Monday, June 5, 2017

Craft a Snow House for A Christmas Display!

Crafting snow houses was very popular during the Victorian era. Most antique snow houses are valued for hundreds of dollars; that is why I decided to make my own, of course.
        This snow house began as little shed that was donated to a resale shop for charity. In it's original state it was quite unextraoridinary, dusty and unattractive. I purchased a wooden picket fence at a local hobby store for a few dollars and added a bottle brush tree and wreath. The snow baby was made by gluing a Sculpy face onto a popcycle stick and wrapping a simple gown of snow white cotton batting with white glue. 
       I wrapped the interior walls, roof, base and outside walls with sheets of cotton batting and white glue. The cotton batting icicles where crafted using the method found here.
       The final touch, transparent glitter, gives the finished product a fresh looking layer of ice.
A tiny snow baby lives here along with a lovely bottle brush tree and wreath.
I covered my recycled Christmas house with masking tape prior to wrapping the walls with cotton batting.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Kathy,
    I always love to check out your site. I’m getting ready to construct a snow house and am nervous about applying the batting roof and covering the walls etc. Do you have any suggestions? What type of batting? What was the reason for covering it with masking tape before applying the batting? Any method to get that top finished look? I saw where someone suggested spraying it with hairspray and lightly pressing using an iron. Any thoughts?
    Thanks,
    Linda

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Londa, Don't be nervous! The batting you need to use is cotton if at all possible. This is because cotton will absorb the white school glue best. The masking tape is used so that if your surfaces are not made from wood or paper, the cotton will stick to the tape just as well. Press in extra layers of white glue to get a finished look or also sprinkle transparent glitter on top of the layer of glue as well.

      Delete
  2. Hi Kathy,
    Always enjoy your site! I have a few questions about the batting roof. Here goes:
    1) what kind of batting do you suggest?
    2) why did you tape everything before applying the batting?
    3) do you know of any techniques to seal the batting? Someone suggested hairspray and a light iron.....any thoughts?
    I’m getting ready to make a German Snow House......I’m finding the batting the most intimidating.😊 Any suggestions would be appreciated.
    Thanks,
    Linda

    ReplyDelete
  3. Londa, I do not suggest using an iron. This will only lead to a mess, I think. Hairspray turns yellow over time; if you wish to seal on the surface more...you could use a non-yellowing fixative spray. This is the kind artists use for pastel paintings.

    You can also use unraveled cotton balls as your batting if you wish. This type of cotton works very well indeed!

    ReplyDelete

Constructive comments are appreciated. All comments are moderated and do not immediately appear after publishing. I don't publish spam folks. Thanks and have a nice day!