Covered in Glitter and Screaming

Mystery gifts are my way of thanking some of the donors to a fundraiser I did some years ago. I ask for a theme, and then I make a thing in as much secrecy as I can manage and send it to them. This gift's theme is Kitty Glitter, for someone who loves her tabby cat, her garden, cherry blossoms, and things that are pink and sparkly. Here's the short version of how it was made (30 seconds): And here's a more complete version (4 minutes): Lessons learned, materials used Okay craft nerds, this part is for you. During the trial and error phase of figuring out what the base mask should be made of, I tried revisiting the pattern I made for my Bast mask. I didn't love that overall mask shape to begin with, but thought I might be able to improve upon it. I was mistaken . I couldn't even get it to look like the original, I'm not sure how that happened. I also tried using Crayola Model Magic on a wig head because it's pretty light, but I'm not a sculptor and it jus...

Mystery gifts are my way of thanking some of the donors to a fundraiser I did a few years ago. I asked each donor for a theme for the mystery gift, which gives me both complete creative control and a starting point, and I love this model. For this person, when I asked for a theme he said he liked magic and Art Nouveau. You may have seen the companion piece I made for this earlier, since he and I have been sending each other cards with moving pieces.  In addition to magic and Art Nouveau, I also happen to know he's a big fan of a famous space-themed franchise, he built a remote-controlled R2 unit several years back (as one does, right?), and he has a history as a Stormtrooper with the  501st Legion , so I threw that in as well. I did my best to emulate an Art Nouveau style and made a deck of cards, because magic! (The back of each card, not the faces.) Final design Card face design and deck printing from  MakePlayingCards.com Design process Box (print/cut on...

My friend and I are continuing to send each other homemade greeting cards that include paper mechanics. This friend is also one of the people that donated to my fundraiser a handful of years ago and was on my list to receive a mystery gift. I asked for a theme, and he said he liked magic and Art Nouveau, so I came up with a design in an Art Nouveau style* incorporating props he has used in his magic shows and from when he was a Stormtrooper in the 501st Legion . This is not that gift. But since I had just completed the actual gift and it was my turn to send a card, I took the opportunity to make a companion piece. *at least inspired by, I also love this style but am new to actually working in it Process: Sketch, work out the design and mechanic concept Mechanic prototype on scrap paper Put the design in the computer Indicate size and placement of wheel, and cut lines Add graphics that will appear on the moving parts Separate into two parts, one for the base and one of the wheel to att...

Mystery gifts are my way of thanking some of the donors to a fundraiser I did a few years ago. I ask for a theme, and then I make a thing in as much secrecy as I can manage and send it to them. This particular theme was "dragons, dinosaurs, or dump trucks" because that's what was relevant to the child's interests. I went with dragons, because that is also relevant to my interests. THE HEAD I wanted to build the head around a baseball cap to avoid problems with sizing, since I am not physically near the recipient. I got hat and jacket sizes from a parent and crossed my fingers that I could get it all together before he outgrew those sizes. I saved myself a ton of time by starting with a  Wintercroft  mask template for the head. You do not have to be a pro artist to be able to assemble them, and they look amazing! Check them out. I knew I liked  this dragon head , but I also knew that I needed to make it smaller because they are designe...