Mantipi Specimen with Tutorial

I have always thought that specimen jars are cool, creepy, but still cool and after seeing Drew Olbrich’s Thing in a jar I knew I had to make my own.

You will need:

Sculpty clay

aluminum foil

acrylic paint

rubber cement

food coloring or cola

a jar

I used aluminum foil to make a basic shape, this helps to cut down on the amount of clay you’ll need and the cooking time to cure your “thing”.

I used original Sculpty clay, I was planning on painting the final piece, so why pay more for colored clay?  It is also easier to work with because it is softer.  I covered the foil form with a 1/4” thick layer.

  I decided to add another tentacle and bulk up the middle section with a fin.  You can make your “thing” as simple or as complicated as you want.  An organ shaped blob would be just as interesting as an alien fetus.  I worked on my sculpture for a couple of hours.  The suction cups on the tentacles took a fair amount of time.

Once I had everything like I wanted it I went back and smoothed out all of the finger prints and then baked it according to the package directions (for me that was at 275 for 45 minutes)  The back fin got a little well done, but it was easily covered with paint.

I painted a base coat of pear green on everything.  Once it was all dry I went over the entire sculpture with a dingy green, wiping it off with a paper towel to give the skin a molted look.

Now it’s time to add the extra creepy part.  Coat the entire sculpture with 3 to 5 layers of rubber cement, rubbing it away on different sections to make it look like peeling skin.  This is a messy, sticky task, I just slathered the rubber cement on and it naturally starting peeling where I touched.

Now it’s time to put it in the jar, I made mine too large for any jar I had on hand and I had to take the mantipi with me to Hobby Lobby to find its new home. 

Use cola or food coloring to tint the water to accentuate the creep factor.  I think I need some sort of aged specimen tag for the jar, I’ll have to get to work on that!  I would love to see pictures of any “things” you guys make, send me some links :) and Happy Halloween!!!

Knitting, Knitting, All Day Long

I bought Rebecca Danger’s pattern for Daphne and Delilah and have not been able to put it down.  I have not knitted a stuffed animal of any sort, so this was really a new experience.  I definitely need to practice my seaming/attaching techniques. 

The pattern was nicely written and easy to follow.  It was almost entirely knitting in the round, so lots and lots of knit stitches.  My monsters are a bit um…quirkier, yeah quirkier, than hers, but I like them that way ;).  I seem to have made everything a bit lopsided, but they are monsters, it just adds to their charm, right?

This pattern is sooooo adorable, I will definitely be making more!  BTW leave me a comment if you have any tips for sewing up stuffies, I could use the help!