Gypsum is an excellent material thanks to which you can create your own decorative items.

For those who like to decorate the interior of their home, I would like to suggest making plaster candlesticks themselves, on which they can then use many techniques: decoupage, modeling, and so on.

The work ahead is not at all difficult; any soft containers are taken as a basis: plastic jars, milk or juice boxes, silicone molds, etc., which are filled with gypsum mortar. Gypsum mixture can be purchased at any hardware store.

Let's start studying the process of making plaster candlesticks.

You will need:

construction gypsum (alabaster),
water,
deep container for mixing gypsum mortar,
any suitable shape for a candlestick (box, a plastic cup and so on.),
mold from an old tablet candle,
decor - optional.

We take any form, maybe someone has silicone ones.

Pour gypsum into water. It should have the consistency of sour cream. The main thing is not to overdo it, the plaster hardens very quickly.

Mix thoroughly so that there are no lumps left and pour into the prepared pan.

Immediately insert a mold from an old candle into the filling, which you can then easily remove from the filled blank. Lightly tap the mold on the surface to compact the mixture and get rid of voids and bubbles.

While the mixture is warm, do not touch the workpiece. After about half an hour, carefully pull it out.

If it’s a cardboard box, we tear it, if it’s a plastic cup, we cut it.

If there is a jamb somewhere, we smooth it out with putty. We expand the place for the candle a little so that it is freer; you can use a regular kitchen knife for the work.

Decoration methods - great amount. The main thing is that there is something to show off all your imagination, and we have prepared the field for creativity.

The plaster base of such candlesticks will serve as an excellent basis for decoupage.

We prime it with white paint and do decoupage.

This candlestick is made from a cardboard box.

And here, on top, the putty and the spatula were sharply torn off.

Such plaster candlesticks will create coziness in any setting and will allow you to decorate the table in an original way for a family celebration or romantic dinner, and making them, as it turned out, is not at all difficult.

The main thing is to show your creative imagination!

Which of us didn’t like to decorate as a child? christmas tree with parents, but unfortunately very beautiful Christmas decorations made of thin glass did not last long and broke, and their beauty remained only in our memory. To date, Christmas tree decorations can be purchased not only from glass, but also from other materials that are stronger than glass. However, it is one thing to buy, but quite another to make. original toy and a souvenir with your own hands.

I'm talking about a very easy-to-use, inexpensive and lightweight material - gypsum, which can be purchased at any hardware store. It is diluted according to the instructions on the package, poured into molds and that’s it! The plaster must be allowed to harden (30 minutes), carefully removed from the mold and you can decorate our creations.

Acrylic, gouache paints, etc. are used.

Then we coat our crafts with varnish (pictured below).

The plaster figures dry completely within a week. And an unusual do-it-yourself toy is ready, which can be hung on the Christmas tree (first insert a match into the wet plaster when pouring it, and then remove it when it hardens), or it can be used as a refrigerator magnet. We glue the magnet onto the previously leveled back surface of the figurine (you can use it on a block with sandpaper), in this case the magnet will fit tightly to the refrigerator, which guarantees the integrity of the souvenir and eliminates the possibility of it accidentally falling. A magnetic strip can be used from the rubber seal on the door of an old unnecessary refrigerator. The photo on the left shows a Christmas tree toy and a magnet in action.

Believe me, such a gift will be appreciated not only by children, but also by adults.

I wish you creative success!!!

You can decorate your apartment for the New Year not only with purchased toys and decorations, but also with things you make yourself. Original crafts will please the eye and create festive mood. In addition, you can give a toy you make yourself as a gift to friends.

One of the options New Year's toys maybe a Christmas tree created from threads and plaster, which is easy and quick to make, but looks very unusual and festive.

To make a Christmas tree you need to prepare the necessary materials:

A3 cardboard sheet;
scissors;
threads for knitting, but not thin sewing threads;
tape and glue;
dry gypsum;
cling film;
special heat gun with glue;
accessories and fittings for decoration.

*A sheet of cardboard must be cut in half, and one part must be rolled into a cone. You can secure the cone so that it does not fall apart with tape. And then carefully trim the bottom of the cone evenly. From the second part of the cardboard you can cut out several more small cones, from which small Christmas trees will be made. Each cone glued with tape must be wrapped in cling film.

*After this you need to prepare the threads for further work. For a large cone you may need about 8-10m of thread, for small cones 4-5m of thread. They need to be unwound so that in the future they are well saturated with plaster.

*Then comes the stage of preparing the plaster itself. Pour 5-6 tablespoons of gypsum powder into a small container and add 50 ml of glue. To do this, it is better to take construction PVA rather than stationery PVA, it is thicker and more durable. Gently stirring the solution, add 100 ml of ordinary water. After stirring everything, you need to get a fairly liquid pouring solution.

*After this, the threads are immersed in the container. They can be any color, but it is better not very dark so that the color is not visible through the plaster later. The best option is green threads. Mix everything thoroughly in the container again.

*The next step is to wind the thread around the cone. You need to carefully remove the thread from the plaster solution, first laying it out in a spiral from the lower edge of the cone to the upper sharp tip. Then in reverse order, crossing the threads. The cone should be covered with an interweaving of plaster threads, as if covered with a cobweb.

*After this, the Christmas trees need to be given time to dry, at least 12 hours. You can check the moisture content of the plaster with your hand. It is better to dry it longer so that the plaster sets well.

*When the Christmas trees are dry, the inner cones need to be pulled out. Usually the cardboard comes out easily, although sometimes there are difficulties, then you can try to roll the base. But in this matter, you need to be careful and careful not to damage the plaster frame.

Finished gypsum Christmas trees can be treated with acrylic varnish on top, then the plaster will be stronger and will not crumble over time. After this, the Christmas trees can be decorated and decorated, although even without decorations they look original and unusual.

Using a glue gun, you can glue beads, ribbons, bows, buttons, sparkles and anything else that seems appropriate and beautiful to the plaster base. Christmas tree ready.

Who among us as a child did not like to decorate the New Year tree with our parents, but unfortunately the very beautiful Christmas tree decorations made of thin glass did not last long and broke, and their beauty remained only in our memory. To date, Christmas tree decorations can be purchased not only from glass, but also from other materials that are stronger than glass. However, it is one thing to buy, and quite another to make an original toy and souvenir with your own hands.

Acrylic, gouache paints, etc. are used.

Then we coat our crafts with varnish (pictured below).

Believe me, such a gift will be appreciated not only by children, but also by adults.

I wish you creative success!!!

I have long wanted to make Christmas tree decorations in a vintage style, but I still couldn’t buy suitable blanks. I never came across plastic ones, I didn’t see wooden hearts on sale at all, I bought foam ones (2 pieces in a set for 90 rubles). But, turning them over in my hands, I realized one thing - I don’t like them at all - they are not suitable for decoration. The polystyrene foam is quite soft and not even (while I was taking it home, I accidentally pressed a bag with blanks somewhere and, as a result, there was a dent-strip on one heart that can’t be corrected - this is a minus of these blanks. Well, the price... Two pieces cost 90 rubles - and if you need 20 toys or more?

This is the beauty that comes from plaster blanks.

I had an idea in my head for a long time about how to make such blanks from plaster. Gypsum is a cheap and easy-to-work material. Very durable, but at the same time malleable in processing, it is easy to sand. One minus is that if you make a casting out of it, it turns out heavy. You can’t hang such a “weight” on a Christmas tree - the tree will collapse).

There is only one solution to this problem - the casting should be HOLLOW inside, then it will be much lighter. And I decided to try to make just such a blank. I bought gypsum at the construction market - a 3 kg bag. costs only 100 rubles. (there will be enough for 50-70 of these toys). But then a problem arose - where to get a mold for casting hearts (I just wanted to make hearts).

I searched online stores - there was nothing suitable at all. But then I remembered that SOAP is poured into molds. And it was in the section about soap making that I found a mold with a heart! This is exactly the mold for casting a 3D heart. It is detachable and consists of two halves. You can see this in the photo below.

At first I tried just pouring plaster into it. Everything worked out great. But... the heart was very heavy and thick. This will not work. I divided the mold into 2 halves (it is detachable), and sealed the hole for pouring wax into the mold with wax so that the plaster would not leak out through it (after all, the mold should now lie horizontally, as opposed to vertical pouring). And then... look at the photos to see what I got.

I took these photos already, having pretty much filled my hand. At first, the walls of the castings were thicker and the hearts were heavier, but I quickly understood the principle of operation and everything went well.

So, look at the pictures and read the comments.

You will need:

construction gypsum
“heart” mold (you can use a ball if you want a round toy)
bowl and spoon - for mixing plaster mass
rope (ribbon) - for a loop
coarse grain skin
medium grain skin
PVA glue
glue brush
scissors
round file

Pour plaster into a bowl - for me it’s about 4 heaped spoons. Pour water. I can’t tell you exactly the proportion - I always do it by eye - you need the consistency of thick sour cream so that it doesn’t flow. First I pour in a little water, stir and add more if it’s not enough.

Fill the molds with plaster mass. The form should not be filled to the top, but only about one third. The bowl with the remaining mass - immediately into a bowl of water!

Attention! The rest of the mass (residues) must be thrown away immediately, the bowl should be soaked and washed, otherwise the plaster will harden and you will not be able to scrape it off later. It is IMPOSSIBLE to wash the bowl directly in the sink - the plaster lies on the bottom of the walls of the pipes and then you cannot remove it, you can clog the pipes. I rinse it in a large bowl, drain the water, and then simply throw what has settled to the bottom into a bucket.

Smooth the mixture with your finger over the entire surface of the mold. At first, just evenly.

Then you need to make edges with your finger (thickening the edges). Those. We move the mass from the center to the sides to create a void in the center and thickening at the edges. This is not so easy to do - it largely depends on the consistency of the mass. If it is thick, then it is easier to make the sides. If it’s liquid, then you can wait 5 minutes, the plaster will set a little, and then use your finger to smooth it out from the center to the sides. The main thing is not to miss the moment while the plaster has not yet hardened.

This is how I got the fill. The fact that everything is so scary inside is nothing. The main thing is to create a void in the middle, but, again, do not try to make this void all the way to the bottom, otherwise you might make a hole.

Now let the filling harden for about 1 HOUR. You can do more, whatever you want. An hour is enough, the plaster will harden, but will not dry completely - this is what is needed, in this state you can continue working further.

While the plaster is hardening, you need to prepare a rope for the loop. I made it from twine. I cut a piece, connected the two ends and tied a knot at the end. What is the node for? When we put the loop between the two halves of the heart, the knot will fix it inside and prevent it from jumping out.

An hour passed and the plaster dried up. It has become lighter in color, and you can check it for readiness - touch it with your finger - the mass should be solid.

I turned the forms over and the photo clearly shows that the plaster inside was dry. You can remove the blanks from the molds.

Pressing thumbs on the sides of the hearts, squeeze them onto the table. The workpiece pops out of the mold instantly and without problems. And you can’t even imagine how smooth and pleasant it is to the touch! It turns out just a perfect surface.

The edges of the casting need to be broken off a little (the largest ones). Just don’t try to tear them all off, otherwise you may break the workpiece itself. We will remove the excess in the next step.

We take a coarse-grained sandpaper, place it on a flat surface (table) and begin to rub the workpiece directly over the sandpaper. The task is to remove all excess and make the edge smooth. You can rub back and forth or in a circular motion. Repeat this three times until all the excess is erased and only the clean half of the heart remains.

This is how it should turn out. There was an unevenness at the tip of the heart - there was a hole there for filling the mold, I plugged it up as best I could, but still not completely, so there was such an influx. I will remove it later with sandpaper. Your shape can be completely flat.

The skin should then be washed in the same bowl of water. The plaster is washed off very easily; you can also rub it with a brush. This skin will be enough for you to make many preparations; you just need to rinse and dry.

This is what half of the casting looks like from below now. Do you see how the sides have become? They are quite wide - as it should be, we will lubricate them with glue, and the larger the surface, the better the adhesion of the two halves will be. That is why we initially formed these sides thicker.

We try it on and see if everything fits together well and if there are any gaps or holes. If there is a gap, you still need to sand the surface.

This is how everything should match exactly and exactly.

Now we take a round file and use it to make small grooves for inserting a rope. We make such semicircle cuts on both halves of the heart.

We connect the halves, insert a file into the hole and make it evener and wider once connected. We strive for quality work.

Then we shake off all the crumbs and pollen from the halves - I even wipe the halves with a slightly damp cloth. Lubricate the sides with PVA glue. You need to lubricate BOTH halves THICKLY!

Some people do this gluing of halves using plaster itself, but I liked PVA glue much better - it’s faster, more accurate, and you don’t have to sand off the excess afterwards. The PVA does not stain, it lays flat, and if it comes out over the edges, you just need to wipe it off with a damp cloth and that’s it. If you want to glue it with plaster, you can do this.

We put a loop in one of the halves so that the knot is inside the casting.

We connect the two halves and align them very well so that they fit together evenly and accurately. We straighten the loop, it should stand exactly in the center of the hole.

Squeeze the heart with your fingers and hold it for 10-15 seconds. It's enough.

Immediately after this, using a medium-grain sandpaper, we go over the entire end of the heart - sand the crack between the halves and remove all excess, if any (like on the nose of my heart). Hold the heart tightly in your hand, but at the same time, don’t be afraid that it will fall apart - it won’t fall apart. Although the glue has not dried yet, it gave a grip and we will finish this job with sandpaper and sand the gap.

And this is what happened as a result of the work. The workpiece is even and smooth. Very pleasant to the touch. Now you need to put it down and let it dry. Complete drying of the heart takes about a day. You yourself will feel whether it has dried or not - by weight and color. It will become lighter and lighter.

The Christmas tree toy “heart” is ready.

And then, when I had several blanks accumulated, I began to decorate them and turn them into beautiful Christmas tree decorations. For the first batch of toys, I chose pictures with flowers. I really like the result - you can see it in the photo. I also prepared pictures with kids and vintage ladies. There will be another collection.

By the way, Christmas tree heart decorations are ON SALE! You can choose any of the available ones or order something of your own, I can make it according to your order and with your pictures or PHOTOS!

I hope you now understand how to make blanks and how to save a very decent amount. My expenses turned out to be: 100 rubles. - 3 kg package of gypsum, 210 rub. - a mold (I don’t have a cheap one, there are cheaper ones). That's all. And the number of toys - I don’t know exactly how many will come out yet, but about 50-70 should come out of one package. This is according to the preparations. Of course, decoration costs are higher. And the work itself there is more difficult and painstaking.

In terms of time: it takes about an hour to make one blank, maybe a little less (if you have only one mold). The plaster does not harden instantly (you have to wait at least 30 minutes) and it needs to harden, which is why it takes so long. You can make 3-4 hearts or more per day, depending on how much time you have for it.

The work of making blanks from gypsum is not very difficult, but it requires care at all stages. You also need a mold for casting and some experience in molding gypsum mass and further processing of castings.

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