Raffia Pot Characters

Sometime ago I saw the cutest pictures of raffia pot figures somewhere on the internet and I've searched pinterest and other places, googling raffia ???,  in hopes of finding more about them. I should have pinned it.  Unfortunately I haven't had any luck, but if someone out there finds the info please drop me the link.  When I saw the raffia figures,  I immediately thought of the corn husk dolls we made way back when. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?  

Anyway, these were the cutest  - made out of raffia and small terra cotta pots that you've ever seen.  I did my best in duplicating them with items I had gotten from the dollar store and things I had in my stash. I had so much fun putting these together and wanted to share them with you.

Materials 

• Clay pots 2 1/4" (pkg of 3) dollar store
• Raffia  natural & red  dollar store  Pkg of 6 colors  
• Wooden Balls  1 1/2" diameter
• Sharpie paint pens  black, red, white          
• Wobbly eyes 
• Glue gun                                          
• Flower petals
• Asst. decorative accessories

How To
I made several different ones - having fun putting them together.  Follow along, but don't get too confused. I go back and forth with photo illustrations.

First off, I started making the arms by gathering a bunch of raffia a half inch thick and approximately six inches long. I tied the bunch with a double piece of raffia 12 inches long in the middle. When you tie this make sure one end is longer for suspension. Tie each end with shorter pieces of raffia. After tying, you can cut the raffia to make them neat or even. I passed the raffia ends through the hole of the pot for added support.

To make the skirt or legs, evenly gather a bunch of raffia about 6-8 inches long and thick enough to fill in the bowl of the pot. For this I doubled the raffia until it looked thick enough and tied one end. 

I tied the skirt bunch thread with the raffia thread from the arms and pushed them back through the hole to the top. I also put hot glue on top of the raffia bunch before pushing it all the way into the pot.

I decorated this pot with glass gems and added wobbly eyes and painted a nose and mouth on the wooden ball with a fine point waterproof sharpie pen. Then attached raffia hair with a hot glue gun onto the ball. I added a smaller pot that Joann's had on clearance for 10 cents and managed to cut the raffia into a "hair do" with bangs. All of the wooden balls used as heads were glued onto the arms and top of the pot. (It would be best to use balls with holes but I couldn't find large enough balls with holes so that the raffia could pass through them for suspension)

 For legs on another character, I divided the raffia and tied them into two sections.

 Painted on all the facial features for this one.  Used toothpicks to do the center of the eyes.

 

Tied a thick bunch of raffia in the middle and glued it on top, cutting the ends off for a cute short "do".

Then decorated the pot with rhinestones glued on for buttons

For the green one, I glued flower petals on top of small pieces of raffia on the wooden head and added one just below the arms.  Decorated the pot using a q-tip and green paint to make the dots.  

Aren't the eyes adorable!

Naturally, my favorite of the group is this little purple cutie with a sheer petal hat and pot adored with metal ribbon trim. I inserted a cut floral wire into the raffia arms and was able to bend it a bit.

                                        

And, oh, a pigtail going down her back!

                                       

                                               Hanging outside among the flowers in all their glory!    

                                                         

                                              

                       

 What's your favorite?

 I think I like them all!  

What a great way to spend time with the kids this summer especially on a rainy day making these!

Whatever you do, have fun!

Thanks for stopping by

and take a little time to enjoy,

Happy Crafting!