Crafting A Christmas Village, Make Your Own Holiday Town

For those of you searching how to make Halloween props you can still see our videos on youtube.com on how to make your very own Halloween skull. With the month of October soon to be over we're moving on to the Christmas holidays with our newest project a Christmas village. You too can make a fantastic Christmas village display, all you need to do is assemble some simple items and everyday materials you probably already have around the house. You can use old boxes, soda bottles and scrap wood to make your own little Christmas town. Your craft or hobby store has modeling materials with which you can finish your project and add details. At Studio Haycross we use Celluclay on alot of projects, this is a instant papier mache mix derived from old newspapers which comes in gray and white(Celluclay II) and can be molded, shaped sanded, sawed and more. It's made by Activa products of Marshall, TX., (www.activa.com)

Celluclay I
The original grey Celluclay is a low cost, recycled paper medium which mix easily and mold quickly. They can be sanded, sawed, nailed and water proofed. Wet Celluclay can be added to areas already dried . And any unused mixed Celluclay can be stored for several days in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator. Celluclay adheres to almost any surface and can be combined with a variety of materials. Celluclay requires no special tools for working. (simple sculpting tools include plastic knife, fork, stirrer, toothpicks, cookie cutters, etc.) do a search of art supply companies to find the lowest price, a 5 lb. bag consisting of 5 individual blocks stacked in a bag is most economical and will cost you about $18. plus shipping. Activa has links to sites selling their products so that is a good place to start.

Celluclay II
White Celluclay II Instant Papermache. The finest papier mache on the market. Dries hard. Adheres to most surfaces. Can be sawed, sanded, nailed and waterproofed. Finish with any paint or marker. Works essentially the same, but costs a little extra. The benefit of Celluclay II is it's white color which makes it easier to paint requiring less coats to cover unlike celluclay which is gray and is easier to paint when a white primer is applied first.

Start by looking at some vintage Christmas decorations, a good site is http://www.papatedsplace.8k.com/WWII.html,this is where I got some ideas for my village pieces. If you're handy with power tools you can build simple structures from wood and then detail with papier mache. They don't have to be detailed, just some simple boxes with windows will do, painted different colors these look great under the tree, especially lit up with lights. You can add simple elements like geometric trim to liven up even the simplist structure. You'll get ideas for building and painting from looking at some of the vintage pieces, you can make them vibrant or create a simple snow village in white. The pictures I've posted here are vintage pieces that were recently up for auction on E-bay, I'll be assembling a slide show of my project soon and have the posting on youtube currently showing different parts of the construction.

So go check out my videos on youtube.com/studiohaycross or visit my website www.haycrosshollow.com where they are posted as well.

THE NEW VILLAGE VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2yPHZgWSuI

This project is turning out so well, just wait to see how it gets finished!!! and more buildings to come......