Table setting and place names

Many years ago, my cousin asked me to write the place names for her wedding, I think there were about 150 guests but I could be wrong, there was a lot I know that.  I agreed of course and the next thing I knew many many stones were delivered to my door.  I still have mine and John's and they live on the front porch.

Our place name stones are hidden at the base
of the silver birch Nisse

This led me to think about Christmas place names this year and how could I put a Scandinavian spin on Emma's wedding place names and of course it was simple, I needed some Nisse*.  

Our Christmas place names

To make the Nisse I bought Fimo clay in red, white, black and pale orange. 

I created two types of Nisse with slight variations on each. One had legs and the other just a body. Some had large noses with a hat others also included a beard. And some just a hat with no face.  It was fun creating the little figures. And really rather quick.  Below is a rough guide to how I made them but I'm not the most artistic, I'm sure you could come up with much better versions than mine. Once all were made I placed them on lined baking trays and baked them in a cool oven at about 140 degrees Celsius for about half an hour. I left them a day and then super glued them onto the cleaned stones that I dug up from the garden. 

Nisse made from Fimo as
place names for the Christmas table

I also made some spare Nisse which I did not attach to stones but will dot around the house. In hindsight, I would have made a small hole through the Nisse hat and then I could have used them either as hanging ornaments or to decorate gifts with. I think that would have been superb. Next year... 

A room full of Nisse

Nisse with a body, beard, nose and hat

Frustratingly I have lost the photographs I took at each stage of the process, so apologies as my notes will have to suffice.  these Nisse are not hard...

To make the Nisse:

For the body with just legs:

Take a small ball of black Fimo and make into a sausage shape and then bend it in half, do not crack the Fimo so just give it a bend, so it will sit neatly under a hat.

For the body with no legs:

Take a small ball of black Fimo and make the body into a cylindrical shape. 

Nisse with legs and a hat

For the hats:

I took a small ball of red and began to shape it into a cone shape.  I place my thumb under the base of the cone where a head would sit and push my thumb up into the base to create a little indent, this seemed to give the hat a bit more of a better shape.  I then manipulated the hat to whatever fashion I fancied.

For the beard:

Take a tiny piece of white Fimo and make it into a flat rectangular shape, cut out a shallow V shape

Make the beard marks with the end of a toothpick

from the top of the rectangle, this would allow for the nose to be! Once you have gently placed it onto the Nisse body take a toothpick and scratch some beard marks onto it.

For the nose:

Using a small piece of the pale orange, shape into a ball and attach.

Using a combination of the above, you can create your own family of Nisse.  If I find my instructions photos I will edit and add them in, it is so annoying!

Once you have baked them for 30 minutes in a cool oven and they have cooled completely, I super glued them onto the stones and then used chalk markers to write names on.  For Emma's wedding, I used permanent white markers but for my place names, I have used washable markers, so they can be used again and again. 

Nisse both on stones and stand-alone

♥How will you set your table this year?♥