Mini-Mannequin Jewelry Holder

One-of-a-Kind Mother's Day Gift

How to make a one-of-a-kind jewelry holder shaped like a dress mannequin.

Mom will love this miniature mannequin to organize her jewelry.

Why not make one for yourself too? One-of-a-kind for sure.

Mini-Mannequin Jewelry Holder Materials

• Papier-mâché mannequin 8" tall (available online - search for "paper-mache mannequin")
• 5" square wood base
• Decorative tissue paper in your choice of color and design
• 5" square of felt to match the tissue paper
• Delta Ceramcoat acrylic paint in pink & skin tone
• Plaid Mod Podge decoupage medium
• ½" wide artist paint brush
• 1 ½ yard of 22-gauge copper wire
• 20" of 16-gauge copper wire
• Hot glue gun
• 56 small green glass beads
• 13-3mm purple glass beads
• Beading needle and sewing thread
• 5mm dowel
• Round nose pliers
• 8" of decorative ribbon or lace
• Aleene's Clear Gel Tacky Glue
• 18 miniature satin ribbon roses in colors of your choice
• Sharpie Marker

Assembling the Jewelry Holder

Paint two coats of skin tone paint on the mannequin and two coats of pink on the base

Let dry between coats. Set aside to dry completely.

Tear the tissue paper into small pieces.

If there is a design to the paper with different colors as the example shows, try tearing the paper and grouping the different colors.

In the example we had separate piles of deep purple, pinks, light purple and a small amount of white and yellow.

Doing a small area at a time, spread the Mod Podge with a paint brush and start laying the tissue paper over the Mod Podge.

It helps to have all the little pieces of paper spread out on your work surface and use the tip of the wet paint brush to pick up the next piece of tissue. Laying the tissue down is much easier this way.

When an area is covered with the tissue paper, cover it with more Mod Podge.

Smooth out any bubbles or wrinkles with your finger.

Don't smooth out too much as some texture looks great. Continue to do this until the entire mannequin is covered. Let dry.

Do the same as above for the base and let dry completely.

Save some rather small pieces of the tissue paper for the final finish work.

The arms are made of four 6" lengths of 16-gauge wire.

Following the guide above, take one length and slightly curve one end upward. To finish the curved end, use the round nose pliers to form a small closing loop (and hide the raw end).

Take the 22-gauge wire and wrap around each arm. This will help hold jewelry in place when the mannequin is put to use.

Once all four arm segments are done, hold two segments together at the shoulder end and wrap them tightly together with more 22-gauge wire. Repeat with the other two arm segments.

The head is done in similar fashion but using three segments.

Make two that are 6" long and one that is 8" long.

After wrapping each with the 22-gauge wire as you did the arm pieces, wrap each length around a Sharpie Marker or something equal in diameter.

Slide the coil off the pen and adjust it to the desired length. You will now have three large coils.

Using the 5mm dowel (or something of equal diameter), make a fairly tight coil out of 22-gauge wire leaving about a ½" tail at the bottom.

Bend the curled end into the coil. Make three of these.

Group the three larger coils and the three small coils you just made together and wrap the bottoms all together with more 22-gauge wire.

Apply another coat of Mod Podge to the entire mannequin and the base and let dry completely.

To make the mannequin's necklace, use the beading needle and thread.

String on 4 green beads and then a purple bead. Place a paper clip or a piece of tape at one end so the beads don't fall off the thread.

Continue to string the beads in the same order until all the beads are strung.

Tie the two ends together to form a tight knot. Put a small dab of glue on the knot to secure.

Glue the length of lace or ribbon from the left shoulder across the body and secure at the lower right side with more glue.

Place the little beaded necklace around the neck and glue in place.

Use the dowel to poke a hole where each arm and head piece will go. [ You may need to expand the holes a little to accommodate the gathered wires. ]

Use the glue gun to place a dot of hot glue into one armhole.

Insert one set of arms. Make sure the arms curve upward. Do the same for the other arm.

Do the same for the wire head pieces.

After the glue has hardened, use the glue gun to apply a small amount of glue all around each hole area to further strengthen the wires.

Apply small pieces of tissue paper with Mod Podge to cover where the hot glue was used and the area where the wires were wrapped.

Glue the 5" felt square to the bottom of the base.

Place a generous amount of the Clear Gel Tacky Glue to the bottom of the mannequin and place on the base. Allow to dry about 3 hours.

Run a bead of Clear Gel Tacky Glue all around the base of the mannequin and set the roses over the glue. Let dry for several hours.