How to make Pasta Angels
This was our family Christmas craft for 2008. We liked the idea and ran with it creating lots of different expressions and personalities for the angels. We made about 15 pasta angels and gave these hand-made-with-love gifts to neighbors, family and friends. It's easy to set up an assembly line and mass produce them.
Pasta Angel Chorus
Materials and Tools
Materials:Rigatoni pasta (angel body) see note below
Bowtie pasta (wings)
Elbow pasta (arms)
3/4 inch wooden balls (head), solid or with hole*
White paint
Ultra fine point permanent markers
Fine point permanent markers the color of hair
Embellishing stars (or other embellishments)
1/8" wide ribbon (optional for hanging as ornaments)
*(if you are making the angels as ornaments, choose wooden balls with holes in the center)
Note: Different pasta brands sell different sizes of rigatoni. Look for a size that is 1/2" in diameter and about 1 1/4" long. Usually store brands are the right size (name brands tend to be smaller).
Tools:
Hot glue gun and glue sticks (excercise caution with hot glue guns)
Small paint brush
These are the exact products I use to make Pasta Angels
Folk Art Paint 2 oz Wicker White 901
This white paint works great for painting the angels. You'll need to use 2 coats.
Amazon Price: $6.98 (as of 01/01/2010) 
Sharpie Ultra-Fine-Point Permanent Markers, 24-Pack Colored Markers (32893)
Nothing is better than a fresh pack of Sharpies. Note that these are the Ultra Fine Point markers. There are plenty of good colors in this pack. You'll need the Ultra Fine markers for marking the hair outline and the facial features.
Amazon Price: $16.28 (as of 01/01/2010)
Sharpie Fine Point Permanent Markers, 24 Colored Markers (75846)
Note that these are the Fine Point markers. These are good for filling in the hair.
Amazon Price: $15.67 (as of 01/01/2010)
Conductor leads singers
Instructions
1. Hot glue a wooden ball to one end of a rigatoni pasta. Choose a piece of rigatoni that will stand up good and straight. Working quickly, squeeze glue onto one end of the pasta and glue on the wooden ball. Center the hole if there is one.
2. Using a small dot of hot glue, glue the elbow pasta (2 pieces) onto rigatoni. When the elbow pasta pieces are glued in place, add a little more hot glue to keep them secure. The "arms" can break off and need a little extra glue for support.
3. Glue bowtie pasta "wings" onto rigatoni. Glue bowtie about 1/4 inch down from the wooden ball. If the "wings" are too close to the wooden ball "head", coloring in the hair will be difficult.
Now you are ready to paint. Scroll down for paint instructions.
Singing Angels lined up
Painting the pasta angels
1. Paint the pasta angel. The easiest way to hold the angel while painting is to use a marker (or similar item) snuggly fit into the open end of rigatoni. You can then paint the angel without touching the wet paint. Using white paint and a small paint brush, paint the entire pasta angel. Let paint dry and add a second coat.
2. Add a line for the hair. Using an ultra fine point marker, draw a wavy line to mark where the angel hair will be. Scroll back up a little to the pasta angel chorus photo and look at some different ideas for the hair.
3. Fill in the hair with a solid color. The solid hair color can be colored in with a fine point marker, or painted on with a paint brush.
4. Draw in facial features. This is when the angels gain character. Use ultra fine point markers for facial features. You can add a singing mouth or no mouth at all. Experiment with eyes too.
5. Add embellishment. To add a star as shown here, glue one of the arms upward and glue on the star.
Make it a Pasta Angel Ornament
Here's how I make it an ornament. Cut a piece of 1/8 inch ribbon at least 12 inches long and tie a double knot in one end. The thickness of the double knot will prevent the ribbon from slipping back through the hole in the wooden ball. Then, using a long thin instrument (use whatever you have that will work), push the ribbon up through the bottom of the angel's head (wooden ball). Optional: Tie one more knot in the ribbon above the angel's head so the ribbon will not be pulled back through the hole.
More ideas
Here are some other versions of the pasta angels. Above you see an angel wishing Happy Birthday, an angel with an attitude (hands on hips) and an angel orchestra conductor. Our 11 year-old made the conductor. How fitting to use a rigatoni that leaned slightly forward.
Do you know your pasta?
More pasta crafts
- Pasta Pets
- This link provides pictures and instructions for making pasta animals with pasta and pipe cleaners. No hot glue needed = kid friendly.
- Make a pasta snowflake
- This main idea is a starting point for lots and lots of snowflake shapes. These would make wonderful ornaments as well.
- Alphabet Art
- Here's a cute idea for using those alphabet pasta shapes.
- "Holiday Candles" made from pasta
- Now this is really cool. And it's the first time I've seen this. You can make what looks like holiday candles from pasta shapes.
- Pasta necklace
- The example shows a pasta necklace with St. Patrick's Day theme. But you could easily change the necklace to any theme, or no theme.
- Pasta Turtles
- Very cute!
- Pasta Christmas Tree
- I heard about this from a friend and finally found it online. A colorful tree made from pasta shapes.
- Pasta Christmas Elf
- The rating on this is "Hard", but I think with some thought it could be simplified. Hummm. I'll be thinking about this one.
- Pasta necklace ideas
- This link is to a photo of lots of neat pasta necklaces.
"Rings and other jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself.''
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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- Pukeko Pukeko Dec 25, 2009 @ 8:04 pm
- I have featured this at By Kids 4 Kids - A Group of Squidoo Lenses for Kids and I have sprinkled some angel dust (you can add a link to my angel lens if you want).
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- Jewelsofawe Jewelsofawe Nov 15, 2009 @ 11:16 am
- This looks fun!
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- GonnaFly GonnaFly Nov 14, 2009 @ 9:24 pm
- Too cute! You've done a lovely job with these.
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- theraggededge theraggededge Nov 14, 2009 @ 1:15 pm
- Very cute - my kids would love to make these.
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- shajo shajo Nov 14, 2009 @ 9:00 am
- These are adorable! Great instructions too, it helps to have pictures!!
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- bdkz bdkz Nov 14, 2009 @ 8:51 am
- Beautiful! I voted for you and gave you a Squid Angel Blessing : )
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- jgelien jgelien Oct 19, 2009 @ 12:53 pm
- Unbelievable. I was given one of these adorable creations as a Christmas ornament years ago. It disappeared a while back and I have always wanted to know how to make another!
Thank you for the great lens.
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- ronpass ronpass Sep 12, 2009 @ 3:16 am
- Fascinating craft ideas - I would never have thought of using pasta this way - well done.
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Lensmaster puzzlemaker has been a member since May 11 2009, has rated 403 lenses, favorited 191, and has created 30 lenses from scratch. Paige Graves donates their royalties to Modest Needs. This member's top-ranked page is "Nautical Christmas Ornaments". See all my lenses
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