Decoration of a Christmas ball. DIY Christmas balls: ideas and master classes. New Year's paper ball

Useful tips

To decorate a Christmas tree, home or office, it is not necessary to purchase a large quantity New Year's balls.

You can make beautiful balls with your own hands at home from various materials.

Just stock up on a few simple tools to create Christmas balls, take the time to make crafts, and be patient.

All New Year's balls are made quite simply, and even children can be involved in working on them.

On our website you will also find:

Craft for the New Year: a ball of bows

You will need:

glass or foam ball

hot glue

small ribbon bows.

* You can make bows yourself or buy ready-made ones (usually they are self-adhesive).

Take a balloon and cover it with bows.

If you use a foam ball, then attach strong thread or tape to it.

Volumetric balls for the New Year: a ball made of foam and fabrics

You will need:

foam ball

• glue brush

1. Using a skewer, make a hole in the center of the foam ball.

2. Now take the ribbon and use a skewer to thread it through the hole. Pass the end of the ribbon through a small bead and tie the ribbon in a knot.

3. Pass the other end of the ribbon through another bead and also tie it in a knot. You can secure the knots with PVA glue.

4. In a bowl, dilute PVA glue and a small amount of water.

5. Cut the fabric into several pieces different forms and sizes.

6. Using a brush, apply glue to the ball and begin carefully gluing pieces of fabric.

*Do not apply too much glue.

How to make a New Year's ball: Golden Snitch

You will need:

thin wire

thin paper (papyrus paper)

• self-hardening modeling compound

  acrylic paint

  paint brush.

1. On paper, draw a pattern of wings for your Snitch. Use this pattern to model thin wire wings. Twist the ends of the wire.

2. Place a sheet of thin paper on the table and place wire wings on it.

3. Apply a little glue to the wire on several sides and carefully bend the paper.

4. Carefully trim the paper around the wire to create wings.

*You can paint the wings using acrylic paint.

*You can also apply glitter. To do this, coat the wings with PVA glue and sprinkle with glitter.

5. Glue the wings to the ball using self-curing modeling compound.

* You can also use a foam ball instead of a glass ball. In this case, the twisted ends of the wire wing are simply screwed into the ball. The foam ball will also need to be decorated with paint, for example.

Christmas balls made from chewing candies for the New Year

You will need:

foam ball

• hot glue

  small chewy candies or marmalade

1. Take a foam ball and use glue to glue a piece of ribbon to it and thread it with a pin on top so that you can later hang the ornament on the Christmas tree.

2. Start adding glue drop by drop and gluing the candies or marmalade (or pieces of marmalade) to the ball.

* Instead of sweets, you can glue almost any decorations: buttons, sequins, small tinsel, etc.

A ball of acorn caps for a Christmas tree for the New Year

You will need:

acorn caps

acrylic paint and brush

foam ball

jute rope

thin wire (floristic, for example)

thin tape

glitter (optional)

• hot glue.

1. To paint the foam ball, choose a color close to the color of the acorn caps. You can skip this step. It is only needed to hide the white color of the ball.

2. Start adding hot glue drop by drop and attaching the acorn caps. You can pierce the foam ball a little with these caps. Glue the hats as close to each other as possible, but don't worry too much - there will still be gaps, and that's normal.

3. Make a loop from the wire, twist the ends and screw them into the ball. Now you can cut the rope and thread it through the loop to hang it on the tree.

4. You can also make a bow out of ribbon and hot glue it to the top of the balloon.

5. You can apply PVA glue to the outer parts of the acorn caps and sprinkle glitter on the glue.

DIY New Year's crafts: balls decorated with thread

You will need:

knitting thread (the thicker it is, the easier it will be to secure it)

foam ball

• wire or pin.

1. Bend a piece of wire into a U shape and insert it into a foam ball. The wire will then help you hang the ball on the Christmas tree.

You can use a pin to pierce the thread and then insert it into the foam ball. In this case, you will need to leave a small tail on the thread (which you will then glue onto the ball) in order to hang the ball on the Christmas tree.

2. Cover half the ball with PVA glue and begin to carefully wind the thread around it.

3. When you have almost reached the center of the ball, turn it over, apply glue to the other half and continue wrapping the ball with thread.

Do-it-yourself volumetric balls for the New Year

You will need:

cardboard (white or colored)

• printer (to print the template)

*You are asked to print two versions of templates for two balls of different sizes.

* Each ball is made from 12 paper pieces of the same size.

Paper ball templates for the New Year

Small

Big

1. Print the templates and cut them out, making cuts in the indicated places.

2. Make a small hole in one cut out flower, thread a thread through it, tie its end into a knot and secure it on the back with tape.

To make it easier to assemble the ball, consider the part with the thread to be the “north pole” of the ball. Add details to it until you reach the “south pole”.

3. Use the cut lines in each cut out element and fasten all the pieces together to form a ball.

Beautiful balls made of paper strips for the New Year.

Option 1.

You will need:

colored cardboard

1. Cut a sheet of colored cardboard into several identical strips.

2. Fasten all the strips with a stapler. First, cross two strips at right angles and fasten them, then add two more strips diagonally and also fasten (you can use glue).

3. Bend each strip in turn and secure the ends.

The ball can be decorated with tinsel by cutting off a small piece and gluing it.

Christmas balls for the New Year

Option 2.

At the end of the text instructions you will find video instructions.

You will need:

colored cardboard (multi-colored magazines)

• cocktail straw

  pencil

  needle and thread (or wire)

  awl or screwdriver

• various decorations (optional).

1. You need to cut out 6 strips of colored cardboard. The stripes should not be too wide.

2. Using an awl, make a hole at the end of each strip.

3. Lay out all the paper strips as shown in the image, and use an awl to make a hole in the center.

4. Prepare a thread, a needle and a bead, which will need to be attached to the bottom of the future ball.

Cut the thread to the required length so that you can hang the ball.

Pull the first bead all the way through.

Pull the needle and thread through the hole in the center of the strips, leaving a bead at the bottom.

5. Cut off approximately half of the cocktail tube (its length is 1/4 the length of the paper strip), insert it into the center of the workpiece and thread a thread and needle through it.

6. Start bending the strips at the top and pull a thread and needle through the hole at the end of each strip. It is also better to secure a bead on top.

Video instruction:

*You can use wire instead of thread.

Crafts for the New Year: paper balls

How to decorate a foam ball for the New Year

Cupcake made from a foam ball for the New Year

Craft from a foam ball for the New Year

Paper balls for the New Year (video)

Ball made of paper strips for the New Year

Paper ball for New Year

Hand-made is a pleasant and useful activity. New techniques and materials are emerging for decorating seemingly unremarkable things. Who would have thought that today an ordinary foam ball can become a real work of art thanks to your imagination and various decorative elements.

Ornamental trees

How to make a coffee topiary:

New Year's topiary:

Great master class about topiary. Different types, techniques, ideas:

Fruit topiary:

We install the trunk in the pot. Carefully make a hole in the foam blank for the tree trunk. Using glue we connect the parts. We decorate the ball with any suitable elements, be it coffee beans, candies, artificial flowers, glass, nuts, felt balls, wrapping paper, paper flowers.

Autumn topiary from Potpourri Studio

Original balls

Balloons can be decorated using various techniques. A very simple and quick technique to perform is decoupage. Even a child can handle it. We take the same foam ball as a basis. We select several napkins with an image that interests us and separate the top layer with a colorful pattern from the bottom. Cut out the motif you like. For better adhesion of the napkin and the ball, we degrease the surface of our foam blank. We carefully glue each fragment of the pattern onto decoupage glue or PVA glue (pre-dilute PVA with water in a 1:1 ratio). To protect yourself and not tear the napkin, carefully apply the glue with a brush from the center of the design. We put acrylic paint on a sponge and create a colored background. Using contour and glitter we draw the details of the picture. We give the paint time to dry and apply varnish; it will fix the design and give it a glossy shine.

For craftswomen who know how to crochet, it will not be difficult to openly tie a ball. Solid colored balls tied with thread that contains lurex look especially impressive. Working with a glass toy using this technique is difficult. It can break right in your hands. Balls made of foam or plastic come to the rescue. You can come up with a pattern yourself or knit according to a ready-made pattern.

Also, needlewomen can braid the ball with beads. Pay special attention to the selection of bead shades. We take contrasting but harmonious colors of beads so that the braiding pattern is clear and does not get lost against the background of the ball. Experiment with the volume, size and texture of beads. Any pattern will be useful for a beaded chain, be it a ready-made pattern or a self-modeled braiding pattern.

Old beads and large beads will help you create a beautiful New Year's ball very quickly, literally in 30 minutes and without extra costs. Any round-shaped object is suitable for the base of the craft: a tennis ball, an old Christmas tree decoration or a foam ball. For decoration, it is more convenient to use beads strung on a thread or fishing line. Carefully glue the beads in a spiral around the ball. After all the beads are attached, we make a loop of satin ribbon. It will serve as a toy holder. We decorate the top of the ball with a satin bow from the remnants of the ribbon.

Children will really love the “Snowman” craft made from foam balls. We will need: several foam balls of different sizes, felt and a felt-tip pen. We connect two large foam balls together - the body and the head. Using a felt-tip pen, draw eyes, nose and cheeks. If desired, a voluminous spout can be made from a piece of red felt. To the body on both sides we glue two smaller balls - handles and three from the bottom of the workpiece - legs. We make the snowman's feet from a small foam ball, after cutting it in half. We “sew” the snowman’s clothes from pieces of felt fabric and decorate them with tinsel.

Example taken from here

Using the same technique we will make a children's toy “Owl”, which can also be used as a Christmas tree decoration. Everyone will like this craft without exception. We will need: felt of different colors, glue and eyes. We take a foam ball as a basis. We attach felt blanks in the same sequence as in the technique Artichoke. We use round pieces of felt to make a backing for the eyes.

From half a foam plastic blank you will get an equally cute hedgehog. It is done very quickly and simply. For work we will need: pins, carnations, sequins of two colors, beads and bugles. We cover the hedgehog's face with sequins. We string a sequin onto a pin and overlap it so that the white color of the ball is not visible. Then we make hedgehog needles - we put a small bead, glass beads and sequins on the pin. And so we stick the “needles” to the end of the ball. Glue on the eyes and nose. The hedgehog is ready!

“Princess Ball” or Japanese national embroidery technique Temari will not leave needlewomen indifferent. Temari are the most original, very beautiful and pleasant to the touch balls. Once upon a time in Japan, elegant and unusually embroidered balls served as toys. Nowadays, this original ball can serve as a children's or Christmas tree toy, a unique hand-made gift and a cozy decorative element. Many mothers tie Temari to the baby's stroller or crib. Kids are delighted with such a toy and cannot take their eyes off the bright patterns that resemble a kaleidoscope of colors.

Hundreds of years ago, Temari was based on old threads and scraps of silk kimonos, which Japanese women carefully cut into small pieces and rolled into balls. The Japanese value kimonos very much and never throw them away, but give them a second life. Nowadays, the basis can be anything: a foam ball, a ball of wool, plastic bags. Often, a bell was inserted into the base so that the ball would ring, rattle and attract the attention of others.

To embroider using the Temari technique, you need to stock up on: cotton or wool bobbin threads of several colors and ribbons, a centimeter for precise markings, scissors and a needle. As a rule, markings are made on the ball - they are divided into several sections with pins. Embroider the design according to the pattern diagram, placing new stitches on the old ones, intertwining them. For beginners, it’s better to take your time and use patterns with “basic” patterns.

Balls are decorated no less beautifully using the technique Kinusaiga. Similar to the Temari technique, the ball is divided into several sections. Using a stationery knife, or better yet a collet knife, grooves are made and scraps of fabric are tucked into them.

An elegant and very easy to make ball of cinnamon sticks will fill your home with a magical spicy aroma associated with Christmas, apples and warm buns. For one ball you will need: cinnamon sticks, a foam ball, twine for a loop, glue and brown paint. The size of the craft depends on the length of the cinnamon tube and the size of the ball. First paint the ball. Wait until the paint dries and glue the loop. Apply glue to the tip of the cinnamon tube and carefully attach it to the foam piece. Hold the tube for a few seconds to help the glue adhere better. Glue the cinnamon in a random pattern until you cover the entire ball.

A miniature balloon with a tiny basket will delight anyone. To create a fairy-tale balloon, take: tape, glue, scissors, a foam ball, two coins, a screw and a string. We decorate the foam ball as desired. We draw a template for the balloon basket or take a ready-made diagram from the Internet. We cut out two basket blanks. We shape the paper blank. We take two ropes and glue them to the basket with tape. We glue the ropes to the corners of the basket from the inside. Lubricate the second basket template with glue and glue it inside the first template. Thus, we get a neat basket with a colored bottom. If desired, you can make a side from a strip of colored paper. We connect the fastening of the Christmas tree toy with strings and glue it to the “bottom” of the ball. We install a mount for a loop, from which you can hang the toy. We screw a self-tapping screw with a loop into the top of the ball, and thread a bright satin ribbon through the loop. The balloon is ready!

In the end, I would like to note that working with foam blanks is not difficult. They are easy to cut and paint. The material itself is very light, but at the same time quite durable and resistant to deformation. A craft made from foam plastic will last a long time and will delight the eye for many years. The presented master classes clearly showed that there are many materials for decorating balloons. Don't be afraid to use your imagination and use the most unusual ideas when creating your crafts!

Where to buy foam balls?

The text was prepared by Maria Obukhova, ed. Elena Wolf.

New Year– a special, spiritual holiday. And in the pre-New Year bustle, the second most powerful thing, after the desire to sit down at the table as quickly as possible, is the desire to make unique New Year's toys with your own hands. It is not customary to take into account expenses for the New Year; The holiday industry, we must give it its due, strives to satisfy demand in every possible way and does not impose crazy markups: the product is in demand, the profit will be there. But the variety is so great that you don’t expect originality from your purchase; somewhere the same thing is still on sale. So I want something from my own hands and with a piece of my soul.

This article contains a part, however quite extensive, of the endless sea: how to make and decorate Christmas tree decorations with your own hands. Let's touch a little on the very popular door wreath and Christmas tree decoration styles. Of course, there are more than enough New Year's themes for home craftsmen and their little helpers: decorating a room, a festive table, a homemade Christmas tree, and much more. Making a lush and fragrant Christmas tree on your own, for example, is not difficult, and living trees remain standing and do not go under the ax. But you can’t immediately grasp the immensity. Therefore, for now we will limit ourselves to Christmas tree toys. But! Take a look at fig. Part, and a large part, of all these Christmas tree decorations are homemade. Including the bell at the top right next to the red apple. Do you see? It was once a cup of yogurt. Like? Then, as they say, this is the place for you. We will do no worse.

The material is designed primarily for New Year's DIYers who do not master complex technologies and do not have a home workshop at their disposal. To make the New Year's decorations described below, you will need scissors, an awl, a sharp knife with a thin blade (scalpel or pruning knife), thread, sewing needle, nail clippers or side cutters and tweezers or small pliers. Also - PVA glue, superglue (instant cyanoacrylate) and, in some cases, “Moment” or its analogues. For certain types of toys - some other small household tool or household utensil. What other materials will be needed, simple and accessible, we’ll see as we go. All work can be done on the table, covering it with film or covering it with cardboard.

Various tricks and cunning differences

No workflow is possible without the right technology. We don’t need workshops with robots; we need to make do with what we have at hand. In order for homemade New Year's crafts to please both your hands in work and your eyes when they are ready, you need to learn several simple ways to prepare blanks and materials for Christmas decorations and rules for their use.

Shine

Now for some reason almost everything shiny for the New Year is called glitter; in Russian - shine. When reading manuals, sometimes, even with considerable personal experience, it is difficult to figure out what is meant: glitter, colored laminated paper, thin shiny plastic film, metallic paint, or some new product altogether.

We'll start with the glitter; There is no way to do without them. Glitter for Christmas tree decorations is inexpensive, but in the outback they may simply not be available for sale. In this case, a manual noodle cutter (see picture on the right) and a foil baking sleeve will help out. A manual noodle cutter is needed; The powerful motor of a food processor does not sense unusual material, and the attachment will immediately become clogged or even break. Manually, the process goes well:

• A section approximately 10-12 cm wide is cut off from the sleeve roll with a knife.
• Gradually unwinding the aluminum tape, pass it through the machine.
• Then, or as the work progresses, if you have an assistant, they chop the “noodles” finely and finely with scissors. The kids like it, if there aren’t enough scissors for everyone, it’s not far from a fight.

Instead of foil, you can also use glitter, which is a shiny colored plastic film. And one more note: do not try to replace assistant shredders with mechanization in the form of a meat grinder. The “noodles” will turn into pellets instead of glitter, and you won’t be able to clean the meat grinder later.

Toys usually “shine” by sprinkling a surface covered with undried PVA, varnish or paint. But you can also “shine” with spots; if there are multi-colored sparkles, multi-colored. To do this, take a portion of glitter into a straw of the required diameter, from a very thin one for juice to a hose with a 2 cm diameter for a smoothie or shrimp cocktail, and carefully blow the glitter onto the desired area. Once you get used to blowing, you can draw patterns. In any case, to blow out the stripes (see fig.), long training is not required.

Colored varnish

Transparent colored varnish is prepared on the basis of nitro solvents 646, 647, etc. Dye – paste for ballpoint pens. OK. 50 ml of solvent is poured into a glass cup (in a ventilated room!), the writing tip is pulled out of the rod using pliers (be careful not to get dirty!), and the paste is blown into the solvent. The tone of the paste is very dense, so more than 1 rod is unlikely to be needed. The finished varnish is poured into a bottle with a gas-tight stopper and lid. Pharmacy vials of hydrogen peroxide work well; they do not need to be washed. The glass (beaker) is washed from varnish residues with the same solvent.

Blanks for balls

In the shops and departments “Skillful Hands”, “Everything for Creativity”, art, and on New Year’s Eve and in gift shops, foam and transparent plastic blanks for balls are sold. Transparent balls are most often filled with something colorful, see fig. on right. For decoration, it is better to take plain, ready-made balloons; they are cheaper and are sold everywhere. We'll see what we can do with them.

In the meantime, let's see where to get them away from centers with a large trade turnover and how to prepare very convenient foam balls for work; we will also deal with them for the Christmas tree. The first question can be solved simply: there will probably be some kind of fishing and hunting shop within reach. And it contains cheap floats for fishing rods and nets made from the same foam balls of different sizes. Are they perforated? So what, it will be easier to attach the hanging loop.

However, polystyrene foam is corroded by almost any paint and varnish. Almost the only thing that definitely doesn’t spoil it is PVA. So you need to coat the foam blanks with PVA before using them further. It’s better to do it twice, with the first layer completely dry before applying the next one. PVA film is quite resistant and will take painting well.

Note: It is also advisable to treat inflatable gel balls with PVA in the places where the pattern will be applied. And if you drew with a gel pen, then it would be a good idea to protect the drawing in the same way from accidental smearing with wet hands.

Papier mache

1. The leaf is passed through a noodle cutter or finely cut with scissors.
2. Place the trimmings into a glass, crushing them tightly.
3. Pour boiling water over a full glass and leave for 3 hours. The absorbed boiling water must be immediately added to the top of the settled paper!
4. Pour the mixture from the glass into a bowl and knead until the dough or plasticine becomes thick, gradually adding PVA; It should take about 2 tbsp. spoons of glue.
5. The finished papier-mâché is placed in a jar with a tightly screwed lid; Shelf life in a jar of canned vegetables remains up to 6 months.

Old light bulbs

Burnt out incandescent light bulbs are an excellent basis for Christmas decorations. However, if you want to fill the flask with something (see figure) or cover it with a transparent varnish, the question arises: how to separate the flask from the base, open it and remove the stem with internal fittings?

The base is separated by boiling: place the bulbs in a saucepan with cold water, heat over low heat until low boiling, and boil for up to 10 minutes. The base that has fallen off will not fall to the bottom; it will hang on the wires. After the lamp has cooled, they are bitten off with side cutters, the tips of scissors or manicure tongs, inserting them deeper into the socket of the rod.

Next, place an emery block in a large bowl or small basin and add enough water to cover it. Then, with light pressure and smooth circular movements, erase the side of the flask until the stem falls out; takes up to 5 minutes for 1 lamp. The base, if needed, is glued back with superglue.

Note: When working with light bulbs, you need to wear cotton household gloves, such as are used, for example, when cutting fish. Glass is a hazardous material! The second thing that is important is that you can only disassemble incandescent lamps! There is mercury vapor in the light tubes of the housekeepers! An insignificant amount, but still - mercury is mercury, it is not excreted from the body.

Salty dough

Excellent Christmas tree decorations can be made from salt dough, see fig. From its thin layers, figures are cut out with cookie stamps (pos. 1, 2), cut out with a thin sharp knife by hand (pos. 3) or using templates (pos. 4, 5). Salt dough is inedible, but it perfectly accepts any painting and varnishing and will allow you to cut out very thin contours.

The composition and method of preparation are as follows:

• White wheat flour – 200 g.
• Fine table salt – 200 g.
• Refined sunflower oil – 3 tbsp. spoons.
• Water – 125 ml (a little more than half a glass).

Salt is mixed with flour, then butter is gradually added, stirring all the time. Next, water is added, also with continuous kneading until the consistency of clay or plasticine. Spread the mass into plastic bag, and put it in a jar with a tight lid and store it in the refrigerator in the vegetable compartment for up to six months.

Roll out the dough into a layer 3-4 mm thick with a round rolling pin. The cut-out figures are placed on a baking sheet, a sheet of tin, galvanized iron, etc., and dried on a radiator. You can’t dry it quickly in the oven or just on the table without heating! Drying takes several days; completely dry figures are painted, painted with gel pens, and varnished. If stored carefully, they will last for more than one New Year; salty dough– the material is quite durable.

Note: You can learn more about Christmas tree toys made from dough from the video below:

Video: Christmas tree toys made from dough

Decoupage

Decoupage, simply known as decals, is widely used in New Year's decor. However, not everyone is suitable for Christmas tree decorations. Christmas tree decorations need to be decorated with plastic decoupage, which fits onto curved surfaces without wrinkles. It can be distinguished (sellers do not always know what they are selling) from the usual one by its protective coating: in this case it is not a film, but a porous napkin. It is moistened and removed before use. The picture is placed on the base, unlike flat transfers, in the center, and carefully, with smooth circular movements, smoothed out to the edges. The best base is a slightly rough layer of PVA applied with a foam pad, or the same layer of white nitro paint.

Note: Children decouple most carefully - their fingers have not yet become rough.

Popcorn

Small popcorn glued with PVA or superglue can replace papier-mâché in many cases. It, like the latter, before use, it is advisable to treat it with PVA in the same way as polystyrene foam, and for the same purpose.

Christmas tree decorations

Snowflakes

The first and simplest thing you can use to decorate both the Christmas tree and the whole house is snowflakes. Probably everyone knows how to cut them; Just in case, we provide a diagram (Fig. below) of how to cut out snowflakes with gaps in the rays.

However, in reality, water crystallizes in a hexagonal pattern, i.e. Real snowflakes have 6 rays. Cutting them out in the same way will not work: if the sheet is folded in three, it will not unfold into a snowflake, but if folded six times, it will turn out to be 12 rays. Therefore, if you don’t mind the effort of making real snowflakes, we provide a diagram of water crystallization, see Fig. on right. You can use it to create countless figures, and for inspiration, or as samples for templates, in Fig. Below are photographs under a microscope of real snowflakes from real snowfall. Is it true that human imagination is far from nature? Experts say that no two identical snowflakes have been spotted yet.

A word about boxes...

When preparing for the New Year in advance, do not throw away small warranty boxes that are no longer under warranty. They make excellent toys, see fig. And you can even do it with surprises. It’s interesting to then observe what kind of barter negotiations the “high contracting parties” then start when they discover that he got a baby doll, and she got a model car.

...about eggs...

Also excellent toys come from bird eggs, see fig. below. It is best to take goose or turkey eggs, they are large and strong. In the poles of the egg, holes are carefully turned with a gypsy needle or awl and the contents are blown into a cup or bowl; for omelet or scrambled eggs, in dough, cream, etc. it is quite suitable. And the shell is treated with PVA, like polystyrene foam, painted, varnished, sprinkled with glitter, rag fragments are glued on, etc. The pink “bump” in the center, for example, is covered with dyed popcorn.

...and about nuts

One of the oldest types of Christmas tree decorations is walnuts wrapped in foil. The thread of the pendant loop was threaded along the seam between the shells; Now you can just glue it on. Both are not a hindrance to eating. Especially for this purpose, they placed the Nutcracker under the Christmas tree, about which P. Tchaikovsky wrote ballet music, which was later used as an opera.

Balls

New Year's balls are a vast world in the vast world of New Year's decorations. And in the vast world of Christmas tree balls there is an immense world of paper balls, if we consider a ball to be a body of rotation in a smoothly curved surface and regular polyhedra. We will now deal with all this immensity within the immensity within the immensity, remembering: everything should be within the power of a child, and it should be possible to do it at home on the table.

From blanks

First, let's try to change the monotonous ready-made balls in our own way. The technique is simple, see figure:

1. We select cheaper plastic balls, with a dull matte surface;
2. Paint with white nitro paint;
3. Once completely dry, decouple;
4. So how? How much does this cost in the store? On New Year's Eve?

Note: and if you don’t mind spending money on a glue gun, and have nowhere to put old beads, glass beads, artificial pearls, then here’s another option in the picture:

Now let's get down to the foam. The options here are much more varied, see fig. below. Pos. 1 – you will need a figured hole punch from the same crafts store. If from the Internet, then order ahead of time; It is known how parcels arrive on New Year's Eve. Next - pins with beaded heads, pos. 2 and you're done. The hanging loop is secured with a piece of toothpick or a match and a drop of PVA.

Suddenly there is no figured stamp for paper, but there are pins and beads, you get a colored hedgehog ball, pos. 3. The beads are strung on pins, and the tip of each, to make it sit tighter, is dipped in PVA before inserting. A pos. 4? Guess what! Chupa-chups with chopsticks bitten obliquely (to make it easier to stick in). You can eat it straight from the tree if the adults don’t mind. Or quietly, from the other side.

For pos. 4 and 5 require a glue gun and a workpiece protected with dried PVA. Finishing materials – cord and glass beads or artificial pearls.

From light bulbs

Light bulbs, as mentioned above, preparations for New Year’s decorations are difficult, but rewarding, see fig. Low-power lamps with a narrow “minion” base and a matte embossed bulb, pos. 1; consider these as ready-made balls. “Candle” light bulbs are also not bad, but if you do not remove the stem, after painting/varnishing they should be immediately, before the paint/varnish has dried, thickly sprinkled with glitter, pos. 2. Burnt-out low-power housekeepers in double “cone” flasks were made especially for the New Year: all that remains is to decoupage, tie a loop on the base, cover it with papier-mâché, and you’re done (item 3).

You can also create a lot of New Year's creations using ordinary light bulbs. The easiest way to make penguins (pos. 4): here you don’t need to be able to draw at all. Barbosov-Shrekov can also be made without art education - the shades on the background are punched out with a small foam pad, and the line drawing is drawn out with gel pens. In the same way, they create toys that require, in addition to talent, sufficient skill, poses. 5 and 6. In general, it is a matter of taste and imagination.

Spider balls

Thread web balls are all the rage right now, and in this case she wasn't going crazy. There are several varieties of them. The first (item 1 in the figure) is an ordinary cheap ball, on which a plastic mesh is stretched, the kind in which garlic and other small items are packaged in supermarkets. Let's add a ribbon bow - that's something. Just like the same cheap balls, decorated with scraps of tulle or organza, pos. 2.

“Real” spider web balls are made from glued colored threads, pos. 3, 4. It is best to take threads for satin stitch embroidery, but simple ones will also work with additional decor. The technique is simple: the thread is pulled through PVA and immediately wound onto an inflatable template, lubricated with Vaseline. After the glue has dried, the template is blown off or simply pierced and removed.

For small Christmas tree balls-webs, the template can be inflated, perhaps, only from a medical fingertip: it has a roller that allows you to hold the blank to the lips while inflating; Without a roller nothing will work. Gel and latex balloons are not suitable: so that they do not sag under the thread, they need to be inflated to too large a size.

There are plenty of devices for pulling thread through glue; one of the simplest ones is shown in Fig. The glass allows you to use glue sparingly, and the tray does not let excess glue onto the table. The glass is pierced with a needle and thread, glue is poured, pulled, and wound. It is only necessary for an assistant to hold the “broach”, otherwise, if the thread gets caught, the glue may spill onto the table, lap or chair upholstery. An alternative to a helper is a piece of double-sided tape, which is used to attach the tray to the countertop. You need to wind it with dexterity, because... PVA-impregnated thread dries quickly.

More about balls of thread

Beautiful thread balls can be made not only using the “spider web” technique. The method of making one of the oldest Christmas tree decorations from threads - a pom-pom ball - is shown in Fig. To pos. 5: cut the thread along the rim with a sharp knife or safety razor blade. Pom-pom balls look especially impressive if the ends of the threads are tinted with silver, bronze or metallic paint in a contrasting color.

Paper balls and more

Let’s now move on to the immensity within the immensity—Christmas tree decorations made of paper. It's a whole big world; for example, masters of modular origami create creations from it that clearly confirm: paper is one of the most wonderful materials invented by man, see fig. But we will leave these difficulties for later, and let’s move on to what can be done, as they say, right off the bat, and which also looks impressive.

How to make a simple paper ball for a Christmas tree is shown in Fig. Material – dense colored paper, PVA. Painting, varnishing, sprinkling with glitter is not forbidden. If the ball is made of glitter (laminated paper, plastic), you need to glue it with “Moment” or superglue.

Openwork

Next in ease of manufacture, but not in appearance, are openwork paper balls; These, in addition to the Christmas tree, make for excellent room decor. The larger the openwork ball, the easier it is to make and the better it looks. The technique is simple, an example is shown in Fig. a very rough one was deliberately chosen to show how tolerant the openwork balls are to neglect of the material and flaws in the work:

1. Paper circles are quilted with thread or (even worse) stapled along the diameter. Their even or odd number is taken depending on the gluing scheme, see below;
2. They are glued together in pairs in a checkerboard pattern until the entire “book” is closed into a ball;
3. A loop is glued;
4. The ball is decorated.

And now about what can be achieved from an openwork ball if you do it carefully, patiently and with understanding. Firstly, the generating figure can be any body of rotation. The main thing is that the workpiece is bilateral, i.e. its right and left halves should be a mirror image of each other; quilt a stack of blanks along the axis of symmetry.

Secondly, the places of gluing need to be precisely marked on the “book” by scratching with pens along the edge of the foot. With pens - because the places of alternating gluing are marked with 2 different colors. And finally, you need to glue carefully, putting a drop of glue on each joint. Squeeze until it sets, not with paper clips, but with your fingers through plastic film. What can be achieved in this way can be seen in Fig. on right.

A little stereometry...

Regular polyhedrons are often taken as the basis for a Christmas ball: with skillful decoration, they look great, and gluing them together from paper is not difficult if you know how. The polyhedra themselves, suitable for the Christmas tree, without “admixtures” of other flat figures, are made up of equilateral triangles and pentagons. Since not everyone knows the basics of stereometry and planimetry, we provide their templates inscribed in circles, see Fig. The segments (wings) of the circumscribing circles are not cut off, but folded back and glued together. The balls are glued with their wings facing outward, and the lampshades of the lanterns are glued inward (see below, about garlands).

The simplest regular polyhedron is a tetrahedron, a trihedral pyramid. However, the ball, which is already a ball, is an octahedron: two 4-sided pyramids glued together at the bases without bottoms. How to assemble it can be seen above in Fig. Even more impressive are the regular 20-sided triangles, the icosahedron, and the regular 12-sided dodecahedron, made from 5-gons. Many methods for gluing icosahedral spheres have been described; For some reason dodecahedrons are ignored. However, if you have templates inscribed in circles and printed in the required size, it is easiest and most accurate to glue according to patterns, below in Fig. Coloring, decoration, of course - to your taste.

Note: from regular 3- and 5-gons you can create polyhedra with any number of sides, up to infinity.

... and topologies

Curved figures of complex shape are dealt with by another science - topology. It could not be done without applying it to Christmas tree toys. Most “topological” decorations, however, are quite difficult to make, so we give only 1, but very beautiful ball, which can be woven without special knowledge and experience. First, you will need to print out the pattern of the blanks on colored paper (see figure) and cut them out.

The next stage is the layout for gluing according to the template, see next. rice. It is better to draw the template yourself (radii - every 30 degrees), using a compass and protractor, and a larger size so that you can make balls of different sizes. The sidewall blanks are laid out so that their noses touch the center and the corresponding radius.

Then, on the center of the “octopus”, or more precisely, the twelve-legged one, carefully, so as not to disturb the layout, glue a circle, pos. 1 on next rice. Glue the second centipede in exactly the same way, turn it over, place the first one on it and intertwine the “tentacles”, pos. 2 and 3. The result is a ball like in pos. 4.

Note: if the “centipedes” are assembled not in one color, but from blanks of alternating colors, then the finished ball will turn out not from rhombuses, but from spiral stripes.

Hedgehog and vice versa

A compass and protractor will also be needed to make a papillot ball. It is called that because its “horns” are similar to the paper curlers that were used to curl the styles of the past. In fact, this ball looks like a hedgehog. How to do it is shown in Fig:

• Cut out 10 circles and divide them into 2 equal piles, 5 in each.
• The circles of each pile are cut into 8 radii at 45 degrees, pos. 1 in Fig: 1st half, last 5/6 of the radius; intermediate - gradually increasing the depth of the cut. You need to cut accurately, so it’s better to immediately draw smaller circles on the circles - markers.
• The petals are rolled into papillot cones and glued along the seam.
• Each pile is folded in order of increasing incision depth, with the “needles” shifted around the circumference, pos. 3, and pull it together with a thread in the center so that the “needles” puff up.
• The two halves of the “hedgehog” are folded with their bottoms and finally tied together with thread, pos. 4.
• The ball is painted, the ends of the needles are gilded, silvered, sprinkled with sparkles, etc.

Using the same principle, you can get good balls in a simpler way. To do this, roll up many curl-papers from circles separately; better - from silver or golden plastic film. The diameter of the blanks may vary. Then they are placed on the table and leveled in height, trimming the ends. The next step is gluing it to the base (large bead, foam ball or ping pong ball) with the points inward. It turns out to be an “inside-out hedgehog”, or an anti-papillote ball, see fig. on right. The paper one can still be decorated, but the shiny one is good enough.

More paper

The basis of the next series of Christmas tree decorations is an accordion or a paper fan. A small part of what can be done with them is shown in Fig:

The craft on the top row will need old buttons and a little help from an ordinary stationery hole punch, and for the one below, you will also need a ring of tape, etc. However, the ring can also be glued together from several layers of paper on a mandrel from a bottle, can, etc. In this case, the mandrel must first be wrapped in plastic film so that the ring does not stick. And to make it easier to remove, the paper tape needs to be wound onto the mandrel not tightly and closer to the bottom or neck.

Note: the ring with small additions and coloring will be used as jewelry on its own, see fig. on right:

You can also use paper to make Chinese lanterns for the Christmas tree and for the whole house. This theme is also an immensity within an immensity; For example, we give the simplest one, see fig. below. These look best when made from multi-colored glitter, which in this case is colored glossy paper or plastic film.

Cones, icicles, bells

It is often recommended to turn spruce and pine cones into Christmas tree decorations by painting and pendants, on the left in the figure:

But traditional New Year’s decorations made from pine cones look much more impressive: the edges of the scales are tinted with bronze or aluminum powder (silver) and a bow, beads or small balls are added, right there. Such decorations, in addition, according to all beliefs, are a complete replacement for the bells on the New Year's wreath, see below.

Good icicle toys are made from salted dough painted with silver. The blanks are cut from the seam straight or slightly swollen in the middle, with pointed ends, or in the form of an elongated spear tip. Then they are twisted into a spiral; hung to dry.

Bells, in addition to plastic cups, are made from small PET bottles, for example, ketchup bottles. In Fig. on the right is the original product, a blank for decoration from it, and how the tongue of the bell works. The “spindle” (satin thread) is pulled through the dispensing spout of the cork and secured with a standard cap. You can pierce it with a needle, but the cap is deliberately made to look like a face from papier-mâché. The entire body of the bell hangs freely on the top button. Of course, a bead would have been better for the beater, but I didn’t have one at hand.

Garlands and beads

The simplest of New Year's garlands is the so-called. English, see fig. It still requires the same paper accordion. The desired figure is drawn on it, with some protrusion beyond the edges. First, use a scalpel (better) or a mounting knife to cut out the internal holes. To tear the paper, holes are punched in their corners and, at some intervals, on the sides, and the jumpers are cut with a knife. Let's unfold the accordion - we get a ribbon like the one on the top right in Fig. Below it are several templates suitable for an English garland of stars.

The simplest of glued garlands is a chain of rings, above in Fig. on right. But glued garlands made of paper fans, two poses, look much more magnificent. under it, double (interception in the middle of the accordion) and single. It is better to make fan garlands from corrugated thin paper, and from thick paper - chain ones, two positions. at the bottom. It clearly shows that the blanks for them should be bilaterally symmetrical (bilateral). They are cut out from a sheet folded in half; this is like 1 element of an English garland.

Corrugated paper is also perfect for “shaggy” garlands. How to do them is clear from the poses. below: the roll is unwound, stretched (stretch), folded into an accordion stack (fold), then one side is cut with scissors along the corrugation almost to half (cut halfway through fold), turned over and the other side is cut in the same way (flip + cut halfway on the other side). Then the accordion is unfolded and rolled into a spiral. In order for the “corkscrew” to hold, you can, after securing its ends, sprinkle a little, literally just a little, with water from a perfume spray bottle. Once it dries, it stays that way. But if you give it water, it will spread.

There are also stringed garlands. One of the simplest ones can be assembled from small booklet balls like openwork ones, only without gluing the sheets together. How is clear from Fig.

A strung garland in the quilling style is also simple and effective, see next. rice.:

Christmas tree garlands, as you know, can also be luminous. Modern microbulbs allow you to equip yourself with lampshades. The simplest ones are made from ping-pong balls: holes are turned with the tip of a knife and light bulbs are inserted inside. Fix by inserting a sliver or piece of toothpick between the wires. This work is quite safe, unless the garlands are homemade for 220 V. Then let the master manufacturer refine it.

Very beautiful lampshades are made from polygonal balls, but glued with wings inside. For what? And from the wings, fancy shadows will fall on the sides of the lampshade from the inside. Finally, lampshades for a glowing garland can also be made using the classic origami technique. By the way, many Japanese do not recognize modular origami with gluing elements, considering it an invention of armless Euro-Americans. Real origami, they say, should only be folded from paper. How to make origami lampshades is shown in Fig. below.

Translation of explanations:

• Repeat on the opposite side – repeat on the opposite side.
• Repeat on the other 3 corners – repeat on the remaining 3 corners.
• Repeat steps 11-13 on remaining 3 flaps – repeat steps 11-13 on 3 flaps where required.
• Blow in the opening to inflate - inflate into the hole to inflate.

Beads for the Christmas tree, which look just like the factory ones (on the left in the picture), can be made from aluminum foil, salt dough and painted plastic tubes.

First, the foil is cut into squares from 10x10 to 20x20 cm, depending on the desired size of the beads. The bead blanks are rolled into balls between the palms, on the right in Fig. Next, cut out circles from the salt dough with a diameter slightly larger than the size of the beads, stick them around the workpieces and smooth them out. The beads are dried on newspaper and painted with bronze or silver, or colored metallic. All that remains is to string it mixed with tubes, and you’re done.

Rain and tinsel

The old Testament silvery rain on the Christmas tree can be made using the same manual noodle cutter as glitter, but you no longer need to cut the “noodles” with scissors. The rain will be less tangled and will last longer if it is covered not with a baking sleeve, but with silver or golden, or simply colored, shiny plastic.

But the “shaggy” homemade tinsel is made from an aluminum baking sleeve, like a garland from corrugated paper. Then the tapes twisted into a spiral will not unfold on their own. As for the “sausage” tinsel, it’s still better to buy it. Without special equipment you can’t make long pieces; thin strips interlock and stick together. You can make short sections for the branches of a tabletop Christmas tree, but this is another vast thing in the vast.

Wreath

The New Year and Christmas wreath are older than the New Year holiday and older than any of the current calendars. His ancestry is lost in Druidic antiquity; it is only known that the ancestor was made from mistletoe and holly branches with red berries, and the meaning of the Druid wreath was such that it would not be said by night.

In Russia, the New Year is celebrated relatively recently. Before Peter the Great, years were counted “from the creation of the world” (now according to the Orthodox Slavic calendar it is 7524 years old, there is also the Orthodox Byzantine calendar; according to the Jewish calendar it is 5775. Whatever); the beginning of the new year fell on March 1 and this day did not stand out in any way. For the first time, according to Peter’s decree, “with great noise and revelry” and “decorations from branches and trees of pine, spruce and juniper,” the year 1700 from the Nativity of Christ was celebrated on January 1.

The Christmas wreath came into Russian holiday usage just a few years ago. None of the world religions attach sacred significance to the branches of coniferous trees; all beliefs associated with the New Year's wreath are pure folk art. In general, it is believed that the wreath should contain small red balls (a hint of holly berries), and it should be crowned with a bow with bells, see fig. higher. 2 bells - for the family, 1 - for bachelors and unmarried people (who, nevertheless, can celebrate the New Year by no means alone); a pair of different sizes - for divorced and single mothers.

All this, of course, is pure convention. What New Year's wreaths are not made from, see fig. below. It is not forbidden to use a wreath in the most frivolous way, see fig. on the left above, and the goblins with the kikimors of the swamp against actions do not seem to be happy.

As for a real wreath-amulet and talisman, it’s not difficult to make it with your own hands: spruce branches, natural or artificial, pine cones, wire frame, balls, bells, bow, and - go ahead, see the picture:

Learn more about how to make a wreath from fir branches in the video below:

Video: wreath of pine cones and fir branches

If the wreath is large, with many symbols of abundance and happiness, then a light frame may not be enough, and a more substantial piece is needed. In such a case, see the video:

Video: preparations for New Year's wreaths

An original and popular craft for the New Year is a wreath made of pine cones. It’s also easy to make, see next. rice. The tinted cones are provided with loops, pos. 1. Special kits are also sold for this, pos. 2, but you can get by with paper clips bitten off by side cutters. The holes under their legs are pricked with an awl, and after inserting a loop, superglue is dripped under them. All that remains is to string it on a cord or wire, pos. 3, roll the thread into a ring, pos. 4 and decorate the wreath with a bow, pos. 5.

About Christmas tree styles

Designers, of course, do not pass by a decorated Christmas tree. But the stylistics are a complete mess. Obviously, everyone calls the same style in their own way, or exactly different ones call them by the same name. However, there is still something in common; especially for small artificial trees on a conical base. They are very dense, so they are decorated in a minimalist style: 3-4 types of toys of approximately the same size. The canons of style do not concern decorations; they can be as pretentious as you like. There are 2 trends in Christmas tree minimalism: “warm”, in Fig. on the left, and “cold”, in the same place on the right. The choice of one or the other is determined by the overall design style of the room; finally, simply the taste of the owner or customer.

The New Year is getting closer, I really want to touch this magic. Of course, it’s still too early to decorate the Christmas tree, but you can get creative, for example, make New Year’s balls with your own hands. There is an article on the blog about it, there are a lot of interesting ideas there.

Balls are considered the most popular decoration; of course, you can buy them, the choice is huge - small, large, plastic, glass. But the items self made- it’s not easy decoration, it’s a mood, a piece of the soul. This toy will stand out on your tree or make a great New Year's gift.

Nowadays the English expression “hand made” has become popular, which means “hands do.” And this is not just a fashionable word; now handmade things have become valued. Huge supermarkets are opening where you can buy a lot of goods for hobbies, creativity, handicrafts, if you wish.

I suggest looking at different design ideas - from simple ones that anyone, even a child, can handle, to more complex ones.

DIY Christmas balls for 2020 with the symbol of the year

The coming 2020 will be the year of the White Metal Rat, which means that the New Year tree simply must have a toy in the shape of a Rat. There are many ideas on the Internet, we will consider those that will have a round shape.

Do you know that the predecessors of balls were ordinary apples? In Europe, Christmas trees were decorated with this biblical symbol in ancient times. In one of the lean years, glassblowers came to the rescue by making apples from glass. This innovation quickly caught on. The glass products reflected the light of the candles, which made the decorated Christmas tree more festive.

To make a ball in the form of a symbol of the coming year, you will not need much - any New Year's ball, acrylic paint, acrylic varnish and pieces of fabric to make a hat and ears. Watch the video for a detailed master class.

Video on how to make a Pig-shaped ball from a pompom

If you have leftover yarn in your bins, you can make a cute Pig face from a pompom, detailed step-by-step instruction in the video. This Christmas decoration Children will love it, because they love soft toys so much.

Schemes for collecting volumetric Christmas balls from paper

It's easy to make beautiful Christmas tree decorations from paper. You can use colored or white paper and draw your own drawings, snowflakes on it, or stick interesting pictures on it. Children will love such creativity; such balls can be made not only for the home, they can be taken to kindergarten or to school. To make it you will need regular office paper, multi-colored or white, glue, and scissors.

Modular paper ball

This product is made from modules that are glued together; they can be of different colors or plain, it all depends on your preferences.

Description of work:

Do-it-yourself large honeycomb ball (step-by-step instructions)

Looking at such a product, it seems that it is very difficult to make. In fact, even a child can cope with such work, the main thing is to understand the manufacturing principle.

It is better to learn from a large model, then you can use it to decorate the interior, take it to a kindergarten or school to decorate a large one Christmas tree. Once you understand how it is made, you can easily repeat the steps on smaller products.

The main rule: do not get confused with the order of applying glue.

How to do:

Honeycomb balls can be made from fewer halves, and then the honeycombs will be rarer.

DIY Christmas balls in shabby chic style

Balls in the shabby chic style can be very different, because it is not a technique, it is just a style.

The founder of this style was the Englishwoman Rachel Ashville, who initially bought old furniture, decorated it for herself, and later began selling her work. Accordingly, a general interior was created for such furniture. The peculiarity of this style is tenderness, warmth, and not the pretentiousness of expensive things.

Today, “shabby chic” is a fashion trend based on the principle of giving things a “touch of antiquity.”

The chic style is often compared to the Provence style:

• it is characterized by angels, soft floral motifs, mainly roses and peonies;
• From geometric patterns, a slightly noticeable cell or strip is allowed;
• The color scheme is light, soft, mainly white, beige, peach, and pink. You can add shades of lilac, light green, lavender, blue, the main thing is that they are not bright;
• Shabby chic is lace, organza, satin, linen, delicate chintz.

It is not surprising that handmade items fit perfectly into this style; New Year's toys were no exception.

Scrapbooking technique for decorating balls

Scrapbooking fits perfectly into the shabby chic style, as this technique involves decoration.

To make such balls with your own hands, you don’t really need a master class. It is enough to buy ready-made inexpensive plastic New Year's toys or foam blanks in the handicraft departments.

For decoration, find in your bins, which every needlewoman has, pieces of fabric, lace, ribbons, decorations, interesting buttons, beads and, using your imagination, make an exclusive decoration for the Christmas tree.

Decoupage of Christmas balls

The now very popular decoupage technique is perfect for the shabby chic style.

It’s not difficult to master; the article mentioned above contains a detailed master class for beginners. It is enough to select pictures, decor in the right tone and unique works will catch the admiring glances of your guests.

In the video I suggest you watch a master class on making a New Year's ball in the shabby chic style using the reverse decoupage technique.

Decorating New Year's balls with beads

Craftswomen who work with beads do not ignore Christmas tree decorations. Small beads make amazing works - Christmas trees, angels, pine cones and much more. The iridescent reflections of small colored beads create the feeling of a fairy tale in the house.

Balls are also decorated with beads, and in a variety of ways. They are completely braided, creating beautiful patterns, and making exquisite openwork decorations.

To make such beautiful toys you will need beads, nylon thread or fishing line, a needle, and, perhaps most importantly, patience.

And the master class in the video will help you, good luck!

How to make a Christmas tree ball with a photo with your own hands

Now you can order different toys - personalized, with a logo, with a photo, but for creative people It will not be difficult to do such things with your own hands. Read on and you will see that anyone can make a balloon with a photo.

To make it you will need:

• detachable transparent ball
• acrylic paint - white and colored
• glue "moment"
• glitter
• photo

Description of work:

New Year's ball made of satin ribbons and fabric

The imagination of needlewomen has no limits; ribbons and pieces of fabric are used to decorate Christmas tree decorations.

And it’s no longer easy to “make it out of what was there,” different techniques are used, kimekomi, kanzashi, artichoke. Balls decorated using these techniques are simply a work of art.

Kimekomi technique for fabric Christmas tree decorations

Products made using the kimekomi technique are somewhat reminiscent of our patchwork technique.

In our country it is used to make quilted bedspreads, blankets, sofa pillows, and other products, but not for New Year's toys. But it turns out that balls made from scraps of fabric also look very original and beautiful.

In Japan, kimekomi was used to make dolls by pressing scraps of fabric into wooden blanks with slots.

Materials for work:

• foam blank
• glue stick
• stationery scissors
• scraps of fabric
• a sharp object with a rounded tip (table knife, knitting needle, crochet hook)
• various items for decoration

The operating principle is simple:

Fabrics used for such work vary widely in both elasticity and strength. It is easiest to work with elastic fabrics; it is more difficult to work with loose fabrics with a sparse weave.

New Year's balls kanzashi

Kanzashi is a technique similar to origami, only it uses satin ribbons rather than paper. This art came from Japan; women used kanzashi to decorate their hair. Nowadays this technique is used not only for decorating hair clips, but also for decorating clothes and objects.

According to the craftswomen, if you figure out how to make kanzashi, it becomes clear that it is not at all difficult.

Whether this is true or not, you can find out by watching a video on making a New Year's ball using this technique.

Decorating balls using the artichoke technique

Artichoke is another patchwork technique that is actively used to decorate New Year's balls.

The meaning of the technique is simple - you can draw an analogy with origami - we fold pieces of fabric and attach them to the base.

Christmas tree ball made of candies

New Year, candies, sweets - these concepts are inseparable. Imagine how happy your child will be when he sees a delicious toy on the Christmas tree, although it’s unlikely to hang for long. Sweet balls can be an original New Year's gift.

To make sweet toys, you can use a foam blank and use glue, tinsel, pieces of fabric, and ribbons to form a ball.

Another option is to use split balls. This option is very simple - you just need to fill the transparent blanks with sweets and decorate them beautifully.

New Year is a magical holiday and you can touch this magic with your own hands, creating real masterpieces. Charge your loved ones with inspiration, let each member of your family make their own New Year's ball so that your Christmas tree is the most elegant.

Good luck to you and have a fabulous New Year.

Hello, friends! The ShkolaLa blog continues active preparations for the New Year 2017! Our och. skillful hands they know no peace. They have already made beautiful ones. Already turned into . And they have already done it. Well, today they will make Christmas tree decorations from foam balls.

White foam blanks are sold in craft stores. Moreover, they can be not only in the form of balls, but also in the form of bagels, and in the form of Christmas trees, icicles and other interesting shapes. And it’s a pleasure to work with them!

Today we will tell you how you can make such beautiful toys with your own hands.

Welcome to our New Year's master class!

Lesson plan:

Shiny and sparkling ball with sequins

This is what he looks like.

But it can look different, it all depends on the pattern and color of the sequins that you choose.

To make this decoration we needed:

• foam ball;
• sequins;
• nail pins;
• glue gun (if you don’t have one, you can use glue, but using a gun is much more convenient);
• braid to make a loop for the ball, by which we will then hang it on the Christmas tree;
• a small piece of children's foam for creativity (foamiran), it will also be needed when we make the suspension;
• pencil or pen;
• scissors.

First, we come up with a design and mark it on the surface of the workpiece. We just have a wavy stripe in the middle. Or you can make, for example, a snowflake.

We take sequins of the intended color and carnation needles. We attach sequins to the needle.

And we begin to stick needles with sequins into the workpiece along the intended line. Make sure the sequins are adjacent to each other. And be careful! Don't prick yourself!

Our blue wave is ready!

We decided to line the space above the blue wave with silver sequins.

Carefully prick them in rows.

The top is ready!

Well, we made the bottom one from light green sequins. The ball is ready!

Now let's start making the loop. To do this, take a small piece (about 12 cm) of white zig-zag braid and cut out a small circle from silver foam.

We assemble the following structure from the above. You can read in great detail about how to make a toy hanger.

Using a glue gun, glue the loop to the top of the toy. The first one is ready!

Christmas decoration “Cake”

Let’s be honest, initially we weren’t going to make a cake, we were going to make a ball out of decorative cords, but suddenly... Okay, first things first.

So, to make this toy we needed:

• foam ball;
• decorative cords of two different colors (we purchased them at the Fabric store), each cord is 1 meter long;
• beautiful braid for decoration;
• glue gun;
• two needles-pins with balls at the ends;
• foam and ribbon for making a suspension.

First, using pins, pin the ends of the decorative cords to the workpiece.

And we begin by applying hot glue to the ball and gluing the cords in a spiral.

According to the original idea, we should have had enough laces for the entire ball. But suddenly... they ended.

But now we know that two meter cords for a foam ball with a diameter of 6 cm is not enough!!! We went to the store to buy more material, but they were no longer there. What to do? Don't throw away the toy unfinished. And this is what we came up with.

We have silicone molds in which we often prepare souffles. And for the sake of the New Year, we decided to sacrifice one mold. Our unfinished beauty, placed in this form, looks a lot like a pie, doesn’t it?

You just need to decorate the mold. For this we took:

• a silver ribbon, which we glue to the mold using a gun;
• red sparkles;
• PVA glue.

The tape was glued. Glue was poured into one plate. The other was filled with glitter.

Dip the mold into glue.

And then into a plate with glitter. This is what happened. Left to dry.

When the mold was dry, we glued the ball to it using a gun. The suspension was made using technology already known to you. The foam used was red. She also plays the role of a cherry for us. The result is such a sweet New Year's decoration!

New Year's "Disco Ball"

Why "disco"? Previously, such balls hung from the ceiling and sent bunnies in different directions on disco areas. And ours hangs on the Christmas tree!

For production we needed:

• foam spherical blank;
• old unnecessary DVD disc;
• scissors;
• glue gun;
• scissors;
• braid and foam for making a suspension.

First we will make a suspension for the ball.

We start gluing the mirror pieces on top.

And we gradually move lower.

As a result, we got a ball like this. Imagine how beautifully it will sparkle when multi-colored garland lights flash nearby on the Christmas tree!

Very cute "Chicken"

Let's turn another foam ball into an adorable chicken.

For this we need:

• workpiece;
• double-sided yellow colored paper;
• yellow acrylic paint (gouache will also work);
• a small piece of orange foamiran;
• PVA glue;
• nail pins;
• sponge;
• yellow sparkles;
• red satin ribbon;
• white braid for making a pendant;
• half beads (this is for the eyes, if there are no half beads, then the eyes can be made from cardboard);
• scissors;
• wooden skewer.

For convenience, we place our foam blank on a wooden skewer.

In a container, mix yellow paint and PVA glue in equal proportions.

Using a sponge, apply the color mixture to the surface of the ball.

If you press the sponge tightly against the ball and then suddenly remove it, the surface will not be smooth, but will look like an orange peel.

Immediately, while the paint is still wet, sprinkle our future chicken with yellow sparkles. It’s supposed to shine, because it’s New Year’s. Let the ball dry.

When the ball has dried, we begin to make the comb and at the same time the suspension. Let's take red satin ribbon about 10 cm long, a piece of white zig-zag braid, pins.

We apply a white braid to the very top of the ball, the tip of a red ribbon on it and secure it with pins. In general, we do it as in the photo.

We throw the free end of the tape to the other side, form a loop and pin it again with a needle.

In the middle of the scallop we make a wave and pin it again.

And at the end of the scallop we make a loop again. The scallop is ready.

We lift the white braid up, use a needle and white thread to connect the ends, we get a suspension.

Cut out a diamond from a small piece of orange foamiran.

Fold it in half and get a beak. We attach the beak with a pin.

From two dark half-beads we make the eyes of the chicken.

Cut out a pair of wings and a tail from yellow double-sided paper. We make cuts at the ends, it’s like feathers.

Using scissors, we curl our wings and tail a little. We spread the feathers in different directions.

We attach the wings to the body of the chicken using three nail pins.

And we attach the tail in the same way at the back.

We cut out these paws from orange foamiran. Which we also attach to our toy with pins.

The New Year's toy “Chicken” is ready!

Almost like a real “Snowball”

A Christmas ball, surprisingly similar to a snowball. True, he will never melt.

How to make it? Now we'll tell you. So, we needed:

• foam ball;
• white acrylic paint (gouache will also work);
• various beautiful ribbons, ribbons, lace, sequins for decorating toys;
• PVA glue;
• semolina;
• glue gun;
• wooden skewer;
• scissors;
• spoon.

Place the ball on a wooden skewer. Mix white paint with PVA glue in a 1:1 ratio.

Add the same amount of semolina to the resulting mixture of paint and glue. And mix everything thoroughly.

The resulting composition, which has a consistency similar to cottage cheese, is gradually applied using a spoon to the entire surface of our ball. Instead of a spoon, you can use some other tool, for example, a plasticine knife. Do not try to make the surface absolutely flat and smooth. On the contrary, it should be rough. Let the ball dry.

Let's start decorating. We took a piece of silver-gray lace and a blue ribbon, as well as silver sequins. We will attach them to the “snow” ball with pins and nails.

This is how we got it.

All that remains is to make the suspension. The toy is ready!

New Year's decoration "Gift for the Rooster"

The owner of the coming year, the Rooster, should like this ball. After all, it is made from millet.

To make it you will need:

• foam ball;
• millet;
• PVA glue;
• acrylic glossy varnish (you can do without it);
• brush;
• sponge;
• glue gun;
• glitter;
• beautiful ribbons for decoration.

Place the ball on a wooden skewer. Pour PVA glue into one plate, pour millet into another.

Using a sponge, apply PVA glue thickly to the ball.

Roll the ball in millet. Make sure that the millet covers the entire surface. And leave it to dry.

To give our millet ball a beautiful shiny look, we cover it with acrylic varnish. This procedure, by the way, will further consolidate the grains. We dry it again.

After the toy has dried, we begin decorating. We used colored zig-zag ribbons for this. Which were glued with a gun.

We glue the first tape exactly along the equator.

The second is perpendicular to the first.

We also glue two more colors of braid. From the last ribbon we immediately make a loop for hanging. Add sequins for shine. We attach the sequins using nail pins.

This is what we got!

Well, since you and I have worked well, we have the right to have a good rest! To create a New Year's mood, let's listen to a song about New Year's toys, as well as pine cones and crackers!

All the best!

Come visit again!

You are always welcome here!