I'll eat you up I love you so.

My favourite book as a child was Where the Wild Things are by Maurice Sendak.

Richard bought me a copy of the book several years ago and I have shared with Tilly from an early age. When she came home from school with a project about sharing a family member's favourite childhood story, she already knew which one it was for me.

We decided to do a puppet show of the story. I was really impressed with Tilly, who sketched out the scene backdrops. We filmed the puppet show on my phone and used a package called Magisto to create the finished film. It was very easy for Tilly to use, adding music, graphics etc. Here is our finished product . I love it.

I'd bought Mima a new Rabbit onesie as her other onesie had grown too small. As I was watching her in her rabbit onesie, I thought how simple it'd be to adapt it into a Max costume. ..

I bought Tilly a rabbit onesie the next day. While I was there I saw a big pair of white slipper boots for a £1.

I took a trip to the local charity shops for other bits and pieces and I found the most amazing grey and black scarf, it had a hole in so I got it for 50p! A trip to the other local charity shops saw me end up with two more fluffy scarves, a cream one and a brown one. I bought a square of brown felt and some big buttons.

I'd pitched the idea to Tilly and she was excited but I'd told her that she had to help make it.

We cut off the pink heart rabbit tail and sewed on the grey scarf (in half). We couldn't work out how to make the whiskers but pipe cleaners were the perfect solution. I've had to sew a small piece of white felt over the inside of the ends to stop it from scratching Tilly's face.

We cut open the floppy ears and inserted a cut triangular shape from an old tonic bottle and sewed them back up. This made the ears stand up.

The cream scarf was cut up and sewn over the tummy to cover the pink heart. I added the four big buttons on the front for decoration.

I cut some felt triangles and sewed them at the bottom to make them more claw like, then added them to the slipper boots.

It wouldn't be complete without a wild thing. I got a large punch balloon and paper mached it several times. I have form in this area! Once it was thick enough. I'd gathered some useful artefacts, empty cat food containers, paper bowls, masking tape and newspaper. Tilly and I added the cat bowl eyes, a screwed up newspaper for a nose and then the paper bowls for the top lip. 
We paper mached them into position and added eye bags, eye lids and more definition on the top lip.
Once dry, we cut a hole for the head. The seeing holes are the nostrils!

I painted the basic paint colour on the head and then Tilly came to add the definition again, red nose, yellow eyes and the black lines. We shaped the teeth with scissors.
We cut up our brown scarf and glued it to the head. Ta daa.

Of course, once it was finished we went out into the garden to have a wild rumpus and Tilly dangled from the trees!

Awesome.

Giant Octonaut heads

Here is my whole set of paper mache Octonaut heads. They have been modeled on giant punch balloons (hence their size), they are all hung with string.  

All you need is newspaper, flour and water paste and a few other bits and pieces of junk (empty plastic bottles, paper plates and bowls). 

I started with Shellington.  Basic shape, done a few layers at a time. Cut a polystyrene bowl in half and placed on each side for ears, papered into position.  The hat was an old cereal box which I folded around and then another upturned bowl put inside. The hair and nose balls are just screwed up molded newspaper. 

 He then ended up looking like this: 

To place the string inside each head (and take the balloon out) I put my hand in the hole to one side. I'd threaded the string through an old lid of some sort to give it more strength inside the head too, that helps support the weight when hanging.  Then just paper over the hole.  Below is Captain Barnacles getting his string and Captain Barnacles and Peso prior to painting. 

 

Kwazii had a minor drying injury though, the weight of the wet paper made his head cave in a little. He needed a bit of surgery the next day to push out (luckily I had to put his string in anyway). 

I did the easy characters first, Shellington, Barnacles, Peso and Kwazii. I wasn't going to do the others but then I had the spare balloons, the time and the free papers kept falling on the mat.  

I did Tweak first, making her ears from a 2ltr Coke bottle cut in half lengthways, you also need to cut into the head to secure it slightly with this way too or else you'd never get it to stay up whilst drying.  As I added the paper to the bottle the weight dragged them outwards, so I had to bind them with string while they dried. 

For Dashi I cut a milk carton in half lengthways and masking taped it to her form. 

Professor Inkling was simple, some cardboard (an old cat food container) cut to the shape of his ears and cut into the head and papered stiff.  The only other extras for him were a collar (although they all have collars I thought his was most important, more defining in his body shape).  I added a Pringles lid to the eye for his monacle and stuck a short piece of string between it and the collar. 

Tunip was last but not least. He was formed from a large normal balloon, as he is smaller than the others. His limbs were just pieces of an old cereal box cut into shape and papered into place. His green top was more complicated, it looked great at first but the weight of the paper made it sag a little. 

So now, I am the proud owner of a set of Octonauts.  Not sure what to do with them. I did originally consider wearing them as a head, like Frank Sidebottom but I'm not sure how they'd stay on. I think I may put them in the loft and save and hope that Jemima likes them in the summer and they may come down for her birthday party too.