Papier-mâché Middle-earth: Bag-end

I only made four of these; gifts for four of my favourite people in the whole wide worldiness – and that includes my parents who are wonderfully geeky. :)

Papier-mâché Middle-earth: Bag-end, by Soni Alcorn-Hender

Papier-mâché Middle-earth: Bag-end, by Soni Alcorn-Hender

Papier-mâché Middle-earth: Bag-end, by Soni Alcorn-Hender

detail

Papier-mâché Middle-earth: Bag-end, by Soni Alcorn-Hender

Like any proper Hobbit hole, the back is grassy.

Papier-mâché Middle-earth: Bag-end, by Soni Alcorn-Hender

I built the structures out of card and paper pulp, then sanded and primed them for painting. I also added a wash of sand paint for plaster texture.

Papier-mâché Middle-earth: Bag-end, by Soni Alcorn-Hender

I used an acrylic wash of ‘greens’ for the grass and foliage.

Papier-mâché Middle-earth: Bag-end, by Soni Alcorn-Hender

I painted little card terracotta tiles and glued them on individually around door and windows, then sealed with PVA (paper glue).

Papier-mâché Middle-earth: Bag-end, by Soni Alcorn-Hender

I used a thick green enamel for the famous front door in several layers for a wood panel effect, and of course a brass doorknob too!

Papier-mâché Middle-earth: Bag-end, by Soni Alcorn-Hender

Then I added little windows reflecting cosy colours, and painted the flowers with tiny pearls inserted for shiny. Et voilà.

Crochet Squeasel

What do you make for the dad who has everything?
A crocheted weasel. Naturally. Useful!

Not just a weasel but a ‘squeasel’, which started as a ‘squeaky weasel’, but in this context also means squeazy weasel, for it is a thing of squishiness. And it has slightly lopsided ears and tiny crocheted claws and everything.

I didn’t follow a pattern, I just looked at a picture of a weasel and tried to make the ‘inny and outty’ bits in the right places.

For my next project: the entire story of Lord of the Rings, and the Silmarillion, and the Hobbit, told in Squeasels. *shoots self in face*