Pipe Cleaning

(A little pipe cleaner teddy bear, which was the companion to the doll I sent to Bunzi in our trade)

I am still tinkering with making my own "light tent" to help take better pictures of some small things. Have any of you ever done this? I am following this tutorial . I played with it this week, and now I have a few photos to show of my addictive, fun new hobby!

This Japanese craft book I purchased on eBay from Hong Kong has some of the coolest ideas in it you have ever seen. The best thing is, it basically teaches you a variety of techniques, and you can really use your imagination to customize and create new animals and other creatures. Since I cannot read Japanese (is there anyone here who can??), I just have to follow the photos/diagrams. Here is a smattering of what I have done:

Mr. Owl (which Brianna swears is an eagle). It is hard to see in the photo, but he (and all of the rest) are very much 3-D and has a tail.

There are actually two different designs for "bear"; this one is supposed to be more of a real bear/animal, while the one I made Bunzi is a toy/teddy.

Brianna was me for a chicken to go with the little Easter chenille chicks that I have, so this is what I did during naptime. Can you say bribe?? He is a little ratty-looking around the feathers, as he has been handled by small hands quite a bit.



Mr. Fox is one that I definitely took some liberties with. In the example, he had a yellow stripe running down his tail! Now, we all know that real foxes have white (or black) tipped tails. As a side note, I had a pet arctic fox as a child from 6th grade until I was in college. I lived in Missouri, not Alaska ☺ I may have to do an all-white version and try to recreate him!

These are my practice ones. I have made about 15 different animals, so far. My favorites are the dogs, which I am getting quite good at. I need to take some photos of them, but I have given them all away! Good thing I stocked up on thousands of pipe cleaners from Hobby Lobby. I have been looking for a low-ticket item for my Etsy shop... do you think these would be something you, personally, would buy? I'd love the input!

Have a great weekend, everyone!