Snowman Made From Cotton Balls and Glue

The ornament almost has a stone quality to it with the ribbons of cotton running through the ornament. It was a pretty easy project and certainly one worth trying!
I started by filling a small water bottle full of cotton balls. Then I mixed up about 10oz of epoxy and poured it in. At this point I had no idea what it was going to look like, or if it was going to turn out at all.

I gave the epoxy a day to cure before attempting any work. Then it was off to the lathe. Since the bottle had been misshapen from the heat of the glue curing, I had to square up the bottom on the band saw.

Then it was off to the lathe. I drilled a 3/8 hole and mounted it on my bottle stopper mandrel! Brought up the tailstock and roughed a shape in. The epoxy turns well, and it is pretty easy to work.

After that I switched to a 60* cone center and that gave me access to the top of his head. and the nice starter hole for my eye hook. After a little more refinement I wet sanded to 400 grit and called it done!

I think it's one of my favorite pieces. It has a stone look too it and an elegance I was not expecting from glue and cotton balls! Thanks for looking!

Comments

[mrsmerwin]

how heavy is the finished ornament?

[NathanSellers]

So cool. I'm sure the texture is really awesome. Thanks for doing awesome out of the box stuff.

[FakeCultMember]

This is such a cool idea!

[lilchumy]

Lol, that's awsome.

[kludge77]

Thank you

[HUKBMBEAR]

great work - I have used string with resin to make pens and will be using colored saw dust but never thought of cotton. Haven't gad much time this year for turning, but hear are a couple of my recent attempts.

https://www.instructables.com/id/Christmas-Carousel...

https://www.instructables.com/id/Christmas-Decorati...

let me know what you think