Clay Monkey Clock

Transforming a plain clock board.

I recently started using some air dry clay, especially for coating larger surfaces since oven baked clay can be really really really expensive. Besides, larger items can't fit into my little oven anyways.

I started exploring and learning more on these artsy fartsy skills and have journeyed into making a monkey cartoon clock. I'm quite happy with the results. In which you'll see later on.

 I coated the middle part of the clock board with 2 coloured clay. Beige and beige with a hint of brown mixed into it. Then, I sorta scrapped it for the wooden effect. Blending them with my fingers occasionally.

 Then I started making twines and placing them on top of the board. I didn't stick it there just yet though, I left it aside to dry while I continue on other parts of the clock.

 The next thing I did was to coat the bottom base with green clay. Making it look like grass grew all over.
There was a tiny patch of brown on the bottom left for a more natural look.

 After that, I attached the twines and made some hearts to go along.

 When that was done, the monkeys came swinging by. I actually made them much earlier on as they needed to be left to dry before sticking em down the the clock base.

 More details like their eyes were added, then fresh green leaves on the twines and everywhere else.

 I quite like how they turned out. The pattern and shape of the leaves, and the way the little vines curl up nicely.

 My cheeky little monkeys. The one of the left is the biggest. It's eyes seems to be a little too scary though. Like they're popping out and may fall off anytime. I like the monkey holding the leaf as an 'umbrella' What about you?

We also have another little guy right down here :

 

 He's the tiniest of all 3 monkeys and even has got a banana for himself!

My lovely monkey clock. I really like how it turned out to be. Happy!

 

 It was a lot of effort and many hours were spent making this. About a 3 days combination of 22hours in total. Satisfied with the results.

Tutorial : Needle Felted Guinea Pig

My very first try on needle felting.
It seems all too easy. Simply poking a needle onto the felt wool and forming a shape you want.

BUT, I was wrong. On my very first day of bringing felt wool home, I was really excited. Immediately, I  used my regular needle and came to realize that it doesn't work. I was curious to what I was doing wrong, since I am just following what people do online. And yet they've made dogs, birds, flowers and everything else the brain could ever imagine.

Then, on the back of the felt wool packaging comes a very tiny phrase saying "needle comes separately". That's when I realize there's a special needle for this sorta craft. I went back, purchased it, and here's what I did :

Trust me or not, but that fat ball of wool behind was needle felted into this tiny ball right in front.
I got to admit though, many others would make it much tighter, but I was a little tired poking throughout and not knowing where is done and where is not. Plus, I've poked my own finger several times doing this.

It's pretty cool to see how such a tiny ball was actually made from that bundle of fluff.

When the body shape is done (yes, that round thing previously), prepare to fix up the leg. This is slightly trickier. I did the legs before actually attaching it to the body. Keep needle felting till the wool becomes tight and thick.

Leave small bits of loose felt wool and poke the entire thing through the body of the hamster/guinea pig. It should be able to stay, if not so, just keep poking more till it does.

What you would wanna do next, is to give your hamster/guinea pig more colours. Take other coloured felts, tear out tiny pieces and poke into place.

This is my guinea pig so far. I've poked two little round balls to form the ears.

I tried to make the face chubbier by bending the needle, placing it in the middle of the mouth area and poking it to keep it in place.

I tried adding the eyes by using black marker, but it doesn't look nice. So i trimmed them off. Black felt wool wasn't available them so I didn't get any. Anyways, after all was done, I added a hook for my little guinea pig. I plan to make it into a little keychain. Hopefully, it doesn't fall off. What I did was, I took an eyepin and bent the bottom a little into a rounder hook. I tried to part open the guinea pig's neck side to push the pin in and added more felt wool on top. I tried my best to needle felt through the hole inside the neck and definitely around it as well. Make sure it's pretty steady and you can lift up the guinea pig/hamster with the eyepin's head itself.

 Added the keyring and tried lifting it up again. Pretty good.

Well, that is pretty much it. The guinea pig wags its little tail goodbye.
Thanks for dropping by!

Tutorial : Doodled Goal List

Hot dogs' anyone?

Hello all living breathing thing, I've recently got inspired by Pinterest to make a really awesome goal list! Best yet, you can doodle it anyhow you like and add any goals you want and change it. Let's begin!

What you need :
1. Clipboard
2. Masking Tape
(I used cellophane tape, but masking tape would work much better)
3. Eraser

4. White Spray Paint
5. Permanent Markers
6. Sticky Notes
7. Newspaper/Recycled Paper

 First of all, get your chipboard and use masking tape to cover the clip on the very top.
Make sure you cover throughout. What I did was I covered the base, then wrapped the entire top with the tape as well. Make sure there are no holes around. If you need help, find a ruler to assist you and press down all the holes.

 Place it on newspaper/recycled paper outside. (Preferably AWAY from the grass. Those bugs are 'blind' and keeps flying into the wet spray paint if you do it on/near the grass)

You can do so however if you want bugs on your clipboard goal list (eww).

 I used a white Anchor Spray Paint. You can get yours from your local hardware store. Feel free to go crazy with your own favourite colours.

 Spray furthur to cover more area, but go a couple of layers to cover entirely.
If you are too near, the paint would appear too damp.

 As you can see, the tape protected the metal clip from changing to white.

 Bend down and spray along the sides as well. (Be sure there are tape covering where it's needed)
If you skipped this step, there's bound to be a little line on the bottom edge of the original colour. Leave it to dry.

 When everything is dry, peel off the tape. Cellophane tape leaves more sticky residue while masking tape doesn't. I lack masking tape at home and was pretty lazy to go out and get 'em.
If that's the case and sticky residues stayed on the metal, put your eraser into good use!
Keep going back and forth erasing all the residues. It might take a while, but it works.

 Next, you would want to visualize how your board would look like in your mind.
I had four big boxes for goals and the very top tells me when it needs to be done by. I simply take a sticky note in the size that I want and draw around it. You need not have it entirely square, you can do squiggles, circles, basically anything! Let your creative juices flow!

 This is what I came up with.

 Used my black sharpie permanent marker for writing and drawing everything.
I also bought a CD permanent marker for drawing thinner details.
"Goal List for : _____"

 I drew with the CD marker and realize it's too light. I then drew over with the sharpie marker.

 Keep doodling anyhow you want.
I'm making this as a gift for a friend - Ethan as he will be leaving to further his studies real soon, and included his name into the doodle. It gives a more personalized feel to the goal list.

 This is how the goal list looks so far. I've added in the sticky notes with some short messages and drawings.

 The full picture of the 'Goal List'. I quite enjoy it's simplicity of black, white and a touch of orange. What about you?

Here's a closer look at the sticky note messages and drawings.
1. Learn to cook
2. Shopping
3. Hunt down your friends (basically hanging out with them, not literally hunting)
4. Play futsal

and that is all! I plan to make my very own one as wel. Just got a little lazy to do it at the moment.