw at college theatre several years ago. I debated whether I should share or not but what the heck hehe. I want to share my stories with these nutcrackers. What I do is I go to thrift stores and I often find sad nutcrackers that speaks to me to please take me home and bring me back to life again. I have found more nutcrackers and I love working with them. You know it may never be so original but the idea is to save them from the fate of being thrown in the landfill. Each nutcracker that I work with has a story. Here are a few pictures I am sharing right now. :-)
This green nutcracker was in bad shape. Really. The top piece that sits on the head was so heavy and for some reason the dowels did not hold the strength. The hat piece took me awhile to put beading on them. It was all blue and red all over. I had to sand everything down except for the face. The hair was so bad that I took it off. The arms was needing in some fixing. I did not have the kind of hair that should be on there but I used cotton balls for it and it is temporary until I can find better hair in near future. The Nutcracker was so happy again.
This nutcracker was a struggle to begin with. A lot of sanding lol. You can see the big transformation on this awesome and unusual Nutcracker. This one is painted in white and copper. I put rhinestones on it to help highlight it.
Luckily I didn't have to do much with this nutcracker but it was missing a shoe yes it did. So it was hectic time trying to find extra wood scraps that I could find in some thrift stores and I had to sand down one shoe to match the size of the other one. I painted the boots in Bronze.
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  • Fran Fran on Nov 09, 2020

    These are beautiful.

    I have one also which needs a nose.

    Which fell off and was lost any ideas on replacing it

  • Jeanette Jeanette on May 09, 2021

    I also rehab Nutcrackers in very bad condition! If help us needed let me know!

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