I put together this Cannibal Barbie and oven combination 5 or 6 years ago when I found this awesome little Barbie stove in a second hand shop. Barbie has a pan full of brains, a heart in her pot and a brain roasting in the oven.
She lives in a bag in a cupboard. Maybe I should bring her out and display her.
Who else used to eat crumbed lambs brains? Now that brings back bad memories.
I once read an article about things you should do on Friday that will increase your productivity. I’ve been feeling pretty unproductive since about late January so I’ve turned Friday into my cleaning, catch up and planning day. It’s cleaning day as I usually work on weekends (which is always a good time to clean) but I still need a day designated to doing some cleaning. The house is pretty tidy anyway so this is usually a few bits and pieces. My catch up is generally just trying to get some jobs finished that I’ve been working on during the week. Having a designated catch up day is the part of this day I really like. Start nothing new on Friday and just catch up on everything that needs catching up on. Finish those teeth and uterus (they’ve been in my sewing box for weeks!).
The planning…groan…this is where I fall down. I just struggle getting things together at the moment. I sit down with my planner and cannot think. I can easily jot down the things I do every week but struggle trying to come up with something that will keep me moving forward.
I love my journal, below. I do Bullet Journalling and find this is a system that works very well for me. I can combine all of my work and personal life into one notebook (I use different colours for different work) and jot down notes etc. A bullet journal allows you to allocate the space you want to the content you need.
Well, it is friday so I better get back to it. I need to tidy up the couch, and shrink some stuff.
I love this journal. It’s A Novel Journal.
Over the last week and a bit I’ve tackled the arms of the skeleton. The arms were easier to design and cut than the hands as they’re nice and big. They took a bit of time to sew (2 hours plus) and add stuffing to. I’m happy with how these have turned out.
I won’t be joining these together with stitches just yet as the bones will be too hard to store when they are all together.
You can read the post about the hands and more about the project on this post.
I’ve been making Teratoma Tumors for about 5 or so years. They are a something that I find both fascinating and horrifying. Browsing Teratoma images online is not something I recommend or like to do. It is confronting to see so many babies with Teratoma’s.
Teratoma’s often sell to young women who have had one found on there ovary, a very common place for a teratoma.
From Wikipaedia “Teratomas belong to a class of tumors known as nonseminomatous germ cell tumor (N.S.G.C.T.). All tumors of this class are the result of abnormal development of pluripotent cells: germ cells and embryonal cells.”
You can read a little more about the link between the teratoma and the parasitic twin below.
Fetus in fetu and fetiform teratoma are rare forms of mature teratoma that include one or more components resembling a malformed fetus. Both forms may contain or appear to contain complete organ systems, even major body parts such as torso or limbs. Fetus in fetu differs from fetiform teratoma in having an apparent spine and bilateral symmetry.[12]
Most authorities agree that fetiform teratomas are highly developed mature teratomas; the natural history of fetus in fetu is controversial.[12] There also may be a cultural difference, with fetiform teratoma being reported more often in ovarian teratomas (by gynecologists) and fetus in fetu being reported more often in retroperitoneal teratomas (by general surgeons). Fetus in fetu has often been interpreted as a fetus growing within its twin. As such, this interpretation assumes a special complication of twinning, one of several grouped under the term parasitic twin. In this regard, it is noteworthy that in many cases the fetus in fetu is reported to occupy a fluid-filled cyst within a mature teratoma.[13][14][15][16] Cysts within mature teratoma may have partially developed organ systems; reports include cases of partial cranial bones, long bones and a rudimentary beating heart.[17][18]
Regardless of whether fetus in fetu and fetiform teratoma are one entity or two, they are distinct from and not to be confused with ectopic pregnancy.
This year I was looking for a 365 day project to challenge myself. I almost chose 365 days of horror movies but though I might be a wreck after just a month, not to mention that some days I just couldn’t fit in a horror movie or find one to watch. Horror movies isn’t much of a project either. My partner always has good ideas and suggested I make a skeleton from felt. He didn’t think horror was a good idea as he doesn’t enjoy the genre.
I began the Skeleton around the start of the year with some sketches. It’s already been a struggle getting the sizes right and finding references for parts. Felt is a huge challenge with really tiny details as it is hard to cut small and make matching parts so small. I started with the hands and had to get creative with the scissors when my patterns were just too small to cut around. The bulk of the hands were done across about 4 hours but about another 2 or 3 hours needs to be added on top of that just sewing bits here and there and re-doing bits that went awry.
The Good Hand. The second one worked out way better than the first.
Both hands. One is very floppy (right) the other very stiff (left).
As I was making the phalanges I realised that making individual carpals was going to be bloody challenging as I would never get the sizes right so I decided to go with a solid piece under with details on top. Artistic licence has come into play here as some parts were so tiny and the felt was not cooperating and I’ve heard that sometimes done is better that perfect.
All up I’m pretty happy with how they turned out but I think the stiff hand might need a re-sew. I plan to do the arms next. Radius and Ulna.
Maybe I should try the horror thing out. Watch a month worth of Horror movies? Maybe I could do a month of horror movies and TV shows (American Horror Story is in my Netflix list) and see how I go.
January 28-February 3
Teddy. I picked up this bear from a second hand shop and added some anatomy (stomach, brain and Kidneys in the back). He had a tag on this leg that had his name in pen. I think he was a much loved teddy.
Six Legs. Spider friend on the back veranda. I didn’t see her boyfriend until I uploaded the photograph. She’s been protecting our veranda for a few months.
Hookworms! Love these little guys. They’re looking for their forever home, will it be your intestine?
Collection of Gall Bladders, Jar and two options for the brooch. These guys are so popular at the moment. Love making them!
This Pituitary Gland in a jar has been in and out of my Etsy store for quite some time. Years ago it was in there with the original photos and just hung around, and then it was out of my store for a while waiting to have new photos taken and lazy me never did. I’ve only ever sold one.
I remember making the Pituitary because I got a “convo” (the Etsy speak for a message within Etsy) asking me to make one. In the early days I would make anything and everything people suggest without taking an order or getting them to pay as it was a great way to get ideas for new pieces. (This is also why a thymus is sitting my shop.)
What I love about the way I have made the pituitary is the red and blue threads. I’ve almost always used the same shades of blue and red, I’d sometimes pick up a different shade but also return to my same favourite DMC colours.
Anyhooters, after finding this guy again I’ve also decided to make a brooch. I find myself getting back into making and experimenting with anatomy again after going on a bit of a journey off my path. Not that taking a detour here and there isn’t useful!
I’ve been playing around with Shrinky Dinks for about 4 years now after learning about them in a Hands On Brisbane class. Hands On Brisbane is my “day job” and one of the perks is learning all sorts of crafts (I have to be able to assist the facilitators).
I started making Your Organ Grinder pieces from Shrinkies soon after. I use an old refurbished Canon printer at the moment. Oh and FYI, you can’t use the ink that is made for archival printing, or the high quality art printing. Just the regular printing ink.
If you want to learn how to make your own Shrinkies you can check out the process I use for shrinking and adding doming resin in my instructable here. If you are in Brisbane I sometimes teach Shrinkie Dinks workshops and Resin workshops at Hands On Brisbane so join our mailing list, here.
Images above are Uterus Earrings, Dodo Earrings, Tapeworm Brooches and Dodo Brooches all made using the shrinky dink with doming resin technique.
Sometimes you just have to make something new. Making new products is always a gamble but there is an absolute joy in making something new. That feeling when you are working on something new and it is going well. That is what I live for.
I picked up some of these hoops a while ago (and recently grabbed more). I’m slowly choosing anatomy to fill them using calico and the stem stitch, one of my favourite embroidery stitches. I think the next one will be a kidney.
I’d be moaning to Andrew, my partner, about wanting a proper upstairs computer for a while. I had a laptop but when I used it for work it always crashed (every 5 minutes, no kidding) and it was a laptop. Andrew found me a Brix on Gumtree and we got that going. Cue setting up a monitor, keyboard, and mouse at the dining table.
I knew I wanted a desk that could slide under the couch so I could go full-on couch potato when working in Inkscape and Fusion360. I find working in these programs a little stressful so I wanted to be able to lean back and relax whilst working.
I showed Andrew a few examples of what I was thinking. We decided on the shape below. To the left is the unpainted desk, to the right the painted finished version.
The top of the desk is varnished Plywood. The legs that slide under the couch have “castor cups” underneath to slide around the floor on. The body of the desk is 50mm by 25mm RHS (Rectangular Hollow Section Steel) painted with some shitty no undercoat paint, not the best choice as it isn’t great quality but it’s good enough for now.
I’ve already got heaps of couch time use out of the desk as well as been watching iView and weaving tutorials.
And the boy loves it too.
Your Organ Grinder 