These extra tiny garden gnomes have a modern shape that makes them a breeze to cast out of basic craft store plaster in a simple, homemade mold. You can pop out a whole village of them in an afternoon and let the kids (or yourself!) go to town decorating them.

What You Need

Materials
• craft plaster
• toilet paper tubes
• water cooler cones
• acrylic craft paint, polyurethane
• dimensional fabric paint

Instructions

1. Put a toilet paper tube on top of a water cooler cone. Draw a circle on the cone where they meet.
2. Cut out the cone.
3. Stick the small cone point side down into the toilet paper tube. Push it all the way down so that the tip of the cone touches your work surface.
4. Mix plaster according to the manufacturer's directions and pour into the mold.
5. Allow plaster to fully set. Peel away all the cardboard and paper.
6. Decorate your gnome with acrylic paint. I used a Sharpie to draw the eyes. The beards are dimensional fabric paint. Brush a layer of polyurethane over the gnome to seal it.

(Images: Katie Steuernagle)

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