The last day before the holidays is always extra busy. I have a list of things to go through – letters to send, invoices to write, phone calls to make, clothes to wash, loose ends to tie – and then it occurred to me that I should’ve planned for the blog, too, like last year, and schedule a few posts during my absence. Maybe, maybe, if I resist the temptation to watch yet-another-DIY-video on Youtube, I can get some in today. Let’s tie a few loose ends here:

1. It’s Perry’s 4 year blogiversary. She’s written a nice post (with nice pics!) on Armitage Agonistes. Go give her a like ❤️
2. I have just received notification that Redbubble has another promotion on. Get 20% off with the code RAD20 today
3. I’m flummoxed at the recent spree of random followers I have gained. Three to four new – completely unrelated – followers per day. Anyone else having this issue, or is it connected to my new custom domain? Frankly, I find it somewhat disturbing, even though I know the blog is public…

Anyway, here’s what I entertained myself with over the weekend. In the absence of Pilgrimage reviews (is anyone else surprised by the silence after the Edinburgh screenings?), pics from the set of BS, or fan-made fun, I have been creating my own distractions at home. Not sure why, but I am currently in a phase of heightened creative sensitivity. My coinage – to say that I am watching DIY videos on YT on endless loop, pinning projects to my Pinterest like a mad woman, itching with the urge to ‘make’, yet fuseling my time away. I have about 5000 mint tins waiting for me. Or 5 meters of fabric for which I have ordered several yards of (faux) suede and leather and oilcloth remnants. And then I can’t get off my arse for the practical implementation. Hmph. At last, today, an idea sparked my curiosity, and I finally did some crafty stuff.

Inspiration initially came from this cute present given to me by our very own Helen on her last visit here in Ireland.

Those earrings are just the cutest thing. The head and the body of the kitties are separate, and so they move and dangle on those hoops – which made me wonder whether I could make something that would also fit on those hoops. Cheapskate Productions to the fore – I had long been curious about recycling the sushi boxes (see right) from my Thursday food market lunch, and a quick look at the plastic lid of the sushi tray revealed that I had just the right material that I needed.

You see, there are some types of plastic that are actually shrinkable. You can cut out shapes from the clear plastic, colour it in or draw on it, and when you place it in a hot oven, it shrinks to a fraction of its size, turning into durable, solid plastic. So the plan was to make some plastic pieces that could be worn on the kitty hoops pictured above.

Well, and you can see from the picture of my work table that I wasn’t going to forego the opportunity to make something RA-related with it… Indeed I did – I experimented with the silhouette. I traced it on the plastic – and made a bit of a botch job when cutting it out (mainly because I didn’t have a lot space on one little sushi box lid).

Here they are on the baking tray, waiting to go into the oven (see right).

The results? Hm, could be optimised. While the plastic shrunk nicely, and the holes for the jump ring turned out the right size, the resulting pendant is not quite flat, and Mr Proctor unfortunately got sort of distorted in the oven. Below is the original template and the end result side-by-side (and a Cent piece for scale).

 While some of the details translated very nicely into the miniature (the nape curls *sigh*, the loose lock of hair *sob*), somehow there is a bit of distortion in this which makes it look as if the Armitage frowns… My initial attempts were even worse – far too small, which made it difficult to get the details right. The small silhouettes in the picture below are about the size of a fingernail…

*snorts* the cut-out silhouette is a complete fail *muhahaha*. And Proctor’s head is totally flattened. Such a pity, because his eyelashes came out extra well… Damn.

The best result were the earrings – they were also the easiest to make. A clear strip of plastic which I doodled on, cut to size, then punched a hole in.

I made a ton of melon slices, but they are roughly the size of a toe-nail clipping (sorry for the unsavoury comparison, but that describes the size of these things best…) Needless to say that they are far too small to be usable, especially as the holes shrunk, too.

I like the little red heart, though. It’s copied from one of the logos of the Irish movement to repeal the 8th amendment of the Irish contitution (a truly mediaeval law that is still oppressing women in Ireland by giving an unborn foetus equal status to the life of the woman carrying it, effectively making abortion illegal). I intend to wear that heart around my neck the next time we are protesting for women.

And now I am off to look at pictures. Maybe something will give me the inspiration to write some scheduled posts…