This spring the historic farmhouse, where I volunteer, needed a faux Virginia ham to complete their dining room meal display.

The ham needed to very light weight so it wouldn’t harm the vintage dishes.

The above photograph shows the completed faux ham.  This was crafted out of recycled Styrofoam, brown and white packing paper, acrylic paints, a wooden dowel and three large metal washers.

Directions on How to Make a Faux Ham

The first step is to carve a large piece of Styrofoam into the shape of a ham.  I recycled the Styrofoam which my new sink came packed in.

You might want to carve the Styrofoam outside since bits of it tend to fly all over the place.  Use a sharp knife for carving.

Also check to see if the faux ham will fix on the designated platter.  After putting in a lot hours to make the faux ham, you don’t want your ham to be too big or too small for the dish.

To simulate a 1930’s Virginia ham, I needed a “leg” bone sticking out the back of the ham.  To make the ham bone, I used an old recycled dowel which I placed slightly off center in the ham.

The excess amount of the wooden dowel was cut off using a hand saw.

Carved Faux Ham with Post Inserted Front View of Faux Ham with Post Inserted Recycled Packing Paper Glued on Faux Ham

I then glued and wrapped a piece of recycled packing paper around the ham and the wooden dowel.

Regular white household glue was used to hold the paper in place.

The front of the ham was smoothed out as much as possible.

After that first layer was dry, I added a layer of brown paper to the outside of the ham but not the face of the ham.

The brown paper layer was also securely glued on with white household glue.

At this point, I noticed that the ham would not flatly sit on a dish because the wooden dowel “leg bone” in the back  was too heavy.

To remedy this situation, I purchased three large metal washer rings and glued them to the bottom front of the ham which then pulled the front down to meet the dish.  This corrected the issue.

I covered the metal washers with another piece of brown paper.  I did not want the metal washers exposed to possibly scratch the vintage serving platter.

This photograph shows the faux ham ready for painting with acrylic paints.

Faux Ham Wrapped in Brown Paper Faux Ham and Real Ham Slice

This photograph compares a real slice of ham to the faux Virginia ham.

I neated up the wood dowel end of the ham and glued everything together.

It was then time to paint the ham.  To get the correct paint color, an actual ham slice was purchased and held nearby for comparison.

Don’t forget to paint the leg bone dowel at the back of the faux ham.

I mixed and matched acrylic paints to get the correct colors.

The last step is to cut out a small piece of circular white paper and glue it over the front end of the stick to make it look a ham bone.

One difference when comparing today’s hams with those of the past, is that the faux ham has a much larger layer of fat encircling the outside.  Today one sees leaner hams in the grocery stores.

And so , with a dash of farmhouse “magic” the recycled Styrofoam plus a few other items became the Virginia Ham Centerpiece for the spring dinner.

Faux Virginia Ham