Mannequins have always been a popular canvas for arts and crafts projects. (Must be something about the fascination with the human body.)

But in 2020 these was a huge surge in mannequin related art projects as people had more time on their hands and/or were using making things by hand as a stress release.

Since we sell used mannequins (and new ones too) we couldn’t be more delighted at the many ways people are upcycling mannequins.

1 Dress Form Holiday Trees

We started offering zoom classes last year to show people how to make these. This is our favorite mannequin art project because it is eco-friendly holiday deco.

After the holidays are over you can remove the decorations and use the dress form to display clothing or jewelry. Or you are using faux garland, you can leave the garland up and change the decorations according to the season. See more examples on this Pinterest board.

2  WoodUBend

The WoodUbend products are mouldings that have the properties of wood & adhere to any surface or shape. Traditionally these moldings have been applied to furniture, cabinets and ceilings, but they look fabulous attached to a mannequin. More examples on this Pinterest board.

3 Bead Art

There were various groups on Facebook in 2021 showcasing women wearing pearls to show their support of Kamala Harris breaking the glass ceiling and becoming the first woman Vice President. When we posted that image above of a dress form encrusted with pearls that we saw on Pinterest we had lots of requests from people asking us how to make it. The one in the photo is a very painstaking process so we created a tutorial for hack version that is less time consuming but just as beautiful that you can see here.  For more examples of bead art on Pinterest click here.

4 Mannequin Lamp

Mannequin lamps have come A LONG way from leg lamp from A Christmas Story Movie.

We like mannequin lamps because they are functional as well as artistic. The London based artist Jimmy Martin  was one of the first designers we noticed who creating high end mannequin lamps. For more example sof mannequin lamps click here.

5  Mosaic  Mannequin

This image above was made by Sandra Holmes of Waiuku NZ.  I have a soft spot for mosaic mannequins because why I accidentally got into the business of selling mannequins. I always wanted to mosaic a mannequin to put in my garden. And when I saw a mannequin for sale on craigslist, I ended up buying the entire inventory from the seller.

He ran the only mannequin rental business in town and I thought this sounded like a great idea for a side hustle. Fast forward 20 years later and I am now one of the

leading mannequin vendors in the country. Never did get around to doing that mosaic project.

For more examples of mosaic mannequins click here.

Here are three more DIY mannequin projects that didn’t make the top 5 but are worthy of an honorable mention.

Decoupage Mannequins  ( the actress Rita Moreno bought one our custom made decoupage mannequins, read about it here.)

Mannequins as Cupcake Stands

Mannequin Heads as Planters/Vases

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