Making Drummer Frosties

We’ve already had snow and a mini polar vortex, which is weird but enhanced the Frosty-making mood. Mother Nature is sending us a message about the volatility of our climate these days, although my snarky self blames Disney for promoting Frozen 2 too much. 😉

Last year I only had one drummer frosty left during my Sacred Art trunk show, and it caused a debate between two ladies on who got to buy it, so this year I made a few to avoid the disturbing of comfort and joy. I set up the jig with my rounds.

Then I bent the frosties into shape on my Now That’s a Jig!.

I created the drumshape off the snowman off-jig. There probably is a way to engineer it into a template as well, but I like the freewheeling way.

Then I took the drum score by August Burns Red that I had printed out and fitted the frosty outfits. I cut the shapes with the Xacto knife.

Once the paper had been coated with encaustic medium I applied it to the frosty with a tiny craft iron and then added the teabag drumhead. My new edition frosties have one ‘drumstick’ as well. My next challenge is to figure out how to give them two drumsticks. I use one single piece of wire, so it will take some thinking.

The original inspiration for these is my rockstar brother, Koen Herfst. He lives in the Netherlands and has established himself as a sought-after drummer for a variety of genres. He launched an album about our dad this year, which was an emotional journey for me. The documentary behind the album is now available online as well. I enjoyed seeing my family on my TV screen and learning more about Koen’s process and our family history. YouTube has subtitles if you select the English option, but the subtitles didn’t Chromecast for me, so you might need to view it directly on the Internet screen.

Of course there is a whole plethora of musical instrument ornaments to create, but for now the caroling angels and frosties will have to do. I think new instrument designs will happen as they get requested, or if I find fun dollhouse instruments to add as embellishments. Meanwhile, you can peruse my ornament collection at Artem Pop Up Gallery, at Sacred Art Chicago, and at my upcoming shows.