DIY Snowman and Santa With Paper-Mache Clay and a Lightbulb

Loraine enjoys making crafts and sharing the projects she’s developed. Her crafts include pictured, step-by-step tutorials and templates.

I’ve been having a great time making turkeys, snowmen, birds and chicks using paper-mache clay. I saw a craft using a burned-out light bulb to make a snowman, so I decided that the light bulb would be a great armature for using paper-mache clay.

In this article, I’ll tell you how I made the snowman and Santa using a light bulb and paper-mache clay. This project is a lot easier than it may first appear, and trust me when I say that once you make one craft using this method, you’ll be hooked and look for more ideas about what to make.

How to Make a Paper-Clay Snowman or Santa

Materials:

• Lightbulb
• Milk-jug lid
• Masking tape
• Elmers Glue
• AllProForm joint compound
• Roll of toilet tissue
• Water
• Flour

Tools:

• Bowl
• Mixer or hand drill and paddle
• Table knife
• Airtight container

Step 1: Make Paper-Mache Clay

Below, you will find two great videos that describes the method of preparing the clay and how to use it.

Step 2: Gather Supplies

It isn't difficult to gather together the supplies you'll need. You'll just need a burned-out lightbulb, a milk-jug lid and masking tape to make the snowman or Santa armature.

Step 3: Make the Snowman or Santa Stand

Talk about easy to do. You'll just need to tape the milk-jug lid to the glass end of the lightbulb.

Step 4: Cover the Bulb and Cap With Tape

Completely cover the light bulb and lid with masking tape. Now you are ready to form your snowman or Santa using the paper-mache clay. Be sure to watch the videos.

Step 5: Sculpt and Paint

Sculpt your snowman or Santa in any fashion that you wish. You can use the same armature and have a huge variety of looks. When the clay is dry after letting it sit overnight, paint in your choice of colors.

Have fun. This is a folk art project where you can't make a mistake.

© 2013 Loraine Brummer