Honeycomb Ornament Tutorial

Honeycomb Ornament

Supplies:
Decorative Paper - I used an old textbook. Our little town has a transfer station affectionately known as "the dump" where you can scavenge up all kinds of goodies, including used books.
Glue - Elmer's School Glue worked great, or if you prefer, find a similar texture glue in an archival glue.  I felt since the paper, paint, etc...weren't archival there wasn't a need to find archival glue.
Fine tip for glue bottle or fine tipped glue bottle (Martha Stewart sells one at Michaels, don't get me started...)
Heavy Glue - Aileens' Quick Grab Tacky glue.
Light cardboard - small piece.
Plain paper - a few pieces.
Sharpies in two distinct colors.
Kitchen twine or similar.        

Wooden skewer or similar tool.
Leaves of your choice.
Twigs.
Spray paint of your choice - I used Krylon's interior satin spray in red and green and some random can of gold I had in the stash. 
Glitter - I used some fine gold from Martha (again at Michaels, really, don't get me started. It was the best value and the classiest looking).
Ribbon - narrow or similar, for hanging loop.
Paper scissors.
Foam paint roller - small sized.
Tray to catch glitter.
Clothes pins and line to hang ornaments to dry.





And let's get started -

Draw and cut out a pattern using half the shape of the final piece. In this case, half an apple.

Draw a line (line 1) a few inches larger then the pattern on a clean sheet of paper. Place the straight edge, or spine, of the pattern on the line you just drew and trace around the pattern. Using alternating colors and drawing perpendicular the first line, draw the first color line (line 2) within a quarter inch of the top of the traced pattern and the second color line (line 3) within a quarter inch of the bottom of the traced pattern. Divide the space between the two lines equally and draw lines, alternating colors between line 2 and line 3.


Trace the pattern onto your decorative paper and cut 46-48 pieces. I was able to fit eight pieces on every page and cut eight pages at one time. I used binder clips to hold the pages together while cutting.

First piece.

First set of glue lines.

Alternating set of glue lines.

Lay your first piece onto the lined sheet matching to the traced pattern. Spread a line of glue on the top line and on each line of the same color. Place the second piece on top of the first and spread a line of glue on the second line and on each line of the same color. Place the third piece on top of the second piece and spread a line of glue on the top line and on each line of the same color. After the first ten or so pieces pick up the work and using the wooden skewer spread it apart, gently pulling loose any glue which has smooshed out where it doesn't belong. Work from the spine side of the piece so that the outside doesn't get wrinkled from the handling.

Continue on until all 48 pieces are glued, opening the piece up from time to time to make sure you didn't glue the wrong lines and that the extra glue gets cleaned up.

Once all 48 pieces have been glued together, 

add a string so you can hang it to dry while 

painting. And work some glue into the spine on the quarter inch from the bottom. This keeps the bottom neat and tight when finished. Use the Fast Grab glue for this step. 

After the glue holding the spine and string drys, place glue on the correct lines and bring the two sides together. This seems kinda awkward but it will work. Place paperclips at each glue line for a few minutes so the glue has time to adhere.

Using the spray paint, paint the ornament. I choose not to paint every single area but to let the printing show through. Hang to dry using a line and clothes pins.

Lay some glue onto a sheet of paper and using the foam roller, spread the glue on the edges of the ornament. Sprinkle glitter over glue. This gives a fine line of glitter along the outside edges. Hang to dry.

Paint a 2 to 3 inch piece of twig and a leaf with gold spray paint. Once dry I wrapped the wire from the leaf around the twig and the hanging ribbon making them one unit. Once the ornament is dry, clip the twine as far down as you can get and than, using the skewer, tuck the remainder down the spine, toward the bottom of the piece. Gently ease the ornament apart  a little bit at the top and lay in some of the Fast Grab glue. Push the stem piece in and arrange as you like.

And you're done!