Here are some of the clothespin ornaments I made in 1975, and they have certainly seen better days. Frank (the farmer) and Alice (the school girl) were two of my cats at the time and I see they have lost all of their whiskers — the poor White Rabbit just has one whisker left. The chicken nun is wearing an Ursuline habit from the 1950’s — or at least the way I remember it from my childhood at St. John’s. The ballerina’s hair is made of floss and braided into a bun in the back, which I thought was pretty clever. Hot glue guns hadn’t been invented, and Elmer’s took too long to dry, so I used Super Glue and it was very difficult to work with — I kept gluing my fingers to each other and to the ornaments.
Very cute! The chicken nun is a riot! I love the farmer’s britches. Where did you get the idea for these clever folk?
Thanks, Jan. Back then I was always trying to figure out ways to make cheap ornaments. I painted several animal clothespins, but then began to run out of ideas for clothes — hence, the nun. I named her after my 8th grade teacher, Sister Raphael.