How To Make A Diaper Snail
A diaper snail makes a cute homemade baby gift. Why not try it out for your next baby shower party? It is really easy to make.
One or even several of these cute diaper snails with just some ribbon and two spoons also make a great baby shower decoration.
Make it more lavish by adding a cute baby hat and some cuddly toy or a pacifier chain or roll a onesie into the snail's house. That will make a unique homemade gift for that little new arrival!
Follow the below instructions, read my tips and have a look at my ideas to come up with this beautiful and easy baby craft.
What You Need To Make A Diaper Snail
- 25-30 diapers size 2 or 3 (the number really depends on how thick the diapers you use are...)
- a cute baby cap or baby sun hat (alternatively 2 plastic baby feeding spoons)
- extra, if you like but not mandatory: an item to fix on top of the diaper snail such as a rattle, cuddly toy, baby shoes, 1 or 2 buggy baby books, a pacifier chain, a chain with baby's name, etc.
- extra, if you like but not mandatory: a piece of baby clothing, a washcloth, etc. to roll into the core of the snail's shell
- some (curly) thin ribbon and some broad ribbon matching your accessories
- if you like a pair of wobbly eyes and a red felt pen, alternatively a piece of pipe cleaner for the mouth or just a felt pen to draw the complete face
- a cake pan, pot or similar container, the best is an adjustable cake setting ring with a diameter of around 8 inches. If you do not have a setting ring, it's not worth to buy one for just making one snail but this 'tool' is great for decorating a real cake, too!
SIDENOTE:
These diaper snail instructions are strictly for private use only. Please make as many as you want and give them as a gift for your next baby shower.
I created this special method of making diaper snails. It is forbidden use my instructions for diaper snails for sale!
Diaper Snail Instructions
Take your cake setting ring (or pan, etc.) and start to stack the diapers in there. Make sure they all face the same way and overlap. You'll need around 20-25 diapers for the snail's shell.
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Continue stacking the diapers until your ring is nearly full as shown here.
Take a piece of thin ribbon (approx. 25 inches long). A white ribbon is best - you can see green one here. Roll a diaper around the ribbon so the ends stick out at the side. Then roll a second and third diaper around. Stick the roll inside the hole. If you think you need to add another diaper because the hole is still too big, do so. The diaper roll will adjust itself to the hole so it won't fall out. If you have a onesie or any other small clothing item, roll the onesie and then stick the onesie into the middle. You can also roll the onesie and a diaper (or even several ones if necessary) together - any way, don't forget to include the piece of ribbon, though!
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Tie a thin ribbon around the diapers and then remove the cake ring. Make sure your ribbon is in the middle. Then take your broad ribbon and place it over the thin ribbon. Simply tie a knot with the ribbon. And don't worry, the spot where your knot is will be on the bottom of your snail shell, so it does not really matter what it looks like.
So that's the snail house, let's move to the head now:
For the head again take approx. 25 of thin ribbon and roll a diaper around. Then open another diaper and roll it around. Do the same with about 4 more diapers, meaning open them up and roll them around the others. Depending on how big your hat is, use either 5, 6 or even 7 diapers for the head. You'll really need to try out when the hat fits best. Fix the last diaper with scotch tape. This spot will be hidden under the hat, so if necessary use the tape generously.
Next thing is to place the baby hat on your rolled diapers. You will need to play around a little bit to see how it best fits. Make sure the scotch tape is hidden underneath your hat. If the hat has straps you can tie them beneath the head or als at the back of the head. That's also a thing to try out and see how it best works for you.
Take your wobbly eyes and a glue stick and fix the eyes. Use the red felt pen to draw your mouth or fix the piece of pipe-cleaner with a glue stick. The longer the mouth, the bigger and friendlier will be the snail's smile!
Now take the ribbon sticking out of the diaper head and tie it on both sides with the ribbon sticking out the snail shell. Make sure, you tie them not too tight but also not too loose. Curl the ends of your ribbons to make it look more whimsical.
 see the ribbon tied between the head and the house |
 pipe cleaner mouth |
If you want to fix something on top of your pampers snail, you need to play around and try a bit, too, depending on what you have.
A pacifier chain usually is very easy to attach since it has a clip you can just clip onto the ribbon. I also often tie a thin ribbon around the broad ribbon and then clip or tie things there. This is also something you have to play with. Tiny cloth pegs can also be used to attach things on top, it just depends on what you want to fix. If you make a girl snail, girly hairpins are cute to fix your item(s), too.
Check out these two photos:
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Tip:
Usually hats with little ears or feelers look very cute on the snail. If your hat does not have any feelers, you can also add two little clothes pegs, giving your diapersnail a more whimsical look.
 hat with feelers |
 pegs as feelers |
Drawn face:
I tried a new face here ;-)
Alternative with baby spoon feelers
This is an alternative, if you do not want to use a baby hat for your pampers snail. Here I included a baby set consisting of a onesie, leggings and matching bib. I have rolled the onesie into the snail's body and draped the pants together with the bib on top of the snail. It is important that you tightly knot the white ribbon behind the snail's head so you can stick the spoons down there. If the spoons are still too loose, additionally use some sticky tape to fix them behind the head. Also remember to include a ribbon into the inner diaper of the snail's shell and then tie the head on both sides to the snail's body. I used a fixing pin to add a little bow to the snails head, to make it look a bit more girly ;-)
The plain diaper snail below makes a really cute and easy baby shower decoration. It's made of diapers, 2 baby spoons and some ribbon only. More baby shower decoration ideas here.
Large Snail Diaper Cake
If you want to make a big snail cake, place your snail on a diaper cake base: 1-tier diaper cake tutorial here. Then take two feeding spoons and fix your snail's house on either side by sticking the spoon handles into the diaper base. The top will stick out and will support the snail's house. Place a 3rd spoon between the gap of the head and the house. Decorate your cake as you please. For example with baby's name and ribbons and - if you like - replace one or two base diapers with baby care products.
Diaper Snails Photo Gallery
Here are some more photos of pampers snail cakes. Over the time I have made and sold a variety of them, using different techniques, different hats and different toys and baby items to fix on top. No two snails are the same, they are all unique!
Large diaper snail cakes: The last two snails are diaper snails with a twist, a diaper cake base and a snail on top (instructions see above). So easy, and so cute both for girls and boys!
Visit my Pinterest page for more diaper snail photos.
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