You can make an elegant ballerina from napkins very quickly and easily: just choose a beautiful material, stock up with wire, wallpaper glue and a thin satin ribbon. This craft will be an unusual decoration for the festive table or a toy on the Christmas tree.
Create a figure with your child - he will definitely like it. Such an activity develops fine motor skills and creative abilities. Learn how to make a ballerina out of napkins in five minutes from this workshop.
Tools and materials
For work, we need:
- colored or plain napkins;
- well sharpened scissors;
- copper wire;
- nippers or pliers;
- brush;
- fishing line to hang a figurine;
- a thread matching the color of a napkin or a thin satin ribbon;
- wallpaper glue;
- decorative elements for decoration.
Napkin ballerinas: master class
At the first stage, we will make the frame for the ballerina.
We make the blank:
- We cut the wire. You can determine the required amount by taking a napkin folded into 4 parts and unwinding the thread from the bobbin 4 cm more than its diagonal. We measure out another same segment, cut the wire with wire cutters and fold it in half.
- We begin to form the frame by twisting the wire. Sharp edges will need to be hidden. We leave a loop at the end for the ballerina's head and twist the wire 2/3 of the length.
- Then we begin to form the feet, bending the free ends of the wire into small loops. To make the figure more graceful, it is better to make the legs long. The size of the lower body can be changed at your discretion.
- We begin to shape the body. Wrap the legs with wire from the bobbin, stretching it between the fingers.
- After this, we proceed to the manufacture of hands. For them, you will need another piece of wire, which is attached to the upper part of the body. We make the hands in the same way as the legs. At the ends we leave loops for palms.
We form the body of a ballerina
Now you need to prepare the napkins, dividing them into layers and cutting or tearing into thin strips. Some masters advise tearing napkins with their hands, so that it is more convenient to wrap them on the workpiece. Take the stripes and wrap them first legs, and then hands. We fix with glue, dipping a brush in it and smearing the details of the body. PVA for this purpose is undesirable to use, since it may turn yellow. The thickness of the leg after winding should be approximately 5 mm. The ankles of a ballerina from napkins are better done already than the rest, and the socks, on the contrary, are thicker so that they resemble pointes. In the same way we process the entire frame.
Dress for the ballerina
Getting to the manufacture of dresses:
- We expand and divide whole napkins into layers. We start with the petticoat. It can be made from the bottom layer of the napkin. Fold the opened piece of paper two times in half to make a square, and then twice more diagonally, as when creating a snowflake.
- We cut off the bottom edge of the workpiece, forming the lower part of the skirt in a semicircle.
- Then you need to cut off the upper tip, about 3 mm, so that the ballerina's head passes.
- We put on a petticoat, fixing it on the body with threads.
- For the outer part of the dress, you need only the topmost layer. Carefully separate it so as not to tear the pattern, fold it several times and cut off the bottom.
- Having made one hole at the top for the head and two on the sides for the hands, we give the napkin an invoice, twisting it in one direction.
Assembly figures
Expand the dress and put on the ballerina. Tighten it at the waist with a thread in the tone of a napkin. If you make a skirt in several layers, the figure will turn out to be more voluminous. By combining different colors, you can achieve unusual effects. If you cut holes on a napkin, as when creating Christmas snowflakes, you get an unusual decoration for Christmas. Ballerina from napkins is ready. Hands and feet will bend in any direction. Instead of a thread, any tape will do. With its help, straps are formed on the upper part of the body. Pointe shoes are additionally painted and a headdress for the doll is created. You can just stick hair from a napkin and a few beads instead of a diadem.
Use the finished toy to decorate the interior by hanging it on a fishing line or simply placing it on a shelf in an unusual position. Make a partner for the ballerina from napkins with your own hands, then from the figures you will get more decor options. The body for a man is performed exactly the same, but the suit consists of trousers and a shirt. Sleeves are made voluminous, collecting thin strips of paper on a thread. The rest of the body is decorated with colored napkins according to the principle of manufacturing the frame.
Ballerina from napkins without a frame
There is another option for creating a paper ballerina. Instead of wire for the body, a blank of thin cardboard or Whatman paper is used. You will need a stencil for the body: it is circled and transferred to cardboard, and then cut out. It remains only to put the skirt on the figure, fix it with glue - and the ballerina is ready. Just a few minutes - and an unusual interior toy in your hands.