Let's Craft Something!

I know you have to be so tired of hearing about this stupid starfish headpiece by now!  There is good news, though:  I'm practically finished with him!

In case you've been living under a rock since 1995, this is Staryu.  He's one of the original 151 Pokemon, so I guess to be fair, I should say "unless you've been living under a rock since 1995 OR you hopped on the Pokemon bandwagon after the first few generations."  Staryu's gem doesn't seem as bright in this picture, but you can see the weird little gem holder thong that he does have.  (I've checked other angles -- it's only around one leg.)  I also changed the coloration to look a little more realistic, such as trying to make him look more porous like an actual starfish.


I finally hot glued his gem and holder to his body, which is a huge relief for me.  I was afraid of losing parts of him.  I also cut out a star from some stiff felt and hot glued it as a backing.  All I lack is gluing on the clips to keep him in my hair.


Even though I have yet to wear him, I love him.  I've put a lot of time and effort into him and tried to correct as many imperfections as I could, though some were not avoidable.  At least they are hardly noticeable from personal-space-distance.


After my interview yesterday, I thought long and hard about going to get a cupcake as a reward.  I managed to calm myself and decided to go to Thrift Mart instead.  Instead of gaining calories, I lost them walking around.  Take that, fat.

I also gained a pair of pants, shirt, large skirt that I will need to take in, and a very large bed sheet that I can use for sewing my skirt.  I was looking for a yellowish color and this color is nearly what I was looking for.  For $2, I think I can spend some time aging it to make it a little less bright.  (I tried to take a picture, but the brightness just was not coming through.)

Just a heads-up for what's coming next.

How much longer can I drag this stupid little starfish out, right?  Well, I'm almost done with him.  He's practically down to the tiny little details now that don't even have to be included.  I know I haven't done much with him since we last saw each other, but I've really been brainstorming my last minute costume ideas.  That's right, our convention is in a little over a month and I have no new costumes.  Poops.  That means I really have to get to work in this next month!


This is how we last saw this little guy, right?  Oh wow, that makes me feel like I've done so little...  I made the gem casing, which took longer than expected because I had to let it air-dry, along with those two little leg spoke things.  Then, to my mortification, I could not get the gem out.  After a little gentle prodding with a toothpick, it wiggled out.

I painted the gem casing and those little leg spoke things on it as close to a golden color as I could get.  It looks a little more buttery than golden, but I feel like the color works a little better with a steampunk flare to it.  The casing and the little spoke things dried together, which is a relief for me, but I'm still going to hot glue them both down...just to be sure.

I pulled the gem off.  Turns out my super glue wasn't really that super.  I decided I'll hot glue it when I reattach it.  I liked the color of it, but knowing it was supposed to be a gem and that it was pretty matte, I had a brilliant idea.  I grabbed a some nail polish a shade deeper and put a few coats on it.  Now it's pretty and super shiny.  I feel like it looks a lot more like a gem now.  I thought about adding flecks of glitter to it, but I thought that would be a little much.

Thinking back, I probably could have used one of those little glass half-marble things.  I got some for mom a few years back to help decorate her bathroom, so I even have it in that dark red color.  Oh well, it would have probably shown the colors underneath anyway.

Just to be safe, I covered the starfish body with a matte finishing coat, which I had stolen from Zach.  I could have probably skipped this step, but I'm pretty paranoid about him getting messed up. After I got the gem casing the color I wanted and let it dry, I covered it with the matte finishing, too.

Now, it's down to the hot gluing and putting this bad boy together!  Since I made it all in different steps and let things dry in between, I was able to build each piece around one another.  This way, all of my pieces fit together perfectly.



All I have left are some minor details.  I had considered putting a little bit of felt on the back on it to make it a little nicer.  I also thought that might make the hair clip stay on it better.  I had also played around with attaching pearls to it, but I haven't quite decided.  Thoughts, opinions, or constructive criticism?

Have you figured it out yet?  Since he's done, leave your ideas on who/what it is in the comments and I'll reveal it on Monday.

Hey, look at that.  I'm adding a little more to the headpiece.  I do mean a little.  It's a tedious process working with clay.  It may not be to you, but to me it is.  I'm always a little more cautious than I probably have to be, but I really don't want him to break.



I sprayed some nonstick cooking spray on him to make sure my little clay ball didn't stick to him.  I shaped a half circle in the little indention, scooped it out, and baked him.

Once he was baked, I put a coat of red on it.  (All around, bottom and everything.  I didn't want to risk it showing.)

I took some super glue and glued him in place.  Ta-da!  A starfish with a gem-like-thing.  I debated on adding glitter to make it a little more shiny, but I think that I'll go over it with a clear coat of nail polish in the end for that shiny effect.

After that came the really tedious part.  I say really tedious because I don't know how to do this part without letting the bits air-dry.  I have to do a circle around the gem, and two little legs that go between the legs of the starfish.  I tried doing this all in one piece, but I just couldn't see it happening.

I did the two little legs of the gem holder by themselves, but with the rest of it already baked, I was afraid to put it in the oven.  I would cry so hard if it shattered right now.  So my little legs are currently air-drying.  Once they're dry, I'll add the circular part of the gem holder.

Is it starting to come together yet?  And clues on what it is?  I hope so.  I can really see it now that I have the gem in place!  (There again, I know what the end result is, so I guess that's kind of cheating.)

Alright, so this is something else I'm working on starting for myself: meal planning.  Zach and I have been saying we were going to lose weight for far too long and I really want to force myself to get motivated and do it.  So, I'm trying to find a way to make a weekly meal plan for myself, but it's proving to be pretty hard to do.

Do you guys do this?  Have any tips for me?

In throwing around ideas for one of my steampunk costumes, I decided to make my own headpiece.  The main focus of the headpiece is going to be a starfish. I toyed around with several ways to make this, including buying a real starfish, but ultimately decided to try it with clay first.  I wanted something lightweight because it would be on my head, but durable because I am accident prone.


I ran across a blog post by Puffy Little Things where she shares her recipe for homemade cold