Once you have the materials collected and ready to go, a simple three-hour craft project. An inspired idea on Pinterest. In the world of crochet, crocheters tend to squawk about getting the free patterns once they see an idea. There's a joke about the seagulls screaming pattern, pattern, pattern.
In my exhibit, two of the seagulls hoard patterns and do not share them with the one on the left. The left seagull is having a 'bird' and not speaking to the other two.
Maybe great for bathroom decor that is nice and small and charming.
I collected quartz rocks at Scotsbay, Nova Scotia. The trick to the rocks is to make sure they are not too big that the rock will fit into the 9" x 9" shadow box.
Materials
Most of the materials I have used were picked up at Michaels.
- 3 to 5 rocks.
- 3 to 5 wine corks.
- A bit of twine to wrap around the corks.
- Hot Glue and Gun
- Hot Knife to cut the corks.
- A bit of paint to paint the background with a little water line and then go into the sky.
- Felt.
- Safety Eyes.
- Mini Pom Poms.
- Mini Gravel.
Procedures
Before you start, clean the rocks by giving them a good scrub and letting them dry completely.
Prepare the corks:
- The corks are cut to have a flat edge to glue on the background. Remove about 25%. Cut the corks at different heights for variety. Use a hot knife to cut the cork, as a regular knife will not work.
- Wrap twine around the entire cork. Two to three times.
Prepare the Backdrop:
If there is a place to hang the picture, be sure you paint the backdrop to match that direction in case you want to hang this. Essentially, don't paint the backdrop sideways.
- Remove the backdrop from the frame. Understand how the frame covers some of the backdrops so anything you add to the frame doesn't interfere with putting the backdrop back into position.
- Prepare the backdrop with acrylic paint. Paint a water line and then blotch it to transition to the sky.
- You can add a bit of paint to the felt and use your hands to smudge it up to be more realistic.
- Add felt by punching it into the fabric background. You must punch in from the side to secure it to the canvas. Punching straight into the backdrop will break your felting needling.
- Hot glue the corks to the backdrop. Don't be afraid of learning them, as it adds a storyline.
Prepare the Rocks:
- Glue them to the felted pom poms using safety eyes or plastic beads.
- Glue the rocks to the backdrop with a generous helping of glue. Lean the rocks to give them character. Ensure the rocks can be glued to the backdrop and not interfere with the glass once the eyes are placed.
- Hot glue the eyes on one seagull and determine the direction in which it should look. Closer black pupils will give the character more direction on which they are looking versus looking into blank space.
TIP:
One of the reasons why the muppets have their pupils closer together is to show the audience a more clear direction in which the character is looking. It's a more of a focus point.
Let the glue dry completely before putting the frame back together.
The mini blue gravel is just resting naturally there.
Adding Mini Gravel:
- Be careful not to smudge the glass with your hands.
- Put the glass back into the frame.
- Tilt the frame 45 degrees with the glass facing the sample.
- Pour in some gravel so it rests against the bottom section of the glass only.
- Eye up where the corks will go into the frame. Use your fingers to make space so the corks can slide into the frame around the gravel.
- Once the backing is in position, without excessive shaking, lightly tilt the frame back and forth from side to side to let the gravel naturally pool beside the corks.
The glass will protect your scene from dust and easier to clean it.
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