How to Make Dancing Ballerinas from Wire and Napkins

Ballerinas and dancers always exude a sense of elegance, grace, beauty and control, something that I would love to introduce to my home. If you feel the same as I do then you’ll just love this paper ballerina project. My plan is to make a whole lot more in different dancing positions and hang them up from differing lengths; I just need to find the perfect spot in the house to display them proudly. These would also make incredible gifts for any dancing friends you may have.

Supplies needed:

Flexible wire from any craft or bead store
White napkins
Corn starch
Cold water
Clear fishing line
White thread
Thin needle
Scissors
Pliers

Start off by bending the wire into the skeleton – all you need is the features of a classic stick man. You can do the head and body as one piece, and each arm and leg on its own so that you can easily attach them to the body by twisting the wire around.

Take your napkins and separate the layers. If you happen to have printed napkins that you want to get rid of, you can simply toss the printed part and keep the white layers that are underneath.

You’ll want to keep some of the napkin pieces whole, but for the rest, it’s time to rip them up! Tear them into strips that are just over half an inch wide (about 1.5cm). It’s important that you tear the piece by hand and not cut them with scissors.

Create your starch paste – this is typically achieved by mixing together equal amounts of corn starch and cold water, but you want this to be a little runnier than usual, so experiment with a bit more water. Then dip you napkin strip into the paste and start wrapping it around the wire skeleton.

Keep going until your little stick figure resembles something of a mummy.

Leave your skinny little mummies to dry completely.

Now comes the time for the dress – these modest ballerinas shouldn’t stay naked for too long! Fold the napkin as shown in the photo and cut it at the desired length. Curl it around to get the bushy effect. We want some volume to this dress, so repeat the same step with a second napkin sheet.

Next, make little holes for the arms and head and dress your ballerina.

To give the girl some shape in her currently unflattering dress, use some of the thread to cinch in the waist. You can then leave her in that position or bend her leg up to show off her flexibility and dress. In order to hang these, simply thread your clear fishing line through a part of the upper body.

I like the cleanness of the all-white look, but if you want to use color napkins that’s your prerogative! I think all-red could be a nice twist – they would look more like the gorgeous Spanish flamenco dancers. Tutorial source Stariy-Chemodan Russian blogger.