Introduction: Hot Glue Miniature Cactus
What You'll need:
Paint (Green, Pink, Black)
Colored Paper (Optional)
This would be great for a dollhouse or a fairy garden, or even a windowsill decoration. Thanks for reading this, and I hope you all will see this and share more ideas you have for improving this idea.
Step 1: The Paints
For your cactus to look like a cactus, you have to paint it. I used a mixture of metallic green and bright green for my cactus, and a silver (comes with t) the metallic green and pink mixture for the pot. You'll also need a dot of black for the "spines" of the cactus. You may need to add multiple coats to make the paint look full.
Step 2: The Cactus
Almost all of the cactus plant and planter is made of hot glue. The base pieces are the cactus body and the pot. The cactus is easy enough to make, just put a glob of hot glue on a piece of parchment paper and let dry. I chose my metallic green and bright green mixture to paint my cactus. To paint, flip over to the flat side and paint there. Be careful not to get any paint on the curved side. You may need to put on multiple coats. I had to do two coats to make the color look full. Once that is dry, flip over the cactus so that the rounded side is up. Dip the end of the kebab stick or tooth pick in the black paint and randomly put some dots on the cactus, giving the illusion of spines. For the flower, I used a peice of light pink paper, cut out a tiny flower, and "laminate" it by putting a dot of hot glue on top of it and folding a piece of parchment paper over it. If you're struggling to find the right shape for the flower, then here's a tip: make pointed petals. Then, just put an itty bitty dot of hot glue of the bottom and fix to the top of the cactus. The flower is optional, although it adds a little flare to the cactus.
Step 3: The Pot (Option One)
This pot is made from hot glue, while the other is made from polymer clay. First, you almost completely cover the marble with hot glue, and let that dry. Then, about halfway down the marble, cut the excess hot glue off. Next, put a pea-sized drop of hot glue on the parchment paper and place the bottom of the marble with the pot on top of it. This forms the bottom of the planter and lets it sit up right. Once that dries, peel the glue off the marble (in one piece) and trim up the top of the pot. Then paint it from the inside or the outside. Pointer: If you want it to look glossy, paint the inside. More than one coat of paint looks better in my opinion.
Step 4: The Pot (Option Two)
If you don't like the hot glue pot idea, then this one is probably better for you. Cut out a strip of polymer clay and roll it into a pipe-like shape. Press that gently down onto a small square of clay. Trim the edges of the square to the desirable shape. Then cook at the unstructed temperature on the package. If you don't have any clay of the desired color, then just paint over it. It's fine. To get a terracotta color, mix brown and red together.
Step 5: Putting It All Together
To hold the cactus up in the pot, put a small dot of hot glue on the bottom of the pot, then use a small bit of the stick you used to put spines on the cactus and glue it in there. The stick needs to bea tiny bit shorter than or even with the top of te pot. When that dries, put another small bit of hotglue on top of the stick and place the cactus on top of that. You will need to hold it there until it dries. For the stuff filling the po, you can either 1) fill the thing with hot glue, 2) Fill almost the whole thing with hot glue and then before it dries cover the top with sand (or salt), 3) fill the thing with tiny clay balls or sand or 4) improvise somehow. I personally did option two in this demonstration.
Participated in the
Stick It! Contest
