Yesterday I finally got to give my boyfriend his Chsitmas-gift. We decided to spend 15€ each on craft supplies and build/create something as a gift. I have been making his gifts for years so I was a bit lost at first, about what it should be. Last year I made/copied this hoodie for him from two H&M hoodies (there will be a post about this some time) and he said it was the greatest gift he ever got ("It's cuddly, warm, comfortable and black - what else could I wish for?!"), so the pressure was ON! I decided to just do something that would make him happy and not try to beat myself gift after gift.
After browsing on Pinterest for ideas and realizing that I only had a few days left, I decided to make two gifts. He told me he would like to have a fancy lamb for his birthday, which is at the beginning of january, therefore my inicial idea had to wait untill then. I went with these two:
and
BUT since I started so late I did not have time to order the print of the Death Star from Staples and the local print shops where waaay over the budget. I had to leave for my hometown for Christmas, packed the haba beads and hoped for the best.
I got this huge box of beads from IKEA and thought I got all the colours I could ever wish for, but oh-hell-no. I was missing light shades of blue and green to make the piranha plant look good. What now? Think, Betty, think...
The answer was so simple and in front of my nose all the time:
Terraria!
My boyfriend has recently started to play this game with a friend (imagine a 2D Minecraft) and it has the most perfect pixel-graphics! I came up with the idea of a "Terraria Terrarium", because a guy who sudies biology should have some plants in his room. Especially some that are undestroyable.
I found most of the templates via Pinterest and made up my own with the pictures I found on the Terraria- Wiki- Page. Check out the links at the end of the post.
In the end it took about 10 hours until I was finished. The beading took the most time, specially since I had to do big figures in several parts, the unicorn was made from three parts and then melted together. A pair of tweezers helps to place the beads and you can use the back of it as a kind of spatula to release the beads from the base when you've ironed it too hot (like I did a few times, so be carefull and try not to melt the base! I am so unpatient...) Every figure has a "base" of brown beads, so I could later stick it in the foam. The bigger the figure, the bigger the "base". it was mostly the wide of the figure and then three or four rows high. I ironed the figures from both sides to get a more pixel-y look and pressed them in big books once they cooled a bit to make sure they would be flat. Then I took a window-box and filled it with styrofoam. I was so nervous when I had to push the figures in the styrofoam. I uses a carpenter knife and a pair of scissors to make holes for them but I was afraid of breaking them in the very last minutes. It helps to figgle the knife or scissors around a bit to make the holes wide enough. The Bat is glued to a skeever and pierced in the foam as well.
Once they where all placed I filled it up with plant earth from my mom. I used some for Orchis, but in the end wished I would have some granulate or decor stones. But this way it got this earthy smell and felt more like a plant.
Not on any of the pictures I took are the Demon Eyes. I made three and put string in different lenghts through them and knotted them on another skeever. It became a cute little mobile of horror! It will look great hung in the window above the Terrarium.
Crabby, Bat, Unicorn and Antilon
Zombie
Bunny
Demon Eye (only the pin, the link died :( )
And the Wiki for the Plants (dry plants, mushrooms, sunflower, life fruit and blinkroot)
And to finish off my first post here is the very impressive Eye of Cthulhu LillyInverse made. It's the fist boss fight in Terraria and in case you have a big enough base you should definitly try to make it yourself! It looks über-cool!
That's it for today,
Betty
:3
