Nuts.

[drowningmermaid.livejournal.com]

It's taken me forever to get around to posting these.
Just so you know.

Around Christmas, I'd decided that I wanted to make some walnut ornaments. My family had done them when I was a kid and only one was left (the rest had been long since broken).

The basic idea is to crack open the walnut shell (doing so without breaking the two halves takes time, practice, patience and a recipe that calls for walnuts so you're not wasteful). You remove the meat of the nut, clean the shells of any debris or dirt, etc... and let them dry.

Once they're dry, cut lengths of wire (I used photo hanging wire because it was nearby), string, yarn, or even use ornament hooks and glue them into place with both halves lined back up (to look like an unopen walnut, ya know?

Once the glue is dry, paint them, dye them, use glue and glitter, etc... and seal with whichever sealant is appropriate.

Voila!
Nuts.



Since we put these on the Christmas tree, they had to have a holiday theme.

My first nut was my most extravagant. I painted it (not geographically correct) like the earth, then put a dotted path in from the North Pole (which was just some red and white paint on the twisted wire) all over the 'earth' and a tiny, barely-recognizable reindeer-driven sleigh and fat man.



Really, you can't see the details well but I know they're there.



Then, my husband joined me.
He painted these:


Santa head and Snowman head (which I think looks a little like Jack the Pumpkin King, taking over Christmas again)...

Then I painted this snowman.


And he's got a twin on the other side.


Finally, I let my kid take over and paint two nuts of her own (ignore that verbal faux pas) and honestly, they're my favorite. Even if she did get my paints all mixed together.


Oh yeah, and we can't forget about the whole "Jesus" thing... so I painted a creepy looking Jesus ornament, even though my mother thinks it looks more like my husband.



What do you think?




So sure, it's taken me half a year to post, but let's just call me early for next year.

I was going to post my painted eggs along with this, but this post got long enough with just the nuts... so expect another post soon.

Seriously now... what do you think?

x-posted to my art journal.