The Twelve Days of Christmas, part II

(continued from part I)

The first four days had seen me make four trees, six turtledoves, 6 hens, and 4 calling birds. Pretty reasonable, right? It starts to get a little crazy.

Five Golden Rings


This is what a pile of forty "golden" rings looks like. They were surprisingly difficult to make, and my hands were yellow at the end of the process.

Six Geese a-laying

Hey geese! The casual observer might mistake these guys for the turtledoves. The trained eye will spot the nest underneath the geese, a clear indicator that they are a-laying their eggs.

No, I did not make tiny clay eggs.

Yes, I thought about it.

Seven Swans a-swimming

Okay, now hold on. I know what you're thinking - "Jeff, you idiot. Why are those 'swans' red? Swans aren't red."

True. Most swans I've ever met have been white, or grayish at worst. Nope. I ran out of white clay with 21 swans to form. Now, I didn't actually form the gifts exactly in order - I started with the rings, then the drummers, the trees, the birds, and finished with the people at the end. However, by the time I had gotten to swans, my brain was pretty much fizzling. I had no time to get back to a store and get white clay, and my attempt at painting the swans was pitiful. Didn't work.

Despite this, the gift was accepted.

Eight Maids a-milking


I could only get one of them to pose, and I apologize for the poor quality of the picture. This was the best of the bunch. The maids were probably the second-hardest to create after the lords a-leaping. I eventually decided that they would be sort of sitting on stools, with a silver-ish milk pail on their lap.

Up tomorrow: the thrilling finale!