Santa's Elves Yard Display

After years of Christmas plywood cutout characters, we decided to follow the 3D trend and build some happy elves for our yard this year.

The elves are wooden skeletons with newspaper pressed and taped all around to form the shapes.  Two coats of paper mache, bits of clay added, gesso, paint, and waterproofing and they are ready for display!

Step 1 Materials and Tools

The basic materials are:
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2x2, 1x2, 2x4 lumber
dowels
newspaper
masking tape
posterboard
brown paper bags
paper mache - we use PlayBOX wheat paste 3lbs
paper clay - Creative Paper Clay Co.
gesso - Liquidtex surface prep
wrapping paper
decoupage - Mod Podge
Acrylic paints
Krylon acrylic crystal clear satin spray paint for waterproofing

Basic tools:
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Craftsman jigsaw with foot switch
drill with large bits
paintbrushes
medium fine sandpaper
hot glue gun

For the animated elf spinning package:
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gear motor - Solarbotics GM21 $20
1/2" PVC pipe
Copper pipe
2 scavenged scooter bearings
5/16" plain steel rod
5/16" ID steel coupler
14ga steel sheet 9"x9"
Styrofoam brick
2 AA batteries and holder
hot glue and gun
misc washers, allen set screws, hookup wire

Comments

[Telluride]

Would you be willing to make these to sell?

[tsylvia]

I was wondering how well the elves held up outside in the elements?

[blipvert]

They did get a little soggy with the rain but didn't turn into mush. So we overpainted them with outdoor primer and repainted. They have held up well this year with a few rainy days. Good question, one we were most curious about as well.

[kitchin01]

EXACTLY what I have been looking for!!!!!
Absolutely brilliant

[blipvert]

Thank you all for your kind words and voting us into top finalist spot for the Krylon competition! Stay tuned for more fun through the year.

[mary candy]

oh gorgeousss !!!

[wizgirl]

awesome!

[cdawisconsin]

I'm happy you won. Really well deserved.

[seamster]

Well-deserved win! Congrats!

[WingsandFences]

These are so great! Now you just have to hide from all the neighbors who come begging to know where you found these smashing elves :0) I see orders in your future.

[seamster]

You gotta love the newspaper and masking tape technique. You can make just about anything. These turned out great!

[love2cad]

These are great!! Would it be possible to get a few dimensions? Such as overall height, hip and shoulder width. You seem to have nailed the scale and I would love to try and recreate one. Thanks!!

[blipvert]

Thanks everyone for your great comments. Here are the dimensions of the 4 elves from left to right in inches:

                     Package Elf   Back Pkg  Front Pkg  Spinner
hat height      17                     20               20              13
head height  10                       9                10              10
head width    10                     10               10              10
head depth    10                    10               10               10
upper arm      11                      9                 9                  9
lower arm        9                       7                 6                  5
hand length     8                       9               10                  7
torso length   12                    16               18                21
torso width     12                    10               11               10
torso depth    12                     10                8                  8
thigh                  7                     13              13                12
lower leg        12                       9                 8                10
foot length      10                     11              10                10
foot width          5                       5                 5                  5
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Enjoy!
blipvert

[love2cad]

great.. thank you for the dimensions.

[porcupinemamma]

They are very very cool. Way better than any store bought decorations. Beautiful job!

[lemonie]

High-quality stuff there!

L

[Honus]

They look awesome- I bet you're the envy of your neighbors!

[l8nite]

AWESOME ! Halloween is our BIG holiday but we do string a lot of lights and stuff for christmas, Im going to fav this page and keep it in mind for next yr

[Mekasia]

Spectacular!!! It's a bit late for me to start on them for this year, but I think this will be a project to tinker with next year. You could easily sell these for a tidy profit.

[cdawisconsin]

Amazing. You should be designing the Holiday windows for some high end department store.

[BrittLiv]

They are really cute!