Well this is it.
This is the mission.
I have 300 of these, and I have to come up with something to do with them.
But they were on sale for 4 for 25 cents, so it was a heck of a deal!
Now, what to do with them... Hmmmm....
Well they could certainly be made into a head of some sort, so let's start with a nice Christmas hat. I cut a piece of red fleece to fit.
I wrapped it around the light bulb to check the size and appearance. Not bad.
I needed to cover that screw on the bottom, so I tied on a scarf.
Then I wrapped a piece of 1/2" wide chenille to trim off the bottom of the hat.Okay, sure, I can start with that. I'm thinking "Santa."
I propped up the bulb and applied a layer of fleshtone paint.
While the paint was drying and between layers, I prepared the items I thought I would use. The red for the hat I already had, plus the chenille stem. I also made a mini sock hat. These are super easy to make and you can check out my tutorial on how to make them. I also cut some white felt strips with pinking shears, planning to use them for hair and/or a beard.
I tried the sock hat on for size.Now, at this point, I actually went off on a tangent and did another version of the light bulb, but to keep it less confusing, I'm going to ignore that reality and continue with this version. You'll have to check back tomorrow to see that version.
Since I was planning on doing a Santa at this point, I wrapped a fat chenille stem around the screw.
That wasn't good enough, because you could still see the screw. So I just added a bit of red fleece and repositioned the chenille.
I knew I would need to put the hair on before I did the hat, so I sized and trimmed it to fit.
Right now, I'm thinking Saturday Night Live and the Coneheads...
I usually try not to glue things in place until I'm pretty sure I'm headed in the right direction. But this was becoming a problem and I didn't seem to have enough fingers. So I used some glue dots and a tiny bit of hot glue. I also penciled a couple of eyes to help envision the final product.
I added the hat, and a little more glue.
Next, the chenille stem. And a little more glue.
I came up with this trick several years ago, if you want to add a string without using a needle. Just place the string before you fold the hat over.
I tied the string, added a pom to the hat, painted a couple of eyes, and added a little blush to the cheeks.
Sort of cute, has potential.But just not doing it for me. I don't like the screw. Too much going on. Too complicated and difficult because it's too small. But there's something there... maybe if I remove the beard...
Oops!And that's why I don't like to use glue on my working models.
So I decided to ignore the hole in the paint and the glue on the cheeks and carry on. Perhaps a caroler would be better. Sort of has a singing mouth already if you squint a bit. A couple different hats, different faces, put them in a group... (I certainly have enough lights!)
Back to that scarf idea. Too small.
So I cut a bigger scarf and fringed the ends.
Much better! (Still trying to ignore the hole in his face...)
Can't ignore it anymore. How about a wooden plug for a nose? And rub the glue off his cheeks. Sure, that works!Suddenly, I'm seeing an elf! I've never done an elf before!
He needed some pointy ears. Unfortunately, I only had pink fleece, but it's close.
I trimmed the hair up a bit -- can't have a hippie elf, afterall.
I added a simple smile and enlarged the pink on his cheeks.
And, of course, the trademark snowflake embelishment on the scarf.
Then, after all this, my son informed my that elves wear green. I tried to tell him that this was the boss elf.He didn't buy it.
I hope you enjoyed the trip! Sometimes, you just have to start down the road before you know where you're going.
Check back Monday for the tangent I mentioned above! And don't forget to check out the endless list of inspirational ideas at my home page childmade.com.
If you liked this version of the tutorial, please leave a comment. These posts are quite a bit more work, but I'm willing to do it if it's "what the people want." And while you're at it, click to follow me too, please. I'm feeling rather lonely...
