Skeleton earrings DIY

So these came about when I was after some skeleton earrings but couldn't find any.  I wanted ones where the legs and arms moved independently, I didn't want one solid thing just hanging there, like a stiff ( yes.. yes!) it had to have movement and look a little animated...I guess these would come in handy for Halloween as well...if you must...

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These are the 26 pieces you will need, 22 if you just stick the feet onto the lower legs like I did immediatley after this picture was taken. (I used black sculpey because I didn't have white, spoiler alert: I painted it white!..in hindsight black looks a bit neater but Im a traditionalist not a goth)

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Shape all the bits to resemble bones, pelvises, ribcages and skulls... make the rib and skull markings on both sides because the earrings will turn and sway so both sides will be visible.

Important: don't forget to make the holes BEFORE you bake it

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(looks a bit like Ötzi the Iceman here)

Attach the ball chain firmly into the skull, making sure the clay envelops the chain so it won't fall out after it's baked. 1, Make a groove in the ribcage put the chain in. 2. Put a little clay over it. 3.Do the same with the pelvis. 4. Cover the chain and cut off remaining bits with pliers. 5. Add the earring hook thingy to the skull (also important).

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Make holes in your bones, or the clay ones...totally your call

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I skewered my bones just to ensure the holes didn't close up with man-handling and such.

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grill 'em!

(remembering that these bones are quite thin and will only require like 10-15 minutes in the oven)

Then paint them if you were lazy like me and didnt use white sculpey.

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Seal with mod-podge, sealer or pva glue, if they're painted, if not painted, no need really, unless you like them shiny.

Wait till they're completely dry.

Link up all the limbs with the 'o' rings. Not too tight so they still dangly.

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ta daa!

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trick or treeeeeaat!

or chillin' at the club...whatever tickles your fancy

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Coasting

I made these coasters as an experiment...using stuff from around the house, the first is made out of those decorative glass bead thingies that you use under candles or is vases, they're flat on one side. I'm not sure what they're called but they look like this:

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so the coaster experiment ended up like this:

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I stuck the beads onto a square piece of 5mm thick balsa wood (with PVA glue), I didnt have any real grout lying around so I just used some 'modelling paste' (art supply item, sometimes called 'modelling compound' or 'texture paste') which has the consistency of toothpaste, and it worked ok, painted it afterwards with a metallic green paint, use a damp sponge to wipe off any paste from the glass because when it dries it will take hours to scrape off (I would know). It looks messy up close but it looks good from about 1 metre away and it holds cups and mugs and glasses quite well, despite it not being totally flat.

I made another one from some mirror mosaic tiles:

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same process as above coaster...also not so neat but it was an experiment afterall.

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this one functions well also...just like a piece of cardboard would, these are just prettier (from 1 metre away)

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the glass beads reflect the light nicely at night and look all sparkly...

What else could one use these glass beads for? Anyone?

...maybe it's gratuitous...

Spacelash prints now available on Etsy

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Tinned Greens

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so I made these earrings last night using only a small aluminium can...you'll need some earring bits and some little 'o' rings to join them together.

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so the first step is to cut the ends off the can using a wee utility knife. then you'll have a flat sheet of tin.

cut out some squares or rectangles about an inch or so.

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use an old pair of scissors to cut the leaves out, dont use the good scissors they'll be ruined in no time. Round off the ends of the leaves, dont leave them too sharp because tin can hurt if it gets wedged in your palm...just sayin'...

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 Grab a pair of fine nosed pliers, clamp the leaf just off centre and bend it against your finger to get the middle vein.

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then repeat this process for the adjacent veins.

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make a whole bunch of different sized ones.

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punch a teeny hole in the top of each leaf, don't do this on a hard surface, fold up an old tea-towel a few times, use a small hammer to hit the nail to make the hole.

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grab a bunch of little "O" rings from the jewellry section or the craft supply place, make sure they're the type that have an opening so you can open and close them

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put the 'o' ring through the leaf hole and clamp it closed. you can add a few o rings to make a short chain so that some of the leaves hang lower than others. Repeat this till you have enough or till it looks right.

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you could make a necklace to match if you have the patience, or windchimes.. Or you could sew them on to a hand-bag overlapping like fish-scales, but that could be dangerous, could end up with many cuts trying to get your visa out.

embellished II

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(using some sort of netting ribbon, the one I used is called 'Knitlon' [nylon knitting ribbon] make sure whatever you use is not too stiff) make some random loops along the top, pin them down, then sew.

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after sewing them on flip the top layer over.

repeat loops above the first layer.

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I cut a few loops to leave some hangy bits.

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Embellished

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(check out my awesome coffee mug!)

I gots me a couple of plain old tube singlets from the underwear section. they're usually way too long so I cut off a few inches off the bottom and use that to make the ruffles. I don't have an overlocker, so I just strech the strips of fabric as I go and use a tightly spaced zig zag stitch down one side. This creates those wavy looking bits.

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then I just sew each ruffle on to the top! probably best to use zig zag for sewing the ruffles to the top too as the singlet needs to stretch over the chest, so the stitch will need to stretch as well.

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so I added a little black bow-tie cos I thought it needed something extra, then I added that faux laced look by just cutting little rectangles from a black ribbon (you'll need to burn the ends with a lighter or fire of some sort so it doesn't fray) 

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ta daaa!

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I'm a Lady! I Do Not Have Tenticlée!

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I made a birthday card for my parents' joint birthdays. 

Its a bit pretty at the front...

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then you lift up her skirt and... omg.. wtf..?!

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and the inside...ta daaa...(thats meant to be octopus ink on the left there because she got a bit miffed when you lifted up her skirt btw)

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big letter DIY

draw a big letter on a piece of paper, cut it out, trace it onto a piece of stiff cardboard, flip over the paper trace a mirror image on to another piece or stiff cardboard. cut out both.

find some bendable cardboard for the middle section.

tape it in between the stiffer cardboard cutouts, if you are doing curves or 'O's or 'S's the cardboard will need to bend around the curves.

Tear up small strips of newspaper and mix up some paste. You can use regular store-bought paste for the papier mache part or just mix some flour, water and salt (I use the latter with a bit of PVA glue mixed in). Dip a small newspaper strip in the paste and apply.

cover the entire cardboard contraption with at least two layers of papier mache, letting each coat dry thoroughly before applying the next one. for a smoother effect you can do the final layer with tissue paper

let it dry completely.

optional coat of texture paste or modelling compound (helps smooth things out)

then give it a light sanding with fine sand paper.

paint it!

try to use matte paint as anything too glossy will only accentuate all the lumps that you can't really avoid with paper mache.

VOILA!

hang it up or put it on a shelf!

This is a big "M" I made in 2004, no round bits, much easier. Still going strong.

bound for glory

regular copy-paper, folded, sewn and bound

nifty endpapers

hand-bound notebook using cardboard, glue, thread, white laser paper, wadding and felt for the cover

Garry

as seen on etsy

cage + paper + 30 minutes

I hacked a candle-holder cage into a bedside lamp using an ikea light-fitting from a broken lamp.

first I cut a hole big enough to fit the light fitting in the bottom of the cage, removing the bit that holds the candle.

then I put in the light fitting, securing it to the base with wire. Then lined the inside with thick printed paper (scrapbooking stuff works good because its sturdy and comes in nice colours/prints). then plug it in and... voila!

felty goodness

its a bit wonky, but its also my first ever case made of felt, in fact its my first ever item using felt.

Kicking a can down the street....

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I've moved my art blog to zanurism.blogspot.com and this blog will be a veritable treasure trove of crafty goodness, but not crappy cottage crafts so if you like doilies and lavender pot-pourri draw-string bags you can leave in a huff right now. I'll leave the art stuff on here for a little while then it will be replaced with other stuff, apologies for any virtual inconveniences...

stuff with instructions and junk coming soon ...

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boxy-but-good version 2.0

here's another pimped up storage box from ikea, this one was a request.

The requestee wanted a light-coloured stain to match the existing house furniture.

boxy but good

box project. I took a storage box from Ikea and stained and painted it with an initial and some embellishments on it. this is the "Before" picture.

(albeit I did have to build it, with a little hair-pulling and some hammer-throwing)

this is the "After"

I was thinking about painting the whole thing a solid colour or cover it in some nice patterned paper, but in the end I wanted to keep the nice wood-grain, because otherwise I could have just bought a plastic or MDF box.

The whole thing was stained with water-based floor stain, "W" painted with acrylic gold paint, the leafy scrolls with oil paints, then the whole thing varnished with water based glue/varnishy stuff.

underwater love

SOLD

oils on wood

more art at this blog

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Cradle Mountain

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Here are some pictures from Cradle Mountain and surrounding areas.

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Most of the forests surrounding the area of Cradle Mountain are covered in this mossy stuff

waterfalls are abundant in the many forests surrounding the gigantic national park and there are many lakes on top of mountains. Which probably explains the many waterfalls...

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Dove Lake

Pants, Magic Pants!

I watched a classic movie the other day, a movie I had not seen since I was a child, a movie I had seen at least 20 times thanks to my friend Selma who had it playing on her VCR non-stop, The movie is Labyrinth, about a goblin king and a girl and a labyrinth etc etc, the story is not very important and upon seeing it recently, I began to notice something I had not noticed previously as an innocent, my-little-pony-loving, innocent, pre-pubescent, innocent girl-child... David Bowie's pants. That's right, It would seem his magic goblin tights have a lead role in this film, not only that, the camera seems inexplicably drawn to focus the entire scene shot around his crotch. If you notice in the above picture even the lifeless puppets seem to be staring at it.

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No, this isn't a zombie-vampire-ghost-mullet movie, even though this picture would lead you to believe otherwise

There's a song in this movie (why Yes! you'll be glad to hear it is a musical, hoorah!) the song is 'Dance, Magic Dance', which is a ridiculous concept but if you substitute the words 'dance' for 'pants' the song makes a lot more sense.

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But anyway the movie has some OTHER good scenes which don't involve the magic goblin tights, like the bog of eternal stench (...smell baaad...) and some that do, like the creepy staircase scene, but the Henson puppets are pretty cool.