How to make a malachite box from plasticine?

The mistress of the Copper Mountain from Bazhov's fairy tale presented Stepan with a malachite box. Since then, this thing has been associated not only with skillful work, but also with a miracle, a symbol of beauty and magic. You can make your own malachite box with minimal expenses. To do this, you need to select an imitation material, with which plasticine does an excellent job.

The malachite pattern is made up of arcs, loops, waves and streaks of various shades of green. It is not difficult to depict these color overflows with watercolors, but plasticine will give a greater resemblance to a valuable stone.

Tools that are needed in the work:

• stacks - a set of "knives", usually plastic - sharp, rounded, with a raised edge;
• board - required in order not to stain the table;
• rolling pin - needed to roll out plasticine.

Materials for creating the box:

• a set of plasticine - one in which there will be many shades of green and colors close to it;
• varnish - you can cover the finished craft with it (if varnish is taken, brushes are also needed);
• the base, which will be glued with plasticine, can be an ordinary piece of wood for a box or a plastic container (the method for making a round box from cardboard and an adhesive tape reel is described below).

Sometimes the resulting product is additionally decorated using beads, beads, buttons, braid. This is a matter of an individual approach, the main thing is to make a high-quality basis, and whether it will need a decorative addition is secondary.

If you want to completely make a malachite box yourself, that is, to make the base itself with your own hands, you can use cardboard or a similar durable material.

It is not necessary to do it from scratch.A gift box or just a box from equipment (mobile phone, hair dryer, etc.) can be turned into a malachite box. An interesting option is a round box, which will be based on a reel of scotch tape. You will also need binding cardboard.

Let's consider how to make a round blank box.

1. The reel is applied to the cardboard and 3 circles are drawn along the inner diameter and two circles along the outer diameter.
2. Those circles, the diameter of which is smaller, must be glued together. It is easier to do this using Moment glue.
3. The finished element must be processed with sandpaper, it is glued to a larger circle, located in the center. This forms a lid for sealing the container.
4. The edges can also be sanded.

The most crucial moment comes - you need to work with plasticine so that it becomes as close as possible to real malachite.

Working with plasticine includes several stages.

1. Primary colors, which will imitate malachite - green, white and black. You can use all sorts of variations of green, go into blue shades, in a word, experiment. From each block of the selected plasticine, you have to cut a small fragment. Cutting the plastic mass is easier with a stack.
2. You need to put a sheet of paper on the cut pieces and roll them. A rolling pin, if available, is also suitable for this purpose. Very often, a rolling pin is found in children's sculpting kits.
3. The result is rolled out layers of plasticine of different colors. Now they need to be stacked on top of each other, as if forming a well. The stack of layers must be rolled up with a tube.
4. Now from the rolled up tube it is necessary make a bar... To do this, you first need to squeeze it from above, then turn it over and press it down again.
5. The resulting multi-colored bar follows cut into thin enough plates. This is how malachite will turn out, with which the box will be pasted over.
6. If you use three colors of plasticine, respectively, the pattern will be three-color... The more shades are used, the more complex the pattern becomes. At the same time, the layers will have to be rolled out thinner, otherwise it will simply not be possible to roll them into a tube and then turn them into a bar.
7. Someone initially adds glitter to the plasticine (powder, loose glitter), wanting to make the box shine. You can decorate it and so, this is the right of the author.

No need to smear anything, push the plasticine apart with your fingers... If you go the more complicated way, these fragments will have to be changed right on the box, during gluing.

Better and easier the plates of the formed "malachite" are attached to the plastic. Therefore, using a plastic container is a sensible idea. Such a structure can even be washed later without fear that the water will soak the entire base. If the box is made of cardboard, inside it can be decorated with green felt or velvet paper - this way the craft will be even closer to a real box.

The assembly consists in the progressive gluing of the formed "malachite" plates on the base. After the entire base is under the plasticine, it can be covered with transparent varnish. So the craft will be protected from deformation and will last longer.

If after assembly it seems that the box does not look elegant enough, you can put a gold braid along its contour - it is fixed on the Moment glue. It is possible to form a small floral arrangement from other plasticine colors: mold a bright flower surrounded by jagged light leaves and fix this composition in the center of the box lid.

These tips will help to complicate the work on the product, getting a more effective version.

• Malachite can be made from many colors. If you use professional plasticine, there will be about 10 shades of green, no less. Fragments of such blocks can be molded into one ball, it is he who will be rolled into a large layer. This layer is rolled out with a wide rolling pin, it will turn out to be no less than an A4 sheet. With such a layer, it will be necessary to paste over the workpiece.

• It is worth thinking about the inside of the box even before pasting it. As already noted, you can lay out the bottom and walls with felt, velvet paper, as well as satin, patterned flannel cut, etc.

• You can make a latch for the box - it's easy to find in the accessories department... You can decorate the latch with a brush. If a decorative cord is run along the edges of the box, a tassel on the clasp will look like a finishing touch.

Successful creative experiments!

How to make a malachite box from plasticine, see below.