Neural Slush

Back around 2015, I decided to handcraft a puppet out of everyday materials.

I decided to make character that’s an “All-Seeing Eye” that never notices anything. He’s always tired and uninterested in regular society, let alone the secret ones.

I had this plastic bulb from a nightlight and I took apart one of those clamping loose tea leaf holders (I took the ball part off).

I attached the bulb and the tea holder together with all-purpose wire and on each side of the tea holder I attached “eyelids” made of a cut up yoga mat and more wire. So now, when the tea holder is squeezed, instead of opening a tea ball infuser, the puppet can open and close its eyes.

The yellow buttons give the eyelid wires stability.

I glued a googly eye on the light for a pupil and beads and felt for the iris. It’s just an led inside a plastic bulb from the dollar store for the eye itself.

For the body, I “sewed” together a cut up yoga mat with wire

I was watching “The Dark Crystal”, since I was making a puppet, I thought it would be fitting!

I made the general pyramid shape and inserted the eye

For the “skin” and mouth parts, I bought cheap socks and blankets that felt soft and were colors I liked.

The puppet from the bottom. I can stick my arm in there to move the eyelids, and the mouth.

I cut a slit for the mouth and created a sock-tongue

Finally, I wrapped and glued his skin on, and gave him some folds and wrinkles for aesthetics and personality.

Here he is in action!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YsNZ6USyCU&ab_channel=CuddlestheTarantula

And that was how I made a hand puppet out of household materials.

Lately I’ve been obsessed with the Nintendo Switch game Enter the Gungeon (also on PC). I wanted to hand craft a Baby Good Mimic – an item from the game that follows the player around like a familiar, helping to attack enemies and being generally adorable.

For the base, I used a small wooden chest I bought from the arts & crafts section of the dollar store. For his rounded top, I glued thick cardboard to the chest (since the shape of the chest was originally just a basic rectangle). I was going to paint it, but decided to make a fuzzy Baby Good Mimic instead.

I used “fur” that I bought in the form of inexpensive blankets that were purchased with the intention to cut them up for making plushies. His eyes are made of felt.

I decided to give him a tongue, even though in the game I’m not entirely sure about his tongue situation. When he chomps around enemies sometimes it looks like he does have one. Also his adult (“not good”) counterparts DO have tongues. The tongue is also made of soft, plush throw blanket material.

This Baby Good Mimic chest is a prototype, and I liked how it turned out – still being a usable little chest, but also having the cute fuzziness of a plushie.

His clasp is a simple metal one that the wooden chest came with, and he doesn’t have a lock on him, therefore he cannot keep secrets. He’ll blurt them out like it’s nobody’s everybody’s business.

I don’t know what I’ll keep inside him (other than his own tongue). He’ll probably be used to nip at any enemies in my living room, dealing a small amount of damage.

Hopefully he grows up well and makes good life decisions.

I made this spider plushie based on one of my beloved pet tarantulas. I decided to hide two spools of thread inside compartments in the abdomen, so you can pull the thread out through the spider’s spinnerets!

She has a wire skeleton (she should really have an exoskeleton :p) and she’s filled with polyester pillow stuffing. Her skin is mainly fur from a throw blanket and her eyes are pom poms.

Here she is reading a book about spiders (what else?)