How to Make Spun Cotton Pear Ornaments

This article shares information on how to make spun cotton pear ornaments, similar to those antique ornaments from Germany.

If you are new to this blog: Welcome! My name is Anna and I share information on collecting antique/vintage items, refurbishing furniture and making small crafts/projects. The purpose of this blog is to show you how to use creativity and antiques to make your home beautiful. In addition to information here on the blog, you can also follow me on the following social media accounts Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest.

Back Story

Most of you know I was an antique dealer for a number of years. During the holiday season, antique ornaments were sought after by collectors. Most notably, those antique ornaments from Germany. In addition to mercury glass baubles, Germans also created ornaments from spun cotton. These ornaments were often made in the shapes of Santas, animals, fruits and vegetables. Depending upon the condition of a spun cotton ornament, and its rarity, the price can exceed $200 for one ornament. You can see some examples of these collectible ornaments HERE.

Some of my favorite spun cotton ornaments are fruits covered in glass glitter. The shapes, colors and sparkle of these ornaments are charming and nostalgic. Recently, I found a website known as Smile Mercantile where you can purchase the materials to make your own spun cotton ornaments. So, I was excited to order the supplies and make my own ornaments. Spun cotton pear ornaments were the first set I made.

Please note, links to Smile Mercantile are not an affiliate link nor is this a sponsored post. I am sharing information on how I made these ornaments because I truly love the results and thought you would too.

How to Make Spun Cotton Pear Ornaments

At first, I was hesitant to make these ornaments on my own but I found the process was easy and didn’t require much time. During a Sunday afternoon over the course of 6 hours, I was able to make 12 pear ornaments.

A quick note that this post includes affiliate links and if you purchase items from links provided in this post, I will receive a small commission, but at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. I am presenting you with my own opinion and honest review of the information provided. If you want to read the entire disclosure statement, please click HERE. You can also read my privacy policy by clicking HERE.

Supplies

Most of the supplies I ordered from Smile Mercantile with the exception of some craft paint, paint brushes, and Elmers glue. These other supplies are available at your local craft store such as Michaels, Joanns or Hobby Lobby. Where possible, I have provided links to online sources.

• Spun Cotton Pears – I used 50 mm pears
• German Glass Glitter – I used clear glass glitter
• Velvet leaves – these are optional
• Craft Paint – I like this metallic paint
• Bamboo skewers
• Elmers Glue
• Glass Jar. – to place skewers and pears in
• 16 Gauge Wire
• Wire cutters
• An assortment of small craft paint brushes

It’s easier to make these spun cotton pear ornaments if you have all the supplies readily available.

Paint Pears

Put the bamboo skewers into the top of the spun cotton pears and place the other end of the skewer into a jar.

You will apply craft paint to each of the pears. I wanted my pears to look like a “real” pear so I took a photo of real pear and used it as a guide when painting.

You can use any craft paint you choose, I found metallic craft paint created the effect I liked best. Using a small craft paint brush, begin to apply paint to the spun cotton. I mixed the paints, adding in a bit of red, copper and gold to achieve the color variation shown in the real pear.

While rotating the bamboo skewer in my hand, I was I able to completely paint each pear.

When I finished painting the pears, I placed the skewers with pears in the jar to dry .

Make Wire Loops

While the painted pears were drying, I started to make the wire loop for each ornament. Using 16 gauge wire, a paint brush handle and wire cutters, I made a loop for each pear.

I used the paint brush handle to wrap the wire around it twice. Then snipped the ends and twisted them together.

Smile Mercantile has some excellent tutorial videos that show you how to make spun cotton ornaments. While this video shows how to make spun cotton orange ornaments, it also shows you how to make these little wire loops.

Apply Glass Glitter

At the risk of stating the obvious, German glass glitter is made from little pieces of glass. So use caution when handling the glitter. It’s not your typical craft store glitter.

First I added the glitter to a small bowl. Then after applying Elmers glue to each pear, I gently spooned glitter over the ornament. Using the skewer, I was able to rotate the pear to ensure the glitter evenly covered the entire surface.

When the glitter was applied, the ornament really “came to life”. Again, using the skewer, I placed placed the glittered pears gently back in the jar so the glue could dry.

Use caution when handling the glitter covered pears.

Attach Wire Loop

When the glue has dried completely, remove the skewer from each pear. Then dip the twisted end of the wire loop into some Elmers glue and put it in the hole where the skewer was located. If desired, you can also add a velvet leaf.

Let the glue dry for an hour or so. Your finished pear should look similar to the one below.

Enjoy Your Spun Cotton Pear Ornaments

Congratulations! You have made spun cotton pear ornaments! Here are a few tips and tricks I learned during the process.

• Using skewers to hold your pears is essential to getting good paint coverage and glitter coverage.
• Wait for the paint on your pears to dry completely before moving on to the next step.
• It’s best to make the ornaments in an assembly line fashion -working on multiple ornaments at one time. For example; I painted multiple ornaments at one time, made wire loops for all of them at one time, and covered them all in glitter at the same time.
• A little German glass glitter goes a long way. I used less than 1 ounce of glitter to cover my pear ornaments.
• You can use hot glue, instead of Elmers glue, to attach the wire loop and leaf.

Here are a few more photos of the spun cotton pear ornaments. Feel free to pin any of the images below if you want to bookmark this post for future reference.

In Summary

This process was much easier than I anticipated. Now I can’t wait to make more spun cotton fruit ornaments! Apples and oranges are on my list. Also, it would be fun to make spun cotton bell ornaments. As someone who loves antique and vintage items, it makes me happy to revive this old fashioned tradition of making ornaments from simple every day materials.

Thank you for stopping by the blog today! If you make some spun cotton ornaments, please share a photo with me. I would love to know your thoughts on making these ornaments.

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like the following:

Collecting Vintage Cookie Cutters

DIY Wooden Mushroom Ornaments