Tuesday 13 May 2014

Owl's that!

Well that didn't last long did it... all it took was one weekend of dealing with a teenager stressed out over exams to blow my renewed 'Monday is blog day' resolution out of the water! All is not lost though (she says hopefully, biting her lip) as, by the skin of my teeth, I may be one day late but at least that is better than not at all...well at least I hope you think so...

So, this weekend I decided (in between attempting a diabolical French accent to test my niece in preparation for her French oral exam on Monday - what a hoot that was!) to have a go at making Dhondt Hobby Products' felt owl using Efco's foam because it comes in such delicious colours. Instead of hanging a little notebook underneath it as in their Facebook post (pictured below) I decided to create an owl nameplate for Violet's nursery. Her mum loves owls and already has some dotted around little Violet's room so it will be a present for both of them.

So here's the original post from their Facebook page...

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dhondt-Hobby-Products/199246770094447

And here's how I created my foam version...


Use a hot glue gun to stick an old CD or DVD face down onto a piece of foam. 


Then use another old CD/DVD as a guide to cut around the top of the head and ears.


Use the same CD/DVD to cut around the rest of the ears either side.


Then carefully cut around the rest of the stuck CD/DVD and remove the excess foam.


Again, using the spare CD/DVD cut around half of it on another piece of foam. Use a glass or small pudding dish to cut around the bottom of the head/eye section.


Use the CD/DVD to help cut out two wings.


I used an Efco microbead pot (upside down so that I was cutting around the lid) as a guide to cut two eyes from white glitter foam.


I then used the same Efco microbead pot (this time right way up) as a guide to cut two black pupils.


All that's left is a small diamond or triangle shape for the beak and you should have all the components needed for your owl. All you need to do then is glue them all together using a glue gun.


And here's the finished little owl. It has a small piece of thin ribbon stuck to the back of the CD so that it can be hung up.
 
It was at this point that I discovered that Jackie's favourite colour is green....rats!....so foam owl mark II was born...


I used a Spellbinders die to cut the mint green foam for the nameplate which I then cut in half. The little letters are from Efco's Efcolor enamelling range which I enamelled with mauve powder and stuck on with metal glue. I cut out two little legs which I ended up sticking to the front of the nameplate. Luckily, I hadn't stuck the foam body to the CD right up to the edge at the bottom and so was able to sandwich the tops of the legs between the foam body and the CD.

Naturally, my niece Aoife (for those of you who aren't Irish you pronounce it 'ee-fa') fell in love with the cute little thing so I ended up having to make one for her too... this time with a notepad so it would be useful for her at boarding school. I used two short pieces of ribbon stuck to the back of the CD and a couple of large jump rings to attach the notepad to the bottom. I must confess that the ear decoration is all Aoife....




You might think that that was the end of that... but no... Sunday evening when I took Aoife back to school one of her best friends who she shares a room with fell in love with the little owl (now christened Toby, I think)... and so a twin was born...



Yet again, you might think that that is where my owl journey ends but no... I now have owls on the brain...and so when I turn out the lights at night little tiny owls, or rather great big huge felt ones flap through my dreams! They get me thinking what if I used Efco's 3mm thick felt as a base... how big could I go?


So, using a dinner plate instead of a CD, a saucer to help cut out the head/eye section and a dessert pot to cut out the eyes and pupils... big bird was born.


I used a glue gun to stick him together but when it came to the wings I made a point of only gluing around the outside edge and bottom tip of the wings. That way they act as pockets where you can tuck photos. :)

And so my owl journey has come to an end... almost... Now I think I may just have to see if I can go even bigger... this time going back to Efco's large foam sheets which, like the felt are 3mm thick and are almost A2 size (4 x A4 standard printer paper for those that aren't familiar with the size). I think that if I use a cake board instead of a dinner plate I should be able to get REALLY big! And if I stick the cake board to the back of the body it could be used as a pinboard....hmmm.... I'll let you know how I get on if I give it a go. Lol!

Happy Crafting.... 

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