12 Days of Christmas 2014 - Day Eight

It's day 8 and I have the cutest little log reindeer for you! I have wanted a set of these deer for years.......the big ones that stand in the yard! But I have never been able to talk my husband into making them for me, so I made my own in miniature! From the bottom of his feet to the top of his antlers, he stands about 6" tall and I love his cute little personality. I haven't decided yet what to name him, but I'm sure the grandkids will be more than glad to help me with that.

You need a little "log" to start with. It's a branch about 1" around and 4" long for the body and 1" x 1 1/2" for the head. You can see in the side view further down the page that I found a log with a bump where a branch was cut off, and I cut the log right there, so that little branch bump becomes his tail. It was just perfect!

You will also need some Sculpey clay in red or green, a silver pipe cleaner and a tan or brown pipe cleaner, 2 googly eyes, a little black pom-pom, a pair of needle-nose pliars for cutting and bending your wire, and some good, strong glue. I used Beacon 527 glue, which along with E6000, is my glue of choice for gluing metal, (like the jar rings from day 3). 

I used nice, heavy baling wire to put him together because I knew that if I used little sticks or tiny dowels, they would get broken and I would have to fix him every year! You need to cut 5 pieces of wire.  1will be 1" long for his neck, and the other 4 will be 4" long for his legs.

Okay, take the 4 leg wires and using the needle-nose pliars, bend a 1/2" crook in one end of each wire. Take the Sculpey clay out of the package and squeeze and pull it, kind of like pulling taffy. This will warm ot up and make it easier to work with. Make 4 small balls approximately the size of a large grape and shape them into boots. Take one of the wires and push it up through the bottom of one of the boots and push the crook into the clay until it's even with the boot bottom. Do the other 3 legs and then stand them up on a cookie sheet and bake them according to the directions on the package. When they are baked, take the cookie sheet out of the oven and let them cool thoroughly before you touch them. The wires will be HOT!

While your boots are baking and cooling, you can drill holes for them, and for the neck, ears and antlers. You will need a little tiny drill bit for this. Try to find one that is the same size as your wire so it will fit nice and snug. Drill one hole at the back end of the head and one at the front end of the body. Drill holes for your legs, 2 at the front and 2 at the back, angled out slightly from the center, and on the opposite side of the log from the neck hole. Drill 3 more holes in the head, 1 in the middle at the back of the head for the antlers and 2 for the ears, angling them outward. These holes may need to be a little larger. Check the photo near the bottom to see where to drill the holes. Now you're ready to put him all together.

First of all, glue his leg wires in thier holes. He's much easier to work with when he's standing instead of rolling around. Glue his neck wire in his body and glue his head onto the neck wire. Set him aside while you make his antlers and ears. Cut your silver pipe cleaner in half and then fold each half in half. Bend each half into the shape shown below. It will look a little like the vein of a leaf. Now twist the two pieces together at the bottom. Do the same with the other  piece. Cut two pieces of the tan pipe cleaner 1 1/2" long. Fold them in half and twist the two ends together. This is his ears. Glue the antlers and ears into the holes you drilled for them.

You can see the placement of the antlers and ears in the close-up below. Sorry it's blurry, but my phone doesn't take very good pictures close up and it's the only camera I have right now.

Glue on his eyes and nose and you have the cutest little reindeer ever! I know I said yesterday that the next time you saw him he'd have a bell, but I totally forgot! So you will have close your eyes and imagine him with a little bell tied around his neck.  lol  

Isn't he cute? And he looks great with the pinecones elves. He's just the right size for one of them to ride, if reindeer liked to be ridden.

Okay, that's day 8 all wrapped up. I think I need to make 8 more of these and then figure out how to make a little sleigh to go with them! I hope you are all in the Christmas spirit and getting ready for the most wonderful time of the year!.I am really close to having everything finished and ready to be wrapped and some of it shipped. Just a few more things to make.

See you tomorrow!