The Making of Cherish

A few posts ago I shared a new creation with you.  I am going out on a limb today and am sharing a mini-tutorial on making Cherish.  Just in case any of you wanted to make your own tree angel.  I'm going to keep it very basic, mostly because this was just a whim project that actually turned out pretty nice.  I am not usually a sculptor.  But as I stated in the post about her, I just felt led to make something that night and grabbed a piece of floral foam, duct tape and a steak knife.  I don't know how to write some of the directions, but I think if you are creatively clever, you can figure it out and use my directions as a springboard for your own.

Supplies Needed:

floral foam (the green soft kind)

duct tape

aluminum foil  (I use the heavy duty kind)

base for her to stand (I used a vintage light cage turned upside down)

bowl

water

paper mache mix (I love the kind in the bag you just add water to.  it comes in gray and in white)

steak knife  :)

1. place the floral foam on the base and gently carve out a head and body shape with a steak knife

2. use tin foil on top of the floral foam to give her a skirted affect

3.  wrap her in duct tape (floral foam and paper mache do not mix so well.)

4.  for arms I rolled tin foil into long tubes and attach using more duct tape.  I modeled her arms into the shape I wanted at this point.

5.  mix up the paper mache in the bowl and apply it all over her body.  now this took some patience on my part.....especially trying to get the facial features.  but the mache material is so great and easy to model.  I did end up using some of my clay tools to model the nose and eyes.

6.  Then she had to dry.....and for days she dried.  Finally I got impatient and baked her.  In a very low oven because I was so worried she'd crack!

7.  Then she sat for a few more days while I pondered how to embellish her. But once that got started, there was no stopping me.  I pulled out all the stops, including the sewing machine to make the wings.  I wanted her different than most angels I'd seen.  I think the fabric patterned wings do just that.  After she was painted, the finish was just too perfect looking.  So I used some wood stain on her to age her overall appearance.  That ended up being the key to her overall loveliness!

Of course you can add any number of goodies to your own angel.  I just wanted to give you the base directions.  Overall I am thrilled with her appearance and can't wait to top our flocked tree with her this year!  And maybe, just maybe, come some more downtime in my crazy life, I'll make a few more angels and birds to sell.