Made by Mary McDougal
When I saw Jonni’s most recent message about the Wisemen, I thought of a project I did in 1975! I made the wisemen as a Christmas gift for my mother. I remember having a great time creating these. Today, they live with my brother and his wife.
Attached is a digital picture of an old picture from film. It’s pretty fuzzy, but it gets the idea across. The tallest guy is about 16” tall. I used Styrofoam cones and balls for the bodies and heads, coat hanger wire for the arms, thin cardboard for the three dimensional eyelids, noses, treasure chest and purple head dress. I padded areas with tin foil. I carved the cheek bones out of the balls and wrapped the heads and “hands” with strips of newspaper dipped in flour and water. The robes, gold turban and inner blue crown are cut from an old sheet dipped in flour and water. The hair and beards are cotton string dipped in the same mixture. I curled the standing guy’s beard around a pencil. After painting and lacquering, I added metallic trim and rhinestones.
My mother in law used to make wise men similar to these . I lost the set she gave me in a fire. These are beautiful
Hi Cindy,
My grandmother made a set of these, and then gave them to me when I had a family. I lost mine when our house burned, too, and am so glad to see these. I am going to make some! My heart just went out to you when I read this because I was thinking the same thing. Have a very Merry Christmas and Epiphany!
Thank you Joni, for sharing with the world what you do!
Wow, you were doing expert pm before we learned tricks from Jonni. These are great! Thanks for sharing.
Mary, those are the best. I had “forgotten” what wise men were supposed to look like, but you got them here. Thanks for sharing and for the wonderful memories.
Very nice, and it’s wonderful they are still around and in the family.
Stunning – thank you so much for sharing a picture and the story of this family treasure!