Category: Hobbies-and-Crafts

Peanut Bear

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I’m back from NYCC and trying to recover from what was really a very long trip. Due to some mix-up with the table listing, the “Bento Comics” booth didn’t end up being listed under our name at NYAF, so I guess that may have confused a few people if they didn’t spot the “Bento Comics” booth in the Anime Festival’s artist alley, at least on the map. We did some good sales nonetheless, so better luck next time.

 

NYCC 2011

A shot of one of the entrances of NYCC 2011. It was crazy, with so many people going!

Bento Table

Here's our setup for Bento Comics. The Sherlock Holmes anthology sold very well!


 

The other interesting piece of news is that I’ve learned to crochet. Finally. I’ve long been a knitter, but the last time I took up crocheting was a horrible accident, so I’ve not attempted crochet since… until now. It turns out that with a few good internet instructional videos from Youtube and a bit of patience, I can crochet just fine. I fumbled the first few attempts, but I seem to be doing quite well, so well that when I crocheted a little smiley cactus, I sold it off at NYCC quite quickly.

You’ll see more crochet from me later on, but for now, I leave you with the first thing I ever crocheted. It’s “Peanut Bear” (more like Amputated Bear) from Nerdigurumi, which is a great beginner pattern (with videos). I later added arms and legs to this pink bear, so it looks a tad different now.

 

Step 1: Start the top of the bear with a "Magic Circle". Took me ages to get this right.


 

Step 2: Started making the body. By now, I can stitch increase and decrease pretty well.


 

Step 3: Added some plastic eyes to it. I had some left-over from my little animal knittings from earlier.


 

Step 4: Sewed ears onto the bear. You can also sew other ears, like dogs/cats/rabbits, which would make it a different kind of Peanut animal.


 

Now for the final finished, limbless Peanut Bear. Don’t worry, I DID put arms and legs on it later:

 

Peanut Bear

Creamy Green Tea Roll

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I should be in New York by now, attending NYCC. I’ll be hanging by the BentoComics table mostly! I’ll be back in Sydney at the end of October!

 

Green Tea Roll

Step 1: The second last of these Japanese kits I bought, this green tea roll cake appear to have an extra slopping of cream on top. Why not?

 

Green Tea Roll 2

Step 2: Hurray for pre-cut felt! This kit especially, because of the "cream" bits that are long and straight.

 

Green Tea Roll 3

Step 3: Sew the roll cake together. Thank god for the pre-cut pieces - cutting spirals are always a horrible chore.

 

Green Tea Roll 4

Step 4: Finished with the roll cake. Start with the little bits and pieces that go on top of the roll cake.

 

Green Tea Roll 5

Step 5: Glue the cream bits on, and what a mess I made of the glue (again). It's not glued on very well, so a few of the cream bits can fall off. Am hoping that by sewing the top bits on, it'll help keep the cream bits on the roll cake.

 

Quite small, but ends up looking pretty cute:

 

Creamy Green Tea Roll

Three Russian Dolls

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Russian Dolls

Step 1: For once, this isn't Japanese. It seems to be from a British company, and it even comes with a nice tin box. For the inexplicably cheap price of $14 at Townhall's Kinokuniya. I snapped it up, ofcourse.

 

Russian Dolls 2

Step 2: Open the contents, and just enough material is there to make three of the dolls. The design of the dolls is quite simple too.

 

Russian Dolls 3

Step 3: Cut out all the materials, and mix and match the hoods with the colourful bottom parts. I decided on this combination.

 

Russian Dolls 4

Step 4: Sew the faces on, and the top and bottom halves together. It's time to sew both of the front and back parts to make the doll.

 

Russian Dolls 5

Step 5: Stuff the dolls with stuffing, and then sew the wavy elastic band around them for a finishing touch. I added a few more things to it than was given in the kit.

 

I decided to gift the dolls to three couples I know, so I embroidered some names on them. Good use of cute dollies! Yay to Claire and Pedro, Ben and Nam, and Kath and Paul:

 

Russian Dolls

Wooly Strawberry Cake

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This week has been a rather quiet week. I’m done celebrating the end of Odd Thomas 3 (House of Odd), so I’m settling down into doing some doodling while the next book is being figured out. Apart from doodling, also crafting, of course. And catching up on some reading and gaming.
 

Strawberry Roll

Step 1: I bought this off Rakuten.co.jp again. I belated noticed that this one was listed as "challenging" (ie. the hardest difficulty level). Be prepared for bloodied fingertips!

 

Strawberry Roll 2

Step 2: Pull everything out of the box, and check that it's there.

 

Strawberry Roll 3

Step 3: Start stabbing the main body of the cake. This one takes the longest, since you're taking a big wad of wool and making it shrink and adhere to a certain shape.

 

Strawberry Roll 4

Step 4: Finally get the roll cake done. Add some nice strawberry filling and cream to it.

 

Strawberry Roll 5

Step 5: Hash out the remaining bits and pieces, including the strawberry and blueberry. The strawberry was a specific shape, so it took ages to do.

 

Strawberry Roll 6

Step 6: Stick everything on top, and needle it in. Only the small flaky bits left!

 

The final product! Pretty nice, methinks:

 

Strawberry Roll