Paper Mache Santa Ornament Tutorial

Once the ornament has dried, paint the hat red.  Then using the peach colored paint, paint his face including the nose and cheeks.  You don’t have to paint where the beard will go, but be sure to get past where the beard will start.

While the paint is still wet, dab a bit of red paint on your brush and add color to his cheeks.

Once the paint has dried, it is time to add the beard.  Now one of the things that makes the original ornament look so antique or primitive is the fact that white yarn was not used for the beard.  It gives the beard a more dramatic look.

In order to try to duplicate the look, I looked through my yarn scraps and found a skein of variegated brown yarn.

Wrap the yarn around your fingers and cut the yarn above and below your fingers, creating roughly 2″ pieces.  They don’t have to be exact.

Coat a section of the face in white glue and started glueing the yarn pieces on.  I like white glue for this because you can push the yarn around to butt it up against each other.  Where the beard is, you don’t want any paper mache showing.

Here he is after I put all the brown yarn on.  Kinda looks like Paul Bunyan doesn’t he?  Well, we’ll clean him up.

After the glue has dried, use your scissors to trim the yarn, following the shape of the heart.  Better?  It’s amazing what a good beard trim will do for a guy.

Next, paint the yarn white. It will take several coats of white.  The finished beard looks primitive and warm.  This photo is after one coat.

Final touches include painting on the eyes and the mouth.  And then adding a folded ribbon to the back for a hanger.  Add a coat of Matte Mod Podge to the entire project to seal and protect it.

The finished project is close to the original.  (The original ornament is on the right).  Fun to make and very inexpensive too!

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