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Home » Christmas Crafts » DIY Christmas toy soldiers

DIY Christmas toy soldiers

December 11, 2019 By Jamie Dorobek 43 Comments

These terra cotta pot soldiers are a fun project I helped my mom do for Christmas 2009. We oringially saw similar Christmas toy soldiers guarding a front door in a neighborhood in Dallas and had talked about making out own for years. This was before my blog obsession which is why there are no action shots! For more of my mom’s Texas themed Christmas decorations, check this post out.
 
*This post was first published on December 4, 2010.
 
How to make a DIY clay pot soldier

 

What you need to make Chrsitmas toy soldiers

  • 5 pots all the same size
  • paint
  • ribbon 
  • belt 
  • hot glue
  • black faux fur (or black felt)
  • wooden base (we used the top of a stool) 
  • epoxy glue

How to make Christmas toy soldiers out of clay pots

Step 1- Make the base and paint black

We used the top of an old bar stool for the base of the pot soldier and painted it black. Then, paint one pot black.

Step 2- Paint black and blue

Next, it’s time to paint the second terra cotta pot. For this pot, paint the rim of the pot black and then paint the below the rim blu

How to make Christmas toy soldiers
Step 3- Paint the 3rd pot

Keep the black paint out because you will paint the rim of the 3rd pot black to create the toy soldiers waist. Below the rim, paint red.

Step 4- Paint the 4th pot

There is no not need to paint the rim of the 4th pot since it will get covered with black felt. Below the rim of the pot, paint it skin tone as this pot will be soldiers face. DIY Pot Soldier
Step 5- Paint the 5th pot

The rim of the 5th pot does not need to be painted since it will also get covered with black felt. Paint the rest of this pot black. It will act as the soldiers hat.

Step 6- Add details

After ample drying time, it is time to bring the toy soldiers to life! Here are the embellishments my mom and I added:

  • We added a real belt around the waist.
  • 6 gold buttons and we used ribbon to connect
  • We used fake fur around the the rim of the face pot and hat pot to add character to the hat. We put 2 stripes of gold ribbon above the fur to fancy up his hat.
  • The hat topper is actually 2 gold Christmas ornaments we found at Hobby Lobby for 1$. We used hot glue to stick them together and then attached them to the pot with epoxy glue.
  • For the face- We used a sharpie for the eyes, eyebrows, and mouth, and then painted a simple light pink triangle for the nose. The rosy cheeks and inside of the eyes are felt.

 

DIY Pot Soldier


Step 7- Glue pots together

We glued the pots together with epoxy glue. Word to the wise, the toy soldiers are very heavy and moving them is difficult. We use a little red wagon to move the soldiers from place to place!

DIY clay pot soldier
 
And here’s one last picture of the clay pot soldiers guarding the house!
DIY Pot Soldiers

A few years after my mom and I made the big toy soldiers, I made these mini clay pot Christmas soldiers by myself. For the record, it was so much easier! 

DIY Chrsitmas toy soldier

 

Have you ever made Christmas toy soldiers our of clay pots? I’d love to hear…

 

Filed Under: Christmas Crafts

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Comments

  1. Paige Cassandra Flamm says

    December 11, 2019 at 11:04 am

    One of my friends on Instagram just posted about having one of these on her porch yesterday! Seriously so fun, cute, and easy!

    Paige

    Reply
  2. Billie says

    May 4, 2017 at 1:18 am

    Love Your Work. Great

    Reply
  3. frugal hausfrau says

    November 22, 2016 at 9:46 pm

    How fun is this and what a great idea!~ Thanks for sharing with us at Throwback Thursday and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

    Mollie

    Reply
  4. Theresa @DearCreatives says

    November 20, 2016 at 8:11 pm

    Adorable idea. Thanks for joining us at the Inspiration Spotlight party. Shared. Have a happy Thanksgiving.

    Reply
  5. [email protected] says

    November 19, 2016 at 10:35 am

    Absolutely adorable. Thank you for sharing at the Snickerdoodle Create~Bake~Make link party!

    Reply
  6. Virginia Tiglio says

    July 9, 2015 at 11:19 pm

    Love them will make them for Xmas thus year. Thank You….

    Reply
  7. vikee says

    December 8, 2014 at 9:41 pm

    what size of pots did you use?

    Reply
  8. Deborah Aiello says

    November 30, 2014 at 2:11 pm

    These are adorable. I am going to make these for by the door of our clubhouse at our 55+ community. I know everyone will love them.

    Reply
  9. Jennifer says

    November 18, 2014 at 8:48 am

    Hi – just made these! So cute! I gave them moustaches and big eyebrows like the nutcracker soliders!

    These were about $50 each to make – in Canada – the clay pots were $6 each x 5 = $30 plus paint and buttons and fur, etc.

    I thought about making them with plastic pots but in Canada the winter cold would crack the pots so I went with clay pots.

    Thanks for the great tutorial and idea! My neighbours are asking for me to make them some!

    Reply
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Hi, I'm Jamie!
I Create Really Awesome Free Things for your home, wardrobe, kitchen, and kids in Austin, TX with the sometimes help of Andy!
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