Crafty Stuff!
Since I have a massive pile of pony beads (seriously, I have an entire eighteen drawer screw/ part organizer full of them, sorted by colour), I decided to actually do something with them for the first time in a while. I *was* working on a pony bead banner, but somehow it's gone missing. It's here, somewhere, but has as yet eluded my efforts to find it. Stupid thing.
I have, therefore, decided to work on something else. Rewatching Tiger and Bunny gave me an idea: pony bead call bracelets! But, since I have freakishly small wrists, I decided that keychains would probably be better than actual bracelets. It wasn't hard to work out the stitch to use or a pattern, but actually making them took some time. The result:
L to R: Wild Tiger, Blue Rose, Barnaby, Sky High, Origami Cyclone, Rock Bison, Fire Emblem, Dragon Kid
I think they turned out fairly well. I should maybe have made them a little smaller, but I don't think they look too bad. I'm thinking of putting them in the art show at otakon for the lulz. (Because hey, why not? Last year we had styrofoam keyblades in there.) The only one I really had an issue with was Antonio's call band. I didn't have an actual bronze coloured pony bead, so I used that caramell-y brown one and called it close enough.
(Apologies for the messy background; I kinda just plunked them down on a flat surface to take a picture.)
I did also make a couple of bracelets for myself, just as an experiment. They didn't turn out too badly, but I had to make them smaller than the keychains (for the aforementioned small wrists). I went with Kotetsu and then made one for black/dark/false/whatever Tiger, because reasons. (Which pretty much amount to "yay evil robot twin!".) Kotetsu's is, of course, green/white, and Dark Tiger's is, for obvious reasons, red/black.
I'm thinking of making a set of these for the art show, too. I'll need more white pony beads, though-making the keychains and these bracelets used almost all of what I had left. (Oh, and please note: the shade of green you see there is NOT the actual colour of the green beads. IRL, they're a brighter neon, not the shade they appear in the photos.)
In non Otakon-related craftiness, I rescued an actually pretty cool barbie car from a thrift store a few weeks ago. ...Don't look at me like that, I swear, it actually *is* cool. Well, now it is. I found a '57 Barbie Bel Air convertible for $4, and it was missing only a couple of small, easily replaceable parts. Only one problem: It was a godawful shade of turquoise and Barbie pink. It was like a nightmare of a classic car. DX (Okay, so maybe the turquoise by itself wouldn't have been bad, but combined with the Barbie pink? ohgodno.) I will say that it's better than the orange and white version, or the one with the pink and turquoise reversed. (Heh, can you say "Damned by faint praise"?)
This photo isn't mine, but it is of a box from the same kind of car. I assure you, the colour is NOT anywhere close to that flattering IRL. fading accounts for a little of it, but mostly, it was jsut a really bad choice of colours by Mattel.
http://www.kevinmulligan.com/vehicles/57-chevy-nrfb.jpg
Said car was, of course, going to be for the Spikes (and John), since I couldn't find a 1:6 DeSoto anywhere and they needed some kind of cool car to...go nowhere in. I suppose the Angel/uses and Buffys (Buffi?) could also use it, if they could pry the Spikes (and John) out of the thing. (and yes, there was just a collective "Not bloody likely!" in the background.) Since they'd probably have used all those tiny sharp objects on me if I tried to make them ride around in a blue and pink car, I decided that it definitely needed a makeover.
I started out looking for replaceent parts for the missing bits, but couldn't find them. I decided, therefore, to take the option of sculpting them myself. The only important parts were one piece of trim on a tail fin and the steering wheel. The other two bits (seatbelts, which I am counting collectively, and the side mirror) weren't as important. It also needed a coat of paint, and, after much masking and painting and repainting and sealing, I got something pretty cool.
Sweet, yeah? Painting the whole thing required breaking it dowm almost completely, but it was worth it. The chrome parts were already chrome, I just gave them a touch up because some of them were scraped up. The parts that are black were blue, and everything that's red was pink. I added the black foam for cushioning,right over where the 'cushion' stickers were on the seats, and you can't see them, but there are mats on the floorboards in front of all the seats, and a larger piece lining the trunk. the pieces I needed to replace are in place on the car, and though they're far from perfect, I'm happy with them.
By the way, this is the license plate on it:
Yeah. XD Blame the Spikes; I'm not exactly sure which of them decided this was a good idea, but it was one of them. Or John: he's as likely a candidate as the others. (I'm pretty sure it couldn't have been one of the Angels, though I did catch them snickering at it when they thought nobody was around.)
Oh, also? The trunk is filled with beer and cigarettes. (also, a human skull, handcuffs,, manacles, and possibly other random junk. I'm a bit afraid of what they might be keeping in there.) Gotta keep the boys in their booze and fags.
I have, therefore, decided to work on something else. Rewatching Tiger and Bunny gave me an idea: pony bead call bracelets! But, since I have freakishly small wrists, I decided that keychains would probably be better than actual bracelets. It wasn't hard to work out the stitch to use or a pattern, but actually making them took some time. The result:
L to R: Wild Tiger, Blue Rose, Barnaby, Sky High, Origami Cyclone, Rock Bison, Fire Emblem, Dragon Kid
I think they turned out fairly well. I should maybe have made them a little smaller, but I don't think they look too bad. I'm thinking of putting them in the art show at otakon for the lulz. (Because hey, why not? Last year we had styrofoam keyblades in there.) The only one I really had an issue with was Antonio's call band. I didn't have an actual bronze coloured pony bead, so I used that caramell-y brown one and called it close enough.
(Apologies for the messy background; I kinda just plunked them down on a flat surface to take a picture.)
I did also make a couple of bracelets for myself, just as an experiment. They didn't turn out too badly, but I had to make them smaller than the keychains (for the aforementioned small wrists). I went with Kotetsu and then made one for black/dark/false/whatever Tiger, because reasons. (Which pretty much amount to "yay evil robot twin!".) Kotetsu's is, of course, green/white, and Dark Tiger's is, for obvious reasons, red/black.
I'm thinking of making a set of these for the art show, too. I'll need more white pony beads, though-making the keychains and these bracelets used almost all of what I had left. (Oh, and please note: the shade of green you see there is NOT the actual colour of the green beads. IRL, they're a brighter neon, not the shade they appear in the photos.)
In non Otakon-related craftiness, I rescued an actually pretty cool barbie car from a thrift store a few weeks ago. ...Don't look at me like that, I swear, it actually *is* cool. Well, now it is. I found a '57 Barbie Bel Air convertible for $4, and it was missing only a couple of small, easily replaceable parts. Only one problem: It was a godawful shade of turquoise and Barbie pink. It was like a nightmare of a classic car. DX (Okay, so maybe the turquoise by itself wouldn't have been bad, but combined with the Barbie pink? ohgodno.) I will say that it's better than the orange and white version, or the one with the pink and turquoise reversed. (Heh, can you say "Damned by faint praise"?)
This photo isn't mine, but it is of a box from the same kind of car. I assure you, the colour is NOT anywhere close to that flattering IRL. fading accounts for a little of it, but mostly, it was jsut a really bad choice of colours by Mattel.
http://www.kevinmulligan.com/vehicles/57-chevy-nrfb.jpg
Said car was, of course, going to be for the Spikes (and John), since I couldn't find a 1:6 DeSoto anywhere and they needed some kind of cool car to...go nowhere in. I suppose the Angel/uses and Buffys (Buffi?) could also use it, if they could pry the Spikes (and John) out of the thing. (and yes, there was just a collective "Not bloody likely!" in the background.) Since they'd probably have used all those tiny sharp objects on me if I tried to make them ride around in a blue and pink car, I decided that it definitely needed a makeover.
I started out looking for replaceent parts for the missing bits, but couldn't find them. I decided, therefore, to take the option of sculpting them myself. The only important parts were one piece of trim on a tail fin and the steering wheel. The other two bits (seatbelts, which I am counting collectively, and the side mirror) weren't as important. It also needed a coat of paint, and, after much masking and painting and repainting and sealing, I got something pretty cool.
Sweet, yeah? Painting the whole thing required breaking it dowm almost completely, but it was worth it. The chrome parts were already chrome, I just gave them a touch up because some of them were scraped up. The parts that are black were blue, and everything that's red was pink. I added the black foam for cushioning,right over where the 'cushion' stickers were on the seats, and you can't see them, but there are mats on the floorboards in front of all the seats, and a larger piece lining the trunk. the pieces I needed to replace are in place on the car, and though they're far from perfect, I'm happy with them.
By the way, this is the license plate on it:
Yeah. XD Blame the Spikes; I'm not exactly sure which of them decided this was a good idea, but it was one of them. Or John: he's as likely a candidate as the others. (I'm pretty sure it couldn't have been one of the Angels, though I did catch them snickering at it when they thought nobody was around.)
Oh, also? The trunk is filled with beer and cigarettes. (also, a human skull, handcuffs,, manacles, and possibly other random junk. I'm a bit afraid of what they might be keeping in there.) Gotta keep the boys in their booze and fags.