Sad Wardrobe = (

It's usually hard to determine the emotional state of a wardrobe. They tend not to let their emotions show...

This is our wardrobe, giving us the usual blank stare of a functioning piece of furniture. But occasionally, when they have been taken for granted, over-stuffed with non-clothing items for too long, piled high on top with unneccessary rubbish and crammed below with things that really should have been put somewhere else... they let their true feelings show.

A single tear and a quietly sad mouth may be the only signs you get that your wardrobe is in need of some TLC!

 Don't be unkind to your wardrobe. Have a Spring Clean and show it that you care!

Star TUGS and Zed Stacks! The First Set.

These, as promised but a day late, are the first set of TUGS I made  for my son, who is generally obsessed by many things from years ago where toys can no longer be purchased (or never could). 

He always has great faith I can make them for him and generally accepts the results without comment (good or bad... that's Autism for you).

Here's an aeriel shot, artistically arranged by his sister, who was about to tidy them up for him before I shouted "Wait! I have to photograph those for the blog before you clear them up!" Being balsa, one clumsily placed foot and they are matchsticks!

These are the Zed Stacks (Boo, hiss), arch rivals of the heroic Star Tugs below. Zed stacks and their owner tend to be unscrupulous and obsessed by nothing more than proffit!

The Star Tugs, by comparison, are honourable and try to do good to everyone, even when that entails considerable personal cost or risk to their own safety to help others (HOORAY!) !

OJ is a wise old timer, Lilly Lightship the only female (and sounds like a bit of a siren when she talks: the alluring kind not the alert type!!) and Grampus is an old military submarine: outdated and due for demolition by explosion by the heartless Naval Powers That Be (OH NO I hear you cry...Surely not!...Can nothing be done to save him???).

There are episodes from fellow addicts to be found on Youtube so my son is not alone, and nor would you be if you join the ranks of the faithful, or the just plain curious!

TUGS: the second set

Yesterday I showed you the start of the process of making TUGS (the boats from the TV series.

Today I'll show you the finished articles. As the title says, these are actually the second set of TUGS, those missing from the first set, which I discover I haven't shown you. So you can see the second set first and the first set second!

I found pictures of the characters on Google images and copy and pasted them onto a document so I could reduce and print them and get the likenesses easily. This one is Izzy Gomez (who I now discover is also a singer...confusing).

Then I laid the boats on their images while all the gluey bits dried before painting them in acrylics.

That made sure we got them the right colours when we painted...I say 'we' cos boy helped too, liberally slathering every wooden inch in clumps of paint. If a job's worth doing (ie forced into it as a half term activity to get you away from a screen) then it's worth doing generously in the hopes it'll be over quicker!

And here are some of the finished TUGS: Dixon, Wilbur, Gaz, Fire Tug, Billy Shoepack and Boomer.

It's hard to know which angle does them justice so here's a variety...

The background is a large sheet of mountboard painted with the features mentioned in the videos: Captain Star's harbour, The Zed stacks area, the open sea, Lucky's yard, the docks and 'up river'. I made this last time around when I made the first set. 

A veritable flotilla or maybe its the Regatta from one of the episodes!!

Making Tug Boats

A long time ago, in the heyday of videos rather than DVDs, there existed on TV a series called TUGS. It was made by a man who'd worked on Thomas the Tank Engine model animations and it shows. It's like Thomas on water with boats (although the morals and lessons are a little more heavy handed and grandly delivered).

My son loves it, but very few toys of it were ever produced and... well you know his proclivity for collecting whole sets. Time to get out the balsa wood and get cutting!

It was a mixed pack of Balsa from Hobbycraft which, unfortunately, didn't include the same shaped mixed pieces I've had on previous occasions, leading to much more sawing and scalpelling than when I made the previous set (did I show you those? I'm losing track of what you've seen and not seen).

Here's the first stage of roughly shaped boat. The balsa was very soft, so difficult to cut smoothly.

I found images online of the required TUGS to complete the set, then copy and pasted their faces onto a document to reduce and print out (no point making it hard for myself trying to get a likeness).

This is the basic shape most of them need to satisfy the lovely little tyrant... more detail tomorrow   = )

Sculpey Thing-a Mi-Jigs

I don't know what you'd call these. They're  really easy to make, so if you're contemplating having a go with Sculpey, or just looking for an idea for the kids to do with their Plasticene, then these are good fun and cute.

They are just a shaped blob (a little reminiscent of the Babapapa cartoon from my childhood) with beads for eyes and a smiley mouth pressed in using a curled piece of wire. These are pressed onto a smooth stone and if they pop off after cooking and cooling, can always be glued back on with UHU.

If you are too young to remember Babapapa, here's a pic and I expect clips of their genius can be found on youtube, the home of everything we thought (or hoped) we'd never see again!

A Bit Of Sculpey

I ofetn mention Sculpey, although I haven't played with the stuff for far too long.

 So here's a pic from the archives to show what can be done when you combine it with the tiny terracotta flowerpots you can buy (that are far too tiny for plants to grow in).

 

Actually, having been to see Little Shop of Horrors, wonderfully put on by our local secondary School and starring some of our youth group kids and young leaders, I quite fancy getting the Sculpey out and making Audrey II from it!

Creepy!

Tardis Love

"...And they call Tardis Lu-hu-uh-uvve" (Think Puppy love and apply the words to the tune!!)

At the youth group we run, we always try to provide a craft that will appeal to the teens but also be fun for the leaders to join in with. This time, with Valentine's Day fast approaching, we bought fabric hearts for them to decorate with felt pens, buttons or sequins.

My demo model HAD to be Dr Who related, to show that you didn't have to make it for a boy, a girl or even anyone else at all (and NOT just cos I'm Dr Who obsessed!!!).

Here's the back (and what the front looked like before the sewing commenced)

and here's the front.

And here are the pictures of the happy couple together

Lots of selfies...

and a few romantic candlelit ones!

Well done if you survived another Valentine's Day, with or without a Tardis to love.