FFf Eclectic Red Barn: Tutorial for making Christmas Lollipops and Christmas Pole

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Tutorial for making Christmas Lollipops and Christmas Pole

Last week I showed you my Grandinroad Hack - Wooden Christmas Present. I displayed the box with my lollipops and Christmas pole. 
Eclectic Red Barn: Lollipops, Christmas pole and Christmas box

These lollipops are adorable and so easy to make and you might already have all most of the materials. 

You will be surprised that I made the lollipops with pool noodles and PVC pipe.

Here is the tutorial on making the lollipops and Christmas pole:
Materials needed: PVC pipe,  pool noodles, ribbon, basket bag, glue gun, white tape.

We will start with the pool noodle and PVC pipe.
Eclectic Red Barn: Materials need for lollipops - noodle and pvc

Starting with the pool noodle, cut it in half. (I used the small size pool noodles for this - $1 at the Dollar store or Walmart.) You can do this by using a utility knife. 
Eclectic Red Barn: Cutting the noodle

Slice down the middle. Depending on your utility knife, it may not go all the way through. That's OK, it will still break in half. You may have to cut it in places.
Eclectic Red Barn: Splitting the noodle in half
 I had orange and green ones from summer.  
Eclectic Red Barn: Cut noodle in two pieces
For the orange one, I left it plain. For the green one, I wrapped it in white tape
Eclectic Red Barn: Wrap the noodle with white tape
We will be hot gluing the cut pool noodle onto itself. Before we do that, however, get some material to hold the wound lollipop. I used large twisties that came from some package. 

Now back to the noodle. Add hot glue to each side of the cut part of the noodle. Be careful not to get too close to the noodle with the tip of the glue gun because it will melt it.  It will melt it some anyway.  
Eclectic Red Barn: Adding hot glue to the noodle with white tape
Start at one end and roll it up. Keep rolling and adding hot glue until you reached the other end. Wrap the coil with the twistie and let it dry.

Meanwhile, get the PVC pipe ready. My PVC pipe was 3/4 inch OD (outer diameter). You don't want too large or it will not fit into the noodle.  

I like to clean my PVC pipe first. I hate all the lettering they put on it.
Eclectic Red Barn: PVC pipe lettering

I have tried everything and the only thing that works, is pipe cleaner. Make sure you get the clear one and NOT the purple one.
Eclectic Red Barn: Cleaner to remove lettering from PVC pipe
Rub it on the lettering and then wipe off the lettering. You may need to do it more than once, but usually it is pretty good at coming off the first time. Here is the PVC pipe cleaned.

Eclectic Red Barn: Cleaned  PVC pipe
 
Back to the spiraled noodle. It should be secured by now, if not add more glue and let it dry. Take the PVC pipe and twist it into the noodle. (Not too hard) This will make an "impression" on the noodle. 
Eclectic Red Barn: Using the PVC pipe to make an imprint on the noodle.
 

Eclectic Red Barn: Imprint on the noodle.
Use this impression to cut out that area. I use a utility knife for this.
Eclectic Red Barn: Use a utility knife to cut out hole on noodle

Remove the chunk of noodle, leaving a whole where you will insert the PVC pipe.

Eclectic Red Barn: Hole on noodle for PVC pipe

Now, add some hot glue to the end of the PVC pipe. Add enough to secure it to  the spiraled noodle.
Eclectic Red Barn: Put hot glue onto end of  PVC pipe
Insert the pvc pipe into the hole you just made.
Eclectic Red Barn: Insert PVC pipe into hole in noodle
 
Place it to dry.  

Now to finish the lollipop. I purchased two shrink basket covers at the Dollar Tree. They are the ones where you put your basket in and use a hair dry to shrink it around the basket.  

I placed the lollipop in the cover and tied it around the PVC.
Eclectic Red Barn: Place basket cover over noodle and secure with twistie
Then I used my hair dryer to shrink the cover around the lollipop. It worked great and I was so excited.

Eclectic Red Barn: Use an hair dryer to melt the basket cover to the noodle

Now that it was tight around the lollipop, I added some ribbon. I used this yellow ribbon that I happen to have on hand.

Eclectic Red Barn: Added the ribbon to the lollipop pole

I did not put white tape on the orange one. I can't decide if I like them with or with out the white tape. You can decide which you prefer. 

In order to display them in the ground, I added a piece of rebar in the ground at an angle. Then placed the PVC pipe on the rebar. 


Eclectic Red Barn: Lollipop pole in the ground


So the lollipops are done and now it is time to make the Christmas pole. 

I used a larger PVC pipe for the pole 2 inch OD (outer diameter). I just taped off the pole and then sprayed it red.
Eclectic Red Barn: Tape off the Christmas pole and paint red
If you had red tape, you could use that. I didn't but had red paint.

For the top of the pole, I cut a piece of flat Styrofoam and attached it to a 5 inch Styrofoam ball with hot glue.
Eclectic Red Barn: Adhere round Styrofoam to flat piece of Styrofoam and secured it with hot glue
 
I used my large twistie ties to secure it while it dried. When I sprayed it with the red spray paint, the flat piece started to disintegrate. The more red paint, the less Styrofoam I had. I broke off the flat piece and just used the round ball.

When it was dry, I pushed it down on the PVC pipe and then cut out some so the ball so it would fit down over the PVC pipe. Added hot glue and stuck it on.

Now for the sign. Not sure where it came from, but I got it at the end of the season last year. 

I drilled a hole in the top of the PVC pipe and added a screw. There was a hook on the back of the sign and I used that with some wire to secure it to the PVC pipe.

I inserted a stake into the ground that the pole slid over. 

Eclectic Red Barn: Christmas sign attached to PVC pole
  
 Here it is with my lollipops.
Eclectic Red Barn: Christmas pole and lolliops

Although I love the sign, the lettering did not show up. I decided to paint the lettering white for it to show up.
Eclectic Red Barn: Painted the lettering on the Christmas pole
Well, there you have it, my complete tutorial on how to make lollipops and a pole for your yard. I bought the bags for over the lollipops ($2 for both) and the Styrofoam ball for $3. I had the rest of the materials. 

If you have the materials, you could make them in one day. Hardest part is waiting to things to dry. 

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial on the cute lollipops and Christmas pole. 
 

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Linking to these parties:

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10 comments :

  1. Great instructions and for an awesome project! Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  2. As I recall, if you dip your Styrofoam pieces into a glue and water solution, once dried, it primes the Styrofoam for painting. The paint won't eat into the pieces. You can probably use a spray bottle for larger pieces.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The addition of the clear plastic bag is really smart and creative. It makes them look like real lollipops. Nice job!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Really cute Christmas decorations. I like the wrapped one best. I will give this a try. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great idea!! I’m definitely going to try this!

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
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  8. Excellent. By garden lovers it and neighborhood kids too. Thanks for sharing
    Happy holidays to you.

    ReplyDelete
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