Winter Gnome Craft Project

Gnome, gonk, elf, hobgoblin ... whichever name you use I think we can all agree our Boy and Girl Gnome Moulds are delightful! Inspired by Nordic folklore, artist Heather Robertson collaborated with us to design these two whimsical characters and has created this easy-to-follow craft project so you can make your own! 

Watch the video and follow the instructions below to make a sweet Winter Gnome decoration.

Heather shows us how to use the moulds with air drying clay, an ingenious way to make pine needles from florist tape and how to paint your piece – we love watching the dry brushing technique bring the gnome to life!

What you'll need (click the links to shop):

Boy Gnome Silicone Mould
Flower Pro Medium Log Slice Silicone Mould
Flower Pro Pine Cones Silicone Mould
Hearty Soft Air Drying Clay – White
Hearty Soft Air Drying Clay – Black
Hearty Soft Air Drying Clay – Brown
Hearty Soft Air Drying Clay – Blue
Green Florist Wire and Tape Starter Pack
   or, 28 gauge florist wire, or thin craft wire
Half width dark green and brown (optional) florist tape
Florist tape cutter (if using full width tape)
Green garden twine (if not using florist tape)
White craft glue
White, black, blue and pink or beige coloured acrylic paint
Paint brushes
Paper towel

Step 1 – Gnome

Lightly dust the Boy Gnome Mould with cornflour and tap out the excess. Press white Hearty Air Drying Clay into the mould using your fingers, making sure you press the clay firmly into the nose cavity. Remove any excess clay, and pull it away from the edge of the mould. Twist and wriggle the mould gently to let air get between the clay and the mould and gently release the gnome. Leave to dry on a flat surface, on some paper towel overnight. As the mould is deep, the gnome may need a few days to dry out completely, but it will be ok to paint if left to dry overnight.

Step 2 – Medium Log Slice

Lightly dust the Medium Log Slice Mould with corn flour and tap out the excess. Mix a little Black Hearty Air Drying Clay and Blue Hearty Air Drying Clay with our White Hearty Air Drying Clay to create a blue/grey colour. Fill the mould, remove any excess clay and pull the clay away from the edges. Turn the mould over and press down flat against the work surface to flatten the back, and carefully remove the log slice from the mould. Place onto some paper towel and set aside to dry overnight.

Step 3 – Pine cones

For this project we will need two half pine cones of each size. Create one pine cone at a time.

Lightly dust the Pine Cones Mould with corn flour and tap out the excess. Mix some Brown Hearty Air Drying Clay with our White Hearty Air Drying Clay. Fill a cavity of the mould, remove any excess clay, and pull the clay away from the edges. Gently twist the mould to release the pine cone and place on a paper towel to dry.

Step 4 – Pine needles

You will need 4 pine needle sprigs.

Tape method: Using half width dark green florist tape, pull to stretch the tape to activate the adhesive. If you are using full width tape, you may need a tape cutter to cut the tape in half.

Twist and pull the tape to create a long piece of tape string. You will need about a meter for every two pine needle sprigs.

Wrap the tape string around your fingers 6-8 times.

Place some wire into the loop of string and twist together. Cut the twisted wire at about 1-1.5 inches. Repeat on the opposite side.

Using a sharp pair of scissors, cut the tape string in half, so that you have two identical pine needle sprigs.

Separate the pine needles and dust with a little cornflower to remove some of the stickiness.

Wrap the wire and the base of the pine needles with brown florist tape to create the twig. If you don’t have brown, you can use green tape and paint the twig brown later.

Trim and neaten the ends of each sprig and cut them so they’re about 1 inch long

Garden twine method: You can also use green garden twine to great the pine needles, but the needles will be a lot thicker.

Wrap the string around your fingers 6 times.

Place some wire into the loop of string and twist together. Cut the twisted wire at about 1-1.5 inches. Repeat on the opposite side.

Using a sharp pair of scissors, cut the string in half, so that you have two identical pine needle sprigs.

Wrap the wire and the base of the pine needles with brown florist tape to create the twig. If you don’t have brown, you can use green tape and paint the twig brown later.

Trim and neaten the ends of each sprig and cut them so they’re about 1 inch long.

Step 5 – Painting your gnome

Paint the body and hat of your gnome with a light and medium blue acrylic paint. Heather has used a blue mixed with grey to create a muted blue tone for the body, and a brighter light blue for the hat.

Leave to dry.

Paint the gloves with a darker blue, and the boots in black. 

Paint some darker blue into the creases of the hat.

Leave to dry.

Paint a little dark grey onto the top of the gnome’s beard and blend it down to a very light grey, using white paint.

Paint his nose with light pink or beige paint.

Leave to dry.

Once dry, dry brush some white paint all over your gnome, to enhance all the texture and detail.

To dry brush the gnome, load a scruffy flat brush with white paint, and then scrub off most of the paint onto a piece of paper towel, so you are left with a dry brush and a little paint. Then lightly brush this all over your gnome to pick out all the raised detail and texture.

TIP: Heather finds that painting the gnome using a small flat brush helps to get into all the tight spaces, and keep the lines neat.

Step 6 – Dry brush the pine cones, log slice and pine needles

As you did for the gnome, dry brush each pine cone, the log slice, and the pine needles with white acrylic paint, and leave to dry.

Step 7 – Assembly

Once all your pieces are dry, add a little craft glue to the top of your log slice.

Place some White Hearty Air Drying Clay onto the log slice, to create snow, and press into place. You’ll want the snow to be reasonably deep, so that it looks like a snowdrift.

Place your gnome into the centre and press him down into the snow, allowing a little snow to come up behind him. This will help to support him when it all dries.

Remove the gnome and place a little glue into the hole, then place the gnome back into the snow.

Start pressing your pinecones into the snow.

Heather has placed large and medium pine cones on either side of the gnome. Lift your display up to eye level to make sure you are happy with the placement, and keep checking that you are happy with each placement every time you add a pinecone.

Place a small pine cone into the front of the snow drift.

Start adding the pine needles.

Add any glue where you think it might be needed.

For a little bit of extra icy winter sparkle, use a little iridescent glitter glue on the pine cones, snow, pine needles and gnome.

Leave your scene to dry and enjoy a little piece of winter magic in your home.

Make a friend for your gnome

Create your craft project with the Girl Gnome Silicone Mould too and SAVE when you buy the gnome bundle, CLICK HERE

Heather Robertson is a mixed media artist who combines the naturalistic and fantasy worlds. You can see more of Heather's creations here: www.heatherrobertsonart.com