|
Here's a craft project that will help you have an entire ensemble of
creative Thanksgiving Day turkeys.
The ensemble consists of turkey candle holders, turkey table placements.
turkey napkin holders, and a proud standing turkey.
All of the craft variations are based on the same basic turkey design,
and you can make any or all of the holiday crafts as you see fit.
|
|
Thanksgiving Day Turkey Supplies
At left you can see the supplies necessary for making the turkey candle
holder in the inset.
This basic turkey design can also be configured to be a table placement,
a napkin holder, or a standing turkey decoration.
Parts to make a Thanksgiving Day Turkey Candle Holder
A 1 inch diameter candle cup
A 1 1/2 inch diameter candle cup
A 1 inch diameter wood ball
A 1 1/4 inch diameter wood cap or wheel(optional)
A 5/8 inch diameter wood flower pot
Ten to twelve 2 inch long wood oval shapes
Six or seven 1 1/2 inch long wood oval shapes
A 1 inch long pointed wood oval shape
Two 1 1/4 inch long wood wing shapes
A 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inch wood rectangle (for the base)
A 2 inch diameter thin wood circle
A 2 1/2 inch diameter Styrofoam ball
|
| This project makes heavy use of small wood shapes that come in
wood shape assortments. A bag or two of these wood shapes will give you enough
crafting materials to make all the crafts on my website. If you shop for them,
look for wood shapes.
Here's some reputable online supplies where you can obtain these materials.
Note that the candle holder turkey is a mid-sized wood craft. You can scale
up and down the size of your craft by using larger or smaller components. I use
a smaller size for making the table placements, and a larger size for making
the napkin holders.
|
Making the Turkey's Body
The holiday craft turkey's body is made from the Styrofoam ball, the
smaller candle cup, the wood ball, and the wood oval shapes.
This image at left shows the first steps from both a back view (left)
and a front view(right).
From the left image you can see that two slices were taken off the
Styrofoam ball. One slice off the bottom so the turkey can easily be
attached to the base.
|
Another slice is taken off the back, at a bit of an angle.
I usually paint all the parts before assembly, but I left them
unpainted in this illustration to make it clearer.
As you can see, the tail feathers are made by putting glue on one
end of each wood oval, and pushing the glued end into the
Styrofoam. I usually put a couple rows of the larger ovals in place,
with the 2nd row staggered so the gaps of the rows don't line up.
Then I add a third row (staggered again) of the smaller wood ovals.
I push the smaller candle cup (bottom side up) hard into the Styrofoam
to make a form-fit indentation. Then I glue the candle cup in place and
glue the wood ball on to make the turkey's head.
I've found that trying to handle projects too soon that have wood glued
to Styrofoam can make a pretty big mess. Let the glue on the Styrofoam
dry for several hours or over night before handling.
|
Finished Thanksgiving Day Craft Turkey Candle Holder
This image shows a back (left image) and front (right image) view of the
finished turkey candle holder.
The left image shows how the turkey and large candle cup are mounted to
the wood rectangle base.
The right image shows how the tail feathers are placed. You can see that
they are painted in different colors, and have glitter added.
|
The wing shapes are pushed into the Styrofoam ball on the turkey's sides
and glued.
The wood circle shape is glued to the back end of the turkey.
The wood cap or wheel (optional) is glued to the base of the candle
cup making the front of the turkey.
The small wood flower pot is painted and glued on as a pilgrim hat.
One end of the small pointed oval is used to make a beak for the
turkey.
In this image a small piece of red chenille is glued along the side
of the turkey's beak to make the "dew bill".
You can see how I painted the turkey. You can follow this paint design or
change it up as you wish.
|
Smaller Variation, a Craft Turkey Table Placement
By scaling down components in size, you can make this variation of the
holiday craft turkey.
As you can see, it's a table placement, with a
Happy Thanksgiving message on the base, and the name of a guest on the
back.
|
For this version, the part sizes are:
|
The large tail feathers are 1 1/2 inch long wood oval shapes
The small tail feathers are 1 inch long wood oval shapes
The body is a 2 inch diameter Styrofoam ball
The front of the turkey is a 3/4 inch diameter candle cup
The wood ball for the head is 3/4 inch diameter
The wood flower pot (pilgrim hat) is still 5/8 inch diameter
The wing shapes are 3/4 inch long
The wood base is 2 inches in diameter
The name plate is a 3/4 inch by 1 1/2 inch rectangle
|
As you can see, construction of the turkey is the same as for the
turkey candle holder except for the base and nameplate.
|
A Standing Holiday Craft Thanksgiving Day Turkey
This smartly standing turkey uses the same part dimensions as the table placement variation.
The turkey body is identical to that of the table placement version (above) with the following exceptions:
The bottom of the Styrofoam ball is not sliced off
Legs (two 2 inch lengths of 3/16 inch dowel) are added.
The legs are simply glued and pushed a 1/4 inch or so into the Styrofoam.
A 3/8 inch ball and a 1/2 inch ball are glued to the bottom ends of the
legs. The balls used had center holes that slid over the dowel.
Two foot-shaped wood shapes are glued on as the turkey's feet.
|
|
Larger Variation, a Craft Turkey Napkin Holder
This back/front view is of the up-scaled wood craft turkey napkin
holder.
Again, you can see that the turkey construction is the same as for the
turkey candle holder. This variation is also mounted to a wood rectangle.
A small wood rail is glued to the back edge of the wood base (left
image), and another rectangle glued upright against the rail. This makes
the back of the napkin holder.
|
This version uses the following sized components:
|
The large tail feathers are 2 inch long, 3/4 inch wide wood oval shapes
The small tail feathers are 1 1/2 inch long wood oval shapes
The body is a 3 inch diameter Styrofoam ball
The front of the turkey is a 1 1/2 inch diameter candle cup
The wood ball for the head is 1 1/2 inch diameter
The wood flower pot (pilgrim hat) is 1 inch diameter
The wing shapes are 1 3/4 inch long
The wood base is 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches
The back napkin support is 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches
The circle on the back end of the turkey is a 2 inch diameter wood shape
|
|
The Entire Holiday Craft Turkey Ensemble
This image shows the entire wood craft Thanksgiving Day turkey ensemble.
Make just one variation, or make them all. These little gobblers will
always dress up your Thanksgiving Day table.
|
| 
