Spun Cotton Berries and Cherry Ornaments ~ A Construction and Embellishment Tutorial

In this tutorial we're all-in on crafting spun cotton fruit ornaments.  We're building berries, creating cranberries and painting spun cotton shapes to create cherries and a whole fruit stand's worth of strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and cranberries.  Mixing painting techniques with specialty glitters and luxe leaves yield stunning fruits that can be made in countless ways to suit even the most discerning berry connoisseur.  We're taking our leaves up a notch by adding painted details, and even adding aluminum glitter flakes to a couple of strawberries in need of fancy "seeds." The concept is simple -- build, paint, glitter/embellish, add leaves, and display! After making 30+ unique pieces, we've got techniques galore to share.

Finished pieces are petite.  Ours measure from about 1-1/8" tall to 2" tall for single fruits; clusters measure about 2" tall up to 3-1/2" tall at the largest.

Supplies: Spun Cotton Berries/Cherries (SC013, SC027, SC028), Spun Cotton Balls, Spun Cotton Eggs, Strawberry Blossoms, Velvet Leaves, Foil Leaves, Glass Glitter, Deco Beads, Wire Stems, 1/8" Velvet Ribbons, Paints, Paint Brush, Liner Brush, Dauber, Cardstock, Clear Drying Craft Glue like Alleene's, Scissors, Skewers or Pipe Cleaners, Glove for Sprinkling Glass Glitter, Paper Plate to Work Over When Glittering, Aluminum Glitter

Step 3: Using a pipe cleaner or skewer as a "handle," paint your spun cotton pieces. Let dry.

Apply paint straight from the bottle in a classic berry hue; metallic colors add extra shimmer and dimension while flat colors cover evenly as a great base for embellishing.

Mix colors together to achieve a custom hue.  We mixed 2-3 colors together to give berries a noticeable half-ripe fade.  An easy technique is dark at the bottom, light at the top and a blend of both that meet in the middle.  Mixing a metallic paint with a flat paint yields gorgeous custom blends.

Use a dauber to create interesting dappled and blended effects.  A dauber is a great option when working on smaller pieces -- you get a detailed result in a small area with a few daubs.  Try painting your piece a base color with a brush, then apply an accent color with the dauber. 

Strawberry seeds are easily achieved with a liner brush.

Paint Note: The colors we used are shown below right. Top row L-R: Wine, Juneberry, Apple Red, Festive Fuchsia, Pink Melon, Baby Pink.  Middle row: L-R: Crimson, Cool Bisque, Moon Yellow, Mandarin, Halo Pink Gold.  Bottom Row L-R: Deep Ocean Blue, Navy, Look At Me Blue, Halo Blue Gold, Charcoal Black, Green Flash.

Step 4: Embellish with deco beads, glass glitter, or shimmery paint

4a.) Apply clear deco beads.  Deco beads are a favorite embellishment for their unrivaled shimmer and shine.  Clear deco beads enhance any color painted underneath so dappled paint styles are accentuated, like the cranberry below in the lower left corner.  Our preferred size for bold texture is 1mm deco beads (like the cherries below left) and for subtle but visible texture we like the .5mm size (used on all berries below left)

-- Paint an even coat of glue in the areas you wish to apply deco beads.

-- Pour deco beads over glue and tap off excess.  Let dry, then brush off any excess with a dry paint brush.

4b.) Apply colored deco beads.  Colored deco beads give a juicy and bright result.  Because the deco beads themselves are colored, they largely obscure any lighter or similar paint color underneath, while deeper colors take on a rich and velvety look.  The double cherries below right were painted red then coated with red deco beads and the result is juicy.  The single cherry was painted burgundy then coated with red deco beads and the result is rich and velvety.  The strawberries all have opaque green deco beads as greenery accents while the rest of the berry is covered with clear deco beads to allow the seeds to show well.

-- Paint an even coat of glue in the areas you wish to apply deco beads.

-- Pour deco beads over glue and tap off excess.  Let dry, then brush off any excess with a dry paint brush.

4c.) Apply glass glitter. Clear glass glitter is a classic and sugared favorite like the strawberry and blackberries below; colored glass glitter applied in a graduated sprinkle and finished with clear glass glitter looks elegant and gorgeous like the cranberries and blueberries below.  For a vintage look, apply a color a few shades different from the fruit's paint color like the single cherry below.

To apply one glitter:

-- Paint an even coat of glue on the whole fruit. 

-- Spoon glitter over glue and tap off excess.  Let dry, then brush off any excess with a dry paint brush.

To apply colored and clear glitters:

-- Paint an even coat of glue on the whole fruit. 

-- Wearing a glove, sprinkle colored glitter over the fruit in a selected area and allow some to fall organically onto the nearby areas.  Spoon clear glitter all over and tap off excess.  Let dry, then brush off any excess with a dry paint brush.

4d.) Let the paint job stand out with metallic paints (& retro glitter).  Shimmery metallic paints are gorgeous on their own, like the blueberries below, and especially pretty when used as an accent -- the cranberries and blackberry below have gold paint daubed over red and purple respectively for a shimmery effect.  The pink strawberries feature metallic green seeds to coordinate with their light green Dresden caps and leaf detailing.

We couldn't resist embellishing a pair of strawberries with gold aluminum glitter as "seeds." To apply, we used a piece of wire stem to place very tiny glue dots all over the berries.  Working from the glitter stuck in the cap, we then used the wire to isolate and pickup individual gold glitter flakes and place them on the berries.  It was actually quite easy and we love the look!

5. Add leaves, flowers and Dresden caps.

Adding leaves and flowers provides countless ways to customize your fruits.  The texture of velvet leaves looks beautiful with all embellishment techniques detailed above.  Foil leaves are striking as-is and also provide an excellent canvas for adding painted details with your liner brush (we used Folk Art's Green Flash and Emerald Flash, both metallic hues).  Leaf NAL-81 has deep embossing and lends itself well to painted accents (as well as a light dusting of deco beads, if desired).  Strawberry blossoms are a lovely finishing touch for multi-berry clusters.  Add Dresden berry caps to enhance strawberries, blackberries and raspberries -- go green for a touch of realism, pick gold or silver for a fantasy look.  Use a narrow velvet ribbon to fashion a hanger (cut a 9-1/2" length, thread through wire hanger, bring ends together, tie a knot and trim ends as needed).

To create an easy hanger:

The simplest hanger is formed with a piece of wire wrapped around a paintbrush handle with excess wire tails trimmed away, like above left.  It allows for pairing with any leaf and also looks clean alone.

To create a double cherry or berry stem, illustrated below:

-- Twist a piece of paper-wrapped wire around a paintbrush handle to form a loop, twist wires together 3-4 times to secure, leave wire tails intact.

-- Lay first leaf along a wire tail, twist leaf steam and wire together to join leaf to hanger and form a thicker twisted stem.

-- Lay second leaf along remaining wire and repeat technique.

-- Trim twisted stems to desired lengths, glue fruits in place, and let dry.