I’ve had disappointingly little time for polymer clay recently, but I have managed to make an ornament for Christmas. I started off with a ready-made paper mache egg that I painted with gold acrylic paint and decorated with polymer clay and crystals.
You may be wondering why I have made a tree in a bushfire, but that’s not entirely what I was thinking. I wanted to make something that was specific to Christmas without the common images that you buy in the shops, so I tried to think on a more elemental level.
Firstly I think all the sparkles and lights at Christmas are to remind us that even though it’s mid-winter the summer sun will come back again. So I made my egg gold because the solstice is about the sun.
On the base of the egg I have made the sun from polymer clay. It’s on the base of the egg to show that the sun is on the other side of the world bringing summer to the Southern Hemisphere. I grew up in South Africa, and I still have family there so I think about this every year.
The tree has no leaves to show it’s winter.
The crystals represent snow (because it’s winter), and the stars in the sky on the longest night. They are also there because I believe that at Christmas you can never have enough bling.
Unfortunately the crystals I used are not very good quality. I do have better ones, but I couldn’t find them. I think I imagined the egg made from real gold and diamonds, but I haven’t got the skills or budget to make it that way (this year 😉 ).
