Napkin Rings to Adorn the Table!

Here we are a week before Christmas... the cards are mailed, all the out of town packages have been sent and my napkin rings have been made!  Can't wait to set the table for the big day!

I am getting a little ahead of myself!!!  First let's see how I made them!   

Supplies:

For the Trees

Activa Fast Mache

Container for water

Plastic bag

Paper towels

Cornstarch

Craft mat - protect the table

Gesso

 Dew Drops

Paint

Snow Pen

Heat Gun

Tacky glue

For the Rings

Activa Ridge Wrap

Paper towel Tube

Plastic wrap

Gel Medium

Glitter

Gesso

For this project I used the Activa Fast Mache  recipe per instructions for pressing in molds: 3 parts Fast Mache to 1 part water.  Pour the ingredients directly into a plastic bag and mix well.  The candy mold was dusted with cornstarch before pressing in the Fast Mache. They were set aside overnight, then released from the mold and let dry for another day. 

Once completely dried and sanded, prime the trees with Gesso. Paint the trees green... I love the green color I got from mixing a blue and yellow from my Art Anthology Acrylic Paints.

Dress the trees with snow using a snow marker, apply heat with a heat gun and the snow puffs up!

The trees were trimmed with Dew Drops!!

Now to make the ring part of the napkin rings! For this project use a paper towel tube for the mold, wrap it with plastic wrap for easy release.  Use two layers of Activa Ridge Wrap for each ring. Wet Ridge Wrap thoroughly in the bowl of warm water, remove excess water.  When applying, rub the Ridge Wrap to help close the plaster holes in the wrap.   Let them dry.  When dry they will easily release from the plastic wrap.

Paint the inside and out with Gesso and dry. 

Apply a gel medium on the inside and out, dry.  Apply a second layer of gel medium to the outside of the ring only and sprinkle with Glitter, dry.

Over the Glitter apply a thick layer of gel medium to seal the glitter on the ring (don't want any glitter on the plates or in the food).  At first it will look like you have ruined the glitter...

JUST WAIT!

Let the last layer of gel medium dry thoroughly

Glue the trees to the rings and dry.

 HERE ARE THE FINISHED NAPKIN RINGS

You can even see the sparkle of the glitter on the rings!

 It took a while to make these as there is a lot of drying time, but I think it was well worth it.  Can't wait to hear what my guests think of them!

This project is featured on the Activa website HERE!