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| Above are three clergy clothespins: a priest holding a wafer and a cup, a monk carrying hymns and a nun carrying a rosary. A foil is cut out of paper and glued to one On the other hand I glued a small plastic communion cup filled with colored wine paint. This was cut from the inside of a recycled plastic egg carton. |
Since the Catholic clergy wear customs/uniforms, they are easier to identify than the mostly Protestant ones. Here I have provided some simple representations of this church for children who would like to include them in their play or craft. They may also choose to alter the customs slightly to make their clergy Lutheran or Anglican as well. Both of these churches wore very similar costumes at one time and some still do. These fashions would be considered “old-fashioned” by many clergymen but it is not unusual for me to dress effigies in vintage clothing here.
On the left, a small detail for wrapping cotton batting covers and minis
Handling cup with wafer.
Support list:
- Eight cotton balls or white felt
- Wooden clothespins
- Wooden stand
- Stand decoration paper
- Black and brown hair
- seed beads
- small crosses (charm)
- Acrylic paints
- white school glue
- Hot glue gun and hot glue
- White scraps of paper
- strings
- Plastic egg carton
Step by step instructions:
- In making the nun, you may choose to use white felt instead to wrap around her head and shoulders. I chose to use cotton batting instead because it’s easier to apply the cotton to the doll with a layer of white glue. Simply unroll the cotton ball and proceed to wrap it around its shape at the top in order to form the headband, cove, and jumper.
- Her veil consists of a black piece of her hot hair attached to the top of her head.
- Her black felt skirt is a simple tube wrapped around the waist from clothespins and taped in place.
- Paint her head, legs and shoes black.
- String some small seed beads and a crucifix to hold in her hands or as a crucifix to hang around her neck.
- Clothespin Monk is a monk wearing brown felt. I chose to give him a “color” hair cut using cotton batting and brown paint. This is a very old way of determining his loyalty to the Church. But there can be no doubt about that and that is why he is wearing it.
- A good monk also holds a reverence or a hymn, depending on what he is on at the moment. Tie strings around his waist and wrap a headdress, a caboch, using either brown felt or cotton wadding as shown in the photo above with white glue. Paint it brown after it dries.
- Then paint the monk’s or monk’s features.
- The priest may wear the traditional black garb. Paint his wooden legs and boots black.
- Wrap a coat of felt around the stem and attach it permanently with glue.
- I cut a collar out of white paper to tape around his neck and a cross to the front of his chest.
- Take the tip of a toothpick and dip it into gold acrylic to paint his chain or crucifix.
- Draw his facial features and hot glue on yarn or a cotton wig to complete his look.
- I cut out a red and white patterned “floor” on the wooden bases of these dolls, to make it look like they were standing on tiles. Their black shoes are simply painted directly onto the wooden trestles.
Links to more Catholic Clergy dolls and content: