Totally awesome, finally tendonitis is cool! I am soooo doing this to my wrist brace! I hate wearing the thing, maybe this'll make me like it a bit more!


Kudos!

Soooo . . . . what do you do when the perfect Christmas gift for someone is a one of a kind fossil discovered in Germany in the 1800s? Allow me to spell out the options: 1) Buy it -- not likely, it's not for sale and it would be a bit out of my price range; 2) Steal it -- difficult, museum's have nice security systems and the consequences of jail time might put a damper on the holiday cheer; 3) Buy a replica -- best idea so far, but even the replicas are over 100 dollars and I don't have that kind of cash; 4) Make a replica -- oooh, now there's an intriguing thought . . .

In any case, by virtue of this post being on craftster, you can guess that I decided to make my very own "faux-ssil" . . . and here's the result:


What would a museum artifact be without a certificate of authenticity:


And now various closeups:
The Head:

Angled view that shows the actual colors better:

Closeup of the body:

Closeup of the wings:

Closeup of a claw:


Basic details of how I made it:
I had my husband cut me a piece of wood to act as a foundation and I used original sculpey and rolled it out on top of the wood in a thin layer. Note: I wish I had "upgraded" to one of the higher end sculpey's . . . I had a lot of issues with this one cracking . . . oh well, live and learn. I found a photo of the fossil on wikipedia, had Staples print it off and blow it up close to actual size. Then I placed the photo on top of the wood and traced the major lines of the fossil so that it imprinted into the layer of sculpey below. Some smushing, some scraping, and voila, most of the fossil is done. I took some feathers from my chickens (not plucked, I just picked some up that they left behind in the chicken yard) and used them to make imprints in the wings and tail (just like in the "real" fossil). To simulate stone texture, I used sand paper to imprint a rough texture onto the stone portions of the clay, note: I didn't "sand" it, I just used the sand paper like a stamp -- you could easily use an actual stone to do this, but I had sand paper and suitable stones were hiding from me in the great outdoors somewhere.

My husband added some wall hanging hardware and I cured it in the oven following the sculpey manufacturer's directions, painted it with acrylic paints, and sealed it with multiple (4+) layers of Miniwax Polycrylic High Gloss . . . a satin finish would have looked more realistic (i.e. more like stone), but I already had the high gloss and well . . . you know how it goes . . .

Like I said, I had some issues with cracking (before the majority of the sealing), so I added cyanoacrylate based super glue to the cracks, painted over them, and sealed.

Anyways, let me know what you think (my second sculpey project, so I'm really REALLY interested in tips/criticism), I can't wait to give it away!

So I finally jumped on the bandwagon and bought myself a Kindle 3  . . . which I absolutely adore, by the way, and I can't get over how much I like it, but I digress . . .

Anywho, it needed a case and my husband, who is cheaper than I am, was appalled at the prices of the cases that Amazon has. I thought they were a little boring myself so I was easily persuaded into making my own.

I used the pattern made by a fellow Craftster member, http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=355666.0 but I modified it by inserting some plastic canvas into the cover in order to make it a little bit sturdier. I did it snake themed since I had snake fabric lying around that I was DYING to use.

I embroidered the snake on the cover by hand and added a bead for the eye.

I looked and looked and LOOKED but apparently snake themed buttons are not a hot item (go figure) so I made my own! I have a snake wax seal which I used to make an imprint in wax and then embedded it in resin and fixed a ring to the back. (This was also my first experience with resin, EVER. Woohoo!)

Finally, the inside, with my new baby:

Let me know what you think!

Does anyone know where I could buy snake buttons? They can be shaped like snakes or have snakes on them but I'm not looking for buttons that are just snake-skin themed. I've been searching the internet for roughly a half hour and am coming up empty. Alternatively, does anyone have any ideas for making snake buttons?

-AJ

Hi Everyone,

I'm trying to decide how to do curtains for my craft room and I need a little help. I've been looking at the home decor fabrics available at Joanns and Hancocks, but, since this is my epicenter of creativity, I am looking for something with a little more, err, pizazz than what I've been finding at these two stores. What I'd really like is something a little brighter. Since I'm relatively new to the whole world of curtain sewing, I came here for help. I'm planning on lining the curtains with blackout fabric so they'll be relatively heavy regardless of what fabric I choose. What I want to know is, can you use "regular" cotton, i.e. calicos, batiks, etc., for lined curtains? Will it look funny? Will it look "cheap" or will it look ok? Has anyone done this?

Thanks guys,

AJ

This is great! I'll have to show it to the husband!

I was so mad when they killed Charlie, he was one of my favorites! My husband and I have been catching up with Lost via netflix and so when our next disk (after the one where Charlie dies) was delayed, my husband decided to watch the old disk (and the dreaded episode) AGAIN. I was none too happy and did NOT want to see Charlie die a SECOND time (although with all of Desmond's viewings of the future I guess it really isn't just the second time we've seen Charlie die . . .) I actually cried the most on the episode before the one where Charlie actually died . . . there was so much building up to the dreaded moment and then Charlie was saying goodbye to everyone, hugging Hugo, leaving the ring for Claire, etc. . . . stupid Lost . . . ;-)

Has anyone ever made Simplicity 5033, specifically the red long johns on the right of the envelope? I was just wondering how they turn out and if it's worth it to buy the pattern.

Thanks,

AJ

That time schedule should work for me as well. ;-)

THIS IS SO COOL!!! Those movies are like my favorites of all time and o, my gosh, I think you just made my day!!!

Oooh, this could be fun!