RSS
Home
Jockey crafts for the Kentucky Derby, part 1
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
All photos for this project by Elizabeth Magee
Since the Kentucky Derby Festival has officially started I decided to come up with some Derby crafts. I already posted the Thunder Over Louisville blanket. For the next week I will be posting project ideas and how-to articles to add some craftiness to your Derby week.
Inspired by a craft project that my Aunt Dolly makes (featured in Jockey crafts part 2), I decided to create these plastic egg jockeys. They would make cute decorations to liven up any Derby party. You could also store treats inside them to give away as party favors.
If you don't have any of these eggs lying around, try the clearance sections of major stores. Many still have leftover Easter items for cheap. I bought these eggs at Big Lots just the other day.
The jockey figure
For each jockey you will need 3 plastic eggs. Pick one color for the hat and silk shirt (orange in the photo), another color for the pants (green), and a third color for the face (yellow).
To assemble the jockey place the top of the green egg on the table.
Snap the bottom of the green egg to the top of the orange egg for the body. Snap the yellow egg top and orange egg bottom together for the head. You will not need the yellow egg bottom for this jockey. Put it aside.
Use a hot glue gun to attach the body to the leg base and the head to the body. Let this dry before fiddling with it. Luckily, hot glue dries very quickly.
Paint jockey silk designs on the figures.
Follow these steps to make as many jockeys as you want. Then use some acyrilc craft paint to create designs for the jockeys' silks.
Take extra precaution not to burn yourself by using pliers on this step.
The next step is to glue the googly eyes onto your jockeys. Be very careful not to burn yourself with the glue gun on this step.
I used needle-nose pliers to hold the googly eyes while I applied the hot glue. Then I put the eye in place on the jockey's face, still using the pliers.
Felt makes a good hat visor.
For the visor, cut out a half circle shape from felt. I used black felt, but you can use an color that you want.
Sandwich the felt in between the egg pieces for the hat visor.
Take the head apart and sandwich the felt in between the pieces. I had no trouble snapping the egg into place with the felt inside.
The jockey is almost finished.
This step makes for a pretty nice jockey hat.
Use felt for the arms and hands too.
Cut out felt arms and hands. I used black for gloves and coordiated the arm color to the design on the jockeys' silks. Using any glue (hot glue, tacky glue, school glue), attach the hands to the arms and let dry.
If you don't have a steady hand, finish the face with a paint pen.
The next step is to finish the jockey faces. I just used a black paint pen to make the mouths. You could add noses, hair, and rosy cheeks if you wanted to.
Goggles about the visors of the jockey hats would be cute too.
The jockeys are ready for Kentucky Derby 135!
When the arms are dry, hot glue them to the sides of the jockeys.
Once finished, these jockeys will make an adorable decoration for your Derby party.
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
