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. First of all, the nutcracker gets its face. Start by delicately sketching everything with a pencil. In the next step, draw the eyes:

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

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

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

3. Make the beard and hair out of fairy wool. Glue them on carefully with hot glue and cut them into shape with scissors as shown in the picture. Then you can glue the hat onto the head.

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

5. To glue on the bamboo stick legs, fill the terracotta pots with flower arrangement foam. Glue them inside with a little hot glue. Then insert the legs that you have shortened into the flower arrangement foam and apply more hot glue around the insertion point. The plugs will now be stable in the 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 starting from the upper terracotta pot to the waist. Paint them to match the body. For the hands, draw on the wooden beads. For the shoulder, paint the beads in gold beforehand. Glue the arms on and you're done.