Gingerbread Man Tree Decoration

Create this cute gingerbread man tree decoration, to hang, gift or sell this festive season, with our easy step by step tutorial.

Step 1: Make his head

To make your gingerbread man’s head, first mark up your wire with a permanent marker pen at 3cm, wrap your wire tightly around your ring sizer mandrel to a size D. Your original mark needs to be in line with the new mark you create, as these marks will be your cutting lines so make sure you are holding your wire as tight as you can around the mandrel. The 3cm wire you will be cutting is vital as these will eventually become your gingerbread man’s eyes.

Step 2: Make his eyes

Once you have cut your ring out, solder it shut using hard solder (it is your choice whether you use solder paste or solder strip) and make sure it is a full circle by tapping it into shape using a leather hammer onto your ring mandrel. Then go back to your 3cm piece, cut it into two identical pieces and melt down until they form into small Silver nuggets.

Step 3: Mark out his body

Now you need to mark up the wire for your gingerbread man’s body in this order: 1.5cm, 0.5cm, 1cm, 2cm, 0.9cm and 1cm. Then mirror these measurements until you form a body.

Step 4: Attach his head

Once you’re happy with the shape you have created, solder your gingerbread man’s head onto his shoulders using medium solder.

Step 5: Measure his body

Measure the distance from top to bottom on the inside of your gingerbread man’s body then cut a piece of wire to then solder in place. It should roughly be around 2cm.

Step 6: Flatten

After you have soldered this piece into place, grab your leather hammer to tap your gingerbread man flat onto your anvil. You can use a flat faced hammer if you prefer a flatter appearance.

Step 7: File

Now you need to file and smooth down your gingerbread man before soldering on your nuggets.

Step 8: Create his buttons

You will need to create three 1cm nuggets, as your gingerbread man will need his buttons. File down the bottoms of your nuggets until they are flattened and shiny. This will make it easier to solder onto your gingerbread man’s body.

Step 9: Attach his buttons & eyes

Now use easy solder to solder your nuggets into place.

Step 10: Pickle

Now that your gingerbread man is one whole piece, it is time to pickle him and scrub him until he is back to his shiny Silver self.

Step 11: Finish

Grab some ribbon and attach it to your gingerbread man’s head and there you have your tree decoration!

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