Nutcracker from terracotta pots

For many people, nutcrackers are an integral part of the Advent and Christmas season as a Christmas decoration. They symbolise good luck and, due to their strong teeth, are believed to be able to keep enemies and evil spirits away.

The heyday of the nutcracker began in the 18th century in the Erzgebirge. But nutcrackers are also very popular beyond the borders of Germany.

So what do you think about making the popular lucky charms yourself?! We'll give you the ideas and you can put them into practice in a cosy get-together with your loved ones.

1. The first step is to give the nutcracker its face. First, draw everything out delicately with a pencil. The next step is to draw on the eyes:

First the white, then the blue iris. The mouth and cheeks (dab on with the flat side of a bamboo skewer) are now also painted on. You can work here with craft paints and a thin brush or with fine pens.

Once the paint has dried, trace the eyebrows, moustache and nose with a black fineliners .

2. Paint the large and small clay pots black. Use a bamboo skewer to add gold accents to some of the large clay pots - i.e. the caps - as shown in the photo. For clean edges, tape the areas with masking tape. Glue a pompom onto the hats.

3. Use fairy wool to create the beard and hair. Carefully glue them on with hot glue and cut them into shape with scissors as shown in the picture. You can then glue the hat onto the head.

4. Now paint all the other clay pots. The 2 cm clay pots are all painted black. Paint the 3 cm clay pots in moss green, carmine red and light blue. Paint the details in gold and black. The clay pots are then glued together at the bottoms. The head can now also be glued on.

5. To glue on the legs made from bamboo sticks, fill the clay pots with flower arrangement foam. Glue them on the inside with a little hot glue. Then insert the legs, which you have previously shortened, into the flower arrangement foam and apply more hot glue around the insertion point. This ensures that the legs are firmly in place flower arrangement foam.

Important:

Make sure that the legs are the same length. It is best to adjust them while gluing.

6. For the arms, shorten the bamboo sticks from upper terracotta pot starting at the waist. Paint them to match the body. Draw on the wooden beads for the hands. For the shoulders, paint the beads gold beforehand. Glue the finished arms on, done.