Friday, February 1, 2013

Mexican Corn Husk Doll Making

I have SO many ambitions when it comes to crafts.  And living in Mexico adds a whole other dimension to my dreams and desires.  (Yes, I am that passionate.)  Everywhere we go we see handmade things that I want to try at home.

Well, I actually managed to do something! With the kids even!  And we survived!

I saw a package of corn husks at our regular grocery store - sold for making tamales, and decided to try my hand at the corn husk dolls I've seen in Guadalajara markets.

One package of corn husks, bought for 7 pesos.  That's about 55 cents.  You heard me, FIFTY FIVE CENTS.

Soak in water for 15 minutes.  They needed a weight to keep them from surfacing.

Lay 4 even-ish husks on top of each other (I trimmed them a bit to make them the same size, and cut a straight edge at the top).  Tie with string about 1.5 inches  from flat side and pull the two outer layers over the tie to make the head.

Tie the husks together again to make the neck.  Roll another husk and tie the ends to make wrists.  Insert the rolled and tied husk between the four layers (two on top, two underneath).

Have cute kid hand hold what you have so far and snap a picture.

You can tie knees and ankles for boy dolls, or leave husks untied at the bottom to look more like skirts.  But as Deevie pointed out, EVERYONE has knees and ankles so you really should tie those in all the dolls.

Cut out cute clothes from felt scraps.  The girls especially loved this part.  You can attempt to glue gun these clothes on, only to find out it won't work - like we did, or you can go straight to sewing the clothes on.  It works much better.

We've added the dolls we made to our Christmas supplies to bring out each year.  The perfect memory of Guadalajara.  The smaller ones in particular make great Christmas tree decorations.  

My next ambition with these is to make an entire corn husk doll Nativity set.  (Why did I have to say that out loud?)

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