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Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Christmas Peacock Tree Topper By Gloriann Irizarry

 
Merry Christmas to all and have a great blessed holidays!
 
This holiday season inspire me and wanted to share to you a very unique tree topper I created for a very special sister. She wanted a peacock theme Christmas tree and we look everywhere and could not find any tree topper so I say hey why not make a one of a kind sculpt for her to use on her Christmas tree and here it is the full tutorial of how I sculpted this unique tree topper.
 

 

Materials

Delight Air Dry Material 
Glittery Peacock Feathers Pick  3Purple and 2 Green
Blue Pine Needles
Purple glittery mini purple balls
Small Daisy Flower cookie cutter
Small leaf cookie cutter
Hot Glue Gun
Glue Stick Refills
3" Styrofoam Balls
Empty Water Bottle
Scissors
Wire
Wood chopstick and BBQ sticks
Aluminum foil
Knife
FolkArt Acrylic paint Metallic Blue Topaz
FolkArt Acrylic paint Metallic Christmas Green
FolkArt Acrylic paint Metallic Plum
Acrylic sealer Matte
 
 For the bow we used
Fabric Ribbon Roll 6 Yards in glittery teal
 
 
 
Start by turning  your hot glue gun on so is nice and ready when it is time to use it.
 

 
For the armature I use a water bottle.
Remove the base off and cut it in strips.
 

 
Cut a little off the Styrofoam ball to create the tail of the bird.
 

 
Be careful using the hot glue gun and set it to low heat.
 

 
wrapped some aluminum foil all around the bottle and secure it  with the hot glue gun too.

 
For the birds head use a chopstick. It is a stronger wood and will hold the neck in place.

 
Wrap aluminum foil around the neck area and secure it with the hot glue gun.

 
Use to BBQ sticks to create the wing and wrap the aluminum foil around it.
 Secure it with the hot glue gun.

 
Use the aluminum foil and sculpt a rough shape for the head.
Have in mind the shape size and look you are trying to achieve.

 
At this stage you can add more foil or secure any lose one with the hot glue gun to shape the wings.
 

 
Make sure you secure the neck chopstick  with plenty hot glue.
Fold in the plastic bottle strips and use enough hot glue to secure it in place.
 

 
Now that the armature is ready construction can begin.
Grab your favorite roller, water bottle mist and Delight Air dry clay.
Love this clay it is super lightweight (about half the weight of Creative Paperclay® Modeling Compound by volume)

 
This  super lightweight and it is perfect for the tree toper construction.
Roll a big sheet and cover all the armature with it. No need to worry about details at this stage they will be done in a later time.
 
 
Use the small flower cookie cutter and start cutting some flowers out.
Cut the petals off with the scissors.
Make sure they stay wet and draw or stamp some feather vein on each petal.
 These will be later layer on the bird to look like feathers.

 
Start layering the petals from the bottom to the top.
Wet each petal and pinch in one by one. 

 
Layer and add each petal to look like  feathers one by one.
Don't let the petals dry always keep them wet or they will not attach to the bird armature. 
 
 
For the wings and the tail use the leaf cookie cutter to make the feathers a little bigger.
 
 
You do not need to add feather on the tail portion since that were the artificial glittery peacock feathers will be placed.
 
 
Smooth the feathers around the neck area.


 
Layer the feathers in the wing area.
The feather will go all the way to the neck. Once your done layering feather set it aside to dry.
 
 
 
To complete the bird gather all your fabric ribbons, glittery  feather and blue pine needle picks
 

 
The base color is FolkArt Acrylic paint Metallic Blue Topaz.
 


Water down the paint and apply an even coat all over the bird.
 
 
With the acrylic paint still wet use a damp wash cloth or paper towel sheet
 and remover some of the excess paint off. It will reveal the feather vein detail.
Set it aside for the paint to completely dry.

 
 
Add the second coat of paint in FolkArt Acrylic paint Metallic Christmas Green.
Use a dry brush technique by applying a little acrylic paint on a soft brush and removing any excess paint off. Use the almost dry brush and apply a green layer to the bird to enhance the feathers.
  

 
For the crown cut 3 purple glittery balls off the stem picks.
Paint the stems FolkArt Acrylic paint Metallic Christmas Green. Set to dry.

 
Drill 3 holes on top of the Peacock head and glue the purple glittery balls to the head.

 
To give the Peacock a magical glitter use Martha Stewart purple Glitter paint and let it completely dry. Then seal the paint in with your favorite acrylic sealer matte.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Pre drill 3 holes for the feather tail placement.

 
 
Place and adjust the 3 purple peacock glittery feathers in place.
 
 
 and secure them tightly with the hot glue gun.
 Repeat the same attachment process for the entire tail for the  green feathers, the purple glittery stems and the blue pine stems. 
 
 
And now the Peacock Tree Topper is done and ready to be hang.

 
Now for the Bow I follow this video tutorial by GoodKintKisses
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/uDcvdYQWOaw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
I just added extra long tails to create the cascade flowing ribbons for the tree topper.
 
I hope you enjoy this peacock tree topper and feel free to email me or leave us your question on the comments below
 
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Feliz Navidad!
Happy Holidays!
 


 Sincerely
Gloriann Irizarry


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