11 August 2011

Make a Faerie Well


I made something new for Kaia's little garden: a faerie sized stone well. It was a little tedious, but very simple and did not actually take terribly long to put together. It's made entirely out of stones, sticks, hot glue, a touch of paint, and a little polymer clay, (which you could easily do without.)

I made the base out of two layers of clay. The bottom layer is a light tan, and the top, slightly smaller, layer is blue, to look like water. You could skip this entirely and just find yourself a nice, flat stone and paint the top blue if you wish. The only reason I went ahead and made mine out of clay was because I was already making other faerie accessories with it. 

Once you have your base, begin hot gluing small stones all the way around the edge. After you've got the bottom layer down, just move on up, fitting the stones together best as you can.


 When you have the depth you desire, get yourself some sturdy twigs. These are cherry tree trimmings. Glue two to the inside of the well, upright and across from each other. Glue another from the top of one upright to the top of the other, and one across them midway up. (From this one you will hang your bucket.)
 

Cut four equal sized sticks, (I made mine about half as long as my upright supports,) and two shorter sticks of equal length. Glue them together into two 'A's, like so. Glue this to the rest of your structure with a drop of hot glue under where the sticks meet at the top, and on the inside of the crossbeam so that it can attach to the upright supports as well as the top beam.


Cut two sticks long enough to connect the leg of one 'A' to the leg of the opposite 'A' and glue those in place. This will give you something to glue the rest of the roof to. Cut a thousand more little twigs of approximately the same length and start laying them across the roof, gluing top and bottom. There may have been less than a thousand. Maybe.


 Tie on your bucket. I used embroidery thread because I couldn't find anything else at the time, and I may change that out eventually. A thin twine would probably look better. I made our bucket out of polymer clay, but I know I have seen tiny little buckets at hobby and craft shops that would be perfect. I also cut two very small sections of stick and glued them on to the end of the bucket-holding crossbeam, to be the crank handle.


Now go around with a fine brush and put a little paint over anywhere the hot glue shows. I used gold to match the rest of our faerie garden furniture, but you may want to use something a bit more mortar coloured. Place in your faerie garden, (...or on your D&D table, by your miniature train set, etc...) and enjoy! I am planning to cut the sticks on our roof a little more even, too, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Ours is just under 1 1/2 inches wide and 3 1/2 inches tall.

47 comments:

  1. Oh me oh my I am going to HAVE to make on of these! So, so cute. You are very clever!

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  2. Wonderful! And thank you. Best of luck on your well, I would love to see it when you're done if you'd like to share. :)

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  3. This would look really cute in my new succulent garden! So far only exists in my wintery mind.

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  4. Good luck, and have fun! It was a pretty simple and fast project, and I think it adds a special little touch to any miniature setting.

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  5. So sweet. My grand daughter & I will need to complete one of these for our gardens.
    forwhatitsworth-jeannie.blogspot.com

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  6. I will have to make this!!! Thanks so much for the information!!!

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  7. How well does it hold up in the rainy/starmy weather?

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  8. I brought it in for the Winter, and back out again in the Spring. So far it has only needed to be repaired once, when it was jumped on by a chicken. :)

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  9. I will be trying this too! Have you trying using elmers cler glue and blue food coloring for water yet? I want to try that to!

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  10. Oh, terrific idea! We have done acorn caps where we coloured them with washable markers then filled them with craft glue. It picked up the colour and they look beautiful. This garden is outdoors, so craft glue probably will not work, as far as I know, because it will be getting wet quite a lot, but perhaps there is something else I can use with the same idea, maybe epoxy. Thank you for the suggestion!

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    1. Your hot glue was okay outside? I made a table and swing in the last couple weeks using sticks and hot glue. They've been on our deck and they're coming apart already. I thought maybe hot glue wasn't durable enough for outside.

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  11. What an adorable wishing well! I have just finished making my fairy house and your craft will be a perfect addition. Thanks for the inspiration !!!

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  12. I am in the planning and gathering stage of my faerie garden, but will definitely incorporate the well into the over all design. Thanks for the info and yes, I will send a pic once it is complete.

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  13. I saw this and though it would make a great geocache hiding place. Made mine out of those colored stones from the dollar store and some left over bamboo stakes I use in my garden. The geocache is a small pill container that looks just like a bucket! It's perfect! Thanks for the idea!!

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  14. This is an adorable idea for a fairy garden. I have all the materials needed for this. I am still in the planning stage for a garden, but this will be the perfect addition. Can't wait to get started but there are so many great finds to choose from!

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  15. Did you have the problem of the glue melting in the sun? My well and house fell apart in the sun.

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    1. I do many outdoor projects using hot glue. It helps to put a couple coats of clear spray varnish every year,

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  16. This is wonderful, thank you. Do you use a speciat type of hot glue?? My things fall apart after awhile. Thank you again

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  17. i am a play therapist and am always looking for significant items for sandplay therapy. this wishing well is PERFECT! thanks!

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  18. I'm so happy I found your darling tutorial! I finished my faerie well today and posted the picture on instagram! Here's a link: https://instagram.com/p/1jif0YhJLh/?taken-by=becausebabiesgrowup. I'd love to tag you if you're on there!

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  19. I love the ideas you have, the well is so cute. I will try it :) Wood gorilla glue is for outside and indoor use. I have some of that so will try it! That might solve the problem of the glue melting. Thanks again for this adorable tutorial.

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  20. Thanks for the wonderful directions for this adorable well!! Just about to do the twig application now. :)

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    1. What kind of hot glue do you use because mine falls apart using hot glue gun.

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  21. Do you use a special kind of hot glue because mine falls apart also! :(

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  22. Mine fell apart also because in the weather, the wood shrinks and expands...so I used a combination of Silicone glue with the hot glue gun to hold it together while the silicone cures.
    Shelley

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  23. Mine fell apart also because in the weather, the wood shrinks and expands...so I used a combination of Silicone glue with the hot glue gun to hold it together while the silicone cures.
    Shelley

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  24. On my wishing well, I used ripped up bits of moss to hide the glue...it looks really old and used which I love the effect of.
    Shelley

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  25. On my wishing well, I used ripped up bits of moss to hide the glue...it looks really old and used which I love the effect of.
    Shelley

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  26. Very cute and very clever! I am going to make some for my fairy gardens!

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  27. Hi Juise! I'm with Fairy Gardens magazine and we love your tutorial! We'd like to feature it in our magazine! Your picture, name, link, and bio would all be included. If you're interested, send us a message on our website at www.fairygardensmagazine.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

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  28. Can't wait to try this adorable well. Thank you for sharing it.

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  29. Thank you so very much. :) Going to try this today. <3 xxx

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  30. Thank you for the great tutorial! Very cute and creative idea!

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  31. Fantastic and cute well thank you for the tutorial

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  32. LOL! "On your D&D table". That made me laugh a little to loudly at 5:10 a.m.

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