Creating a beautiful garden involves a lot more than just planting and weeding. I’ve always believed that if you want your garden to really flourish and become a peace filled haven, you need to welcome in some fairies and other enchanting creatures. Emily Dickinson once wrote “Some keep the Sabbath going to church, I keep it staying at home  – with a bobolink for a chorister, and an orchard, for a dome.” That, to me, says it all. So anytime I can adorn the garden with something special, I’m all for it. And I have to admit that this little wood nymph garden ornament is one of my favorite things that we’ve made.

According to Mythology, wood nymphs, called Dryads, are extremely shy but won’t hesitate to fiercely protect the trees they are born with. If the tree dies, the wood nymph often dies too, something the gods are well aware of. So if someone intentionally harms or causes the death of a tree, they will be punished unless they try to make peace first. Since we use a lot of old pallets to make things, I’m hoping that our little wood nymph helps appease the gods a little. I’m not sure if the big companies who cut down trees to make those pallets, say they sorry first 😉

What You Need to Make a Wood Nymph

• 2 ingredient mold (get the recipe here)
• Old ceramic or plastic doll

I used a fairy doll my Mom bought for me many, many, many moons ago. Sadly he’s seen better days, but I can’t bear to throw him away. Meet Sebastian. Isn’t he just beautiful?

Poor thing, I don’t even know how he lost his hand, but I’m guessing one of our fur babies decided to take a nibble, UGH!!. But he’s still perfect for making a wood nymph. Okay so besides a Sebastian you’ll also need some cement, duct tape, a scrap piece of wood and hole saw that’s wider than your doll’s head and a drill.

Making The Wood Nymph

Lay your doll onto the scrap piece of wood to make sure it fits nicely, before using the hole saw to make a hole for his little face to peak through.

Sand and stain the wood if you like. I left the scrap piece as is, since it already had so much character from standing outside. Mix up up a batch of the two ingredient mold.

Cover your doll’s face with the two ingredient mold and leave it to set for about an hour. Make sure you squish it into all the crevices so you can get as much detail as possible. You can see in the piccy below that even Sebastian’s little nostrils came out nicely after the de-molding 😀 That’s what you want.

Place the molded form over the hole you made earlier and use some duct tape to hold it in place and seal any gaps.

Mix up some cement and pour it inside the mold. You can also use plaster of paris if you don’t have any cement, but you will need to seal it before placing the wood nymph outside.

Once the cement or plaster of paris has set, gently remove the mold to reveal the wood nymph garden ornament.

'I do not understand how anyone can live without one small place of enchantment to turn to.' - Marjorie Kinnan RawlingsClick to Tweet

I would love to know what you think of the little wood nymph. Would you repurpose an old doll to make a wood nymph?

And if you like the idea of making your own wood nymph, don’t forget to pin it for later.

For your convenience I’ve added some links so you don’t have to struggle to find some of the goodies we used. Disclosure: If you click on the links below, we may receive a commission from Amazon. But don’t worry, it won’t come out of your pocket, and it helps us come up with more unique DIY and craft tutorials for you 😉

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And as always, wishing you a beautiful week filled with magical moments.

P.S. If you’re keen to make something similar on a big scale, then you’ll love this tutorial for creating a Spirit of the Forest wreath.