Well here is number two tutorial of my 52 tutorials in a year goal.
With my feet dragging and my mind screaming no! no! no! it can’t be that time again, I am being sucked into the Christmas season. Don’t get me wrong, I love the spirit of the holiday and the memories that Christmas evokes. Family gathered together to share the holiday and children’s excitement and anticipation of that Christmas morning. I just want to do it on my on time schedule and without the pressure of the “perfect Christmas” that is practically shoved at us from every angle possible. Okay, I said my piece, now on to my little how to Holly Berry Vine.
Here’s what you will need for supplies:
- Electrical wire
- wire cutters
- exacto knife
- glue
- paint
- scissors
- sealer
- faux plant grass pick
- tweezers
- hole punches 1/16 and 1/8
Start by cutting a few pieces of the wire.
Strip the insulation from the end and expose the bare copper wires. Fan out the wires to separate them.
Dip the ends of each of the wires into glue to form a bead at the end.
Do this to all of your wires and let them dry.
Get your acrylic paints ready. I used a leaf green, orange and barn red.
Start with the green and dip the glue bead into the green to coat.
Do all of the wire ends and let dry.
Next using the red or orange dip the tips to coat 3/4 of the ends. Leaving a little bit of the green showing at the top of the berry. The red berries are the fully matured and the orange are the young immature berries so you can choose how many of each you would like to have on your vine.
Let them dry and then either spray coat a clear finish or dip in a clear finish to add a shine to your berries.
Put aside to dry and get ready to make your holly leaves.
I used a faux foliage that is a filler grass pick. You can run the individual strands through your fingers and they will curl. I found that this grass works great for the holly leaves.
Separate a few strands from the pick. Fold in half lengthwise and burnish the crease.
Use the hole punch and starting with the wider end, punch a hole half way into the strand. I used the 1/8 inch hole punch at the wider end and then as I worked my way up the strand I changed to the smaller 1/16 hole punch. You will get a variety of sizes of leaves as the grass strand tapers smaller. Which works out perfect to look more natural then if all of your leaves were the same size.
Use your scissors to cut diagonally from the crease to the edge of the hole sides.
Unfold the leaf and turn upside down and use a ball stylus to round the sides of the holly leaf on each side of the crease. This causes the leaf to curl.
Have some fun and make a bunch while your berries are drying
Gather your berries and divide them into groups. I used groups of five, three and two. Twist the wires together.
Then paint glue along the wires to encase the twisted strands and let dry
I used a medium brown acylic paint to paint the vine and let dry
Leaves are next to go on. I used gorilla glue to attach the leaves. I started out with adding three leaves around the berry bunches.
After adding the leaves around the berry bunches, I then started adding leaves to the vine. I would use a pin to poke a hole into the vine and then insert the leaf end into the hole with glue
Right by my messy thumb there is the tiny hole I poked for the leaf. The next picture shows the leaf inserted into the hole.
Fill up the open spaces with your leaves. Be sure to rotate the leaves so that they aren’t all lined up.
Let the glue dry.
Then I followed up with the medium brown acrylic paint to extend the brown a little up the leaf back.
Finished!
Now you can start added a little holly cheer to your minis.
You can use the same techinque to make a little holly sprig.
Hope you enjoyed my little tutorial.
teensyweensybaby 