Superhero Undies

I don't know what it is about comics and cartoons, but they make me want superhero-themed undies. Last year, after reading Batman comics, and having just done laundry, I transformed a pair of plain black undies into these kick-ass ones:



They ended up being my favourite pair that I wore on bad days to make me feel better. (Yes, that is my secret - Batman underwear.) So a little while back, I was inspired to make more while marathoning Batman Beyond, since I had just bought some plain underwear. (Sidenote: how amazing is that show?)



And so, here are Batman Beyond-style and Nightwing undies!



The Nightwing ones again (he is my favouritest).

All of these were made using stencils that I made out of cardboard and acrylic paints. Out of all of them, the best one is the Nightwing one, because the fabric is a lighter color, so I didn't have to use too many layers of paint. The stencil came off easier (whereas with the other two, bits of cardboard stuck to the edges and had to be peeled off with tweezers) and it looks more matte and less 'plastic-y'. The acrylic holds up pretty well in the wash too - like I said, I made the first ones over a year ago, and the stencil is still holding up without peeling off or washing off. The acrylic cracks and 'breaks' a bit, which gives it a distressed, grungy look that I absolutely love.

Are you inspired to make your own superhero panties?

Pumpkin Virtuoso

I made this little guy for my friend's birthday that was a couple weeks ago (so, yeah, if you were wondering why I was not posting, this is what I was working on). He uses this picture A LOT as his avatar:



so I thought I'd go about recreating it in reality. (I'm sorry that I have no credit for this icon, if you've made it or know who has, please let me know!) The first thing I got excited about knitting the little scarf (which is ironic because it ended up being the thing I hated making the most), and I contemplated various ways of making the body and violin. I was all prepared to make it all out of clay, but then it hit me. Paper mache!



I shaped the body and head out of newspaper and painter's tape. I used thick string for the 'veins' on the pumpkin, and pipe cleaners for the fingers. I basically folded two pieces of pipe cleaner in half, and inserted the folded part in a tube of newspaper for arms. (Apologies for the messy desk, but paper mache is a really messy craft :P)



The violin is two pieces of violin-shaped cardboard filled with newspaper and bound with painter's tape, and the bow is just another pipe cleaner. This entire process took about three hours while I was rewatching Sound of Music with a friend.



I used PVA glue mixed with water and paper towels, here is the first layer applied. I think I did... four layers? Though the base, for example, only has two layers of glue and paper towels, and the pumpkin head has a couple more. With the breaks needed for the glue to dry, this process took around three days.



I first painted the whole thing with light grey acrylic paint. Then I switched to gouache (mostly because I had way more colors and wouldn't need to do as much mixing, but I ended up really thankful I did because I would be way less comfortable shading with acrylics). I've never really shaded a 3D object before, but I am quite pleased with the results, especially on the pumpkin. Finally, I glazed the whole thing.





Sewing the tiny coat was another challenge, because sleeves confuse the hell out of me. It worked out alright after a lot of trial and error. I used felt and handsaw it.



I used fishing line for the strings, and cut little notches into the base of the violin so I could thread the line through the loop at the neck of the violin and tuck it into the notches so it was nice and secure.



Then I knitted a tiny scarf, and that was basically it. Except not, because aaaaaaaah, I hate tiny scarves. Hate hate hate. It was so tedious, and I ended up being frustrated and having loose ends poking all over the place because there were so many of them and I just had no patience. So the scarf is a little bit crap, but shhh, don't look too closely at it.







I think my favourite part might be the hands, oddly. I just used some really, really watered down gouache a shade darker than the base color I used, and it settled into the grooves and made this quite awesome shading.



From the side and the back.

Overall, I think this entire thing took about... thirty hours of work, maybe, not counting waiting time. But it was worth it, and it was one of the most fun projects I've worked on in a while!

Prettified keyboard!

I haven't updated in ages. I've been incredibly busy with school, and most of my crafting has been for swaps over at Craftster, so I can't reveal anything yet, since my partners haven't received :) I am also working on a rather big project for a friend's birthday.

In the meantime, here's a quick little "craft" I did yesterday!



I saw this amazing post by Kira and I was in love. How adorable is that keyboard! So I checked out Le Box Boutique on Etsy (they are really great, they have a huge variety of gorgeous tapes, and they're really affordable), and an amazing friend of mine bought me a few rolls of tape from them.



Mine is a little more subdued, as you can see. I think I'll leave it as it is and not put tape on the rest of the keys, because I quite like the simple, clean look of it now. I might decorate the caps lock and enter keys, though.