All my felt crafting started with a busy book. It was a Star Trek TNG busy book, to be exact. I bought a pattern off Etsy, and made my first project.
But, you see, I'm kind of a Star Trek superfan. I kept thinking of scenes and characters that I wanted to add to the book. So I designed my own pages and added to it. Eventually I had to split the busy books into TNG and TOS. But I digress.
I also love other geeky things. So I designed and made a Monty Python Flying Circus busy book. Behold!
The cover page is pretty basic, so dive in after the jump!
This page zips open and reveals a finger-puppet crew. I'm learning zippers, so you can see that the zipper construction is really messy. In the future, I'm also going to make the castle smaller to account for the eyelet space--since cutting through x layers of felt to do the eyelet is kind of a pain.
The puppet crew consists of: 1 castle knight, 1 French knight, the 3-headed knight, Tim the Enchanter and King Arthur. I could have maybe done more, but knights aren't that distinct--i.e. it's tough to tell a Galahad from an Arthur in finger puppet form.
Here you can put your hand in the coconut halves and simulate your click-clack ride to Camelot.
The clicking effect was achieved by sewing in two wooden buttons. I'm quite pleased with the overall effect, though other materials could be used.
Inspired by the scene of the prisoner hanging in the dungeon and clapping while the knights sing "Knights of the Round Table", these hands are on buttons (hidden under the wrist restraint) so they can move and "clap" together.
But all the chain links are also velcro pieces, so you can practice making a chain.
The Knight who says Ni wants you to bring him a shrubbery--but not too big and not too expensive.
So I made this page into a velcro "sorting"/puzzle page--you can nest the shrubberies inside one another to get the perfect size.
This may be the most morbid page--I invite you to "bring out your dead". And a few of the dead are pretty happy about that. The wheel is on a button and can spin around.
But it's also a puzzle! I put velcro on the pieces so you can stack them up according to the stitched outlines. The outlines--hand stitched--kind of took forever!
This, I think, is my good-in-concept, lacking-in-execution page. The scale is on a button and you can move it up and down. You can also put different objects on the scales (a duck, wood, a newt, etc.). However, I had to reinforce the scale afterward with a piece of plastic, because otherwise it was just floppy.
It's the black knight! Who really wants to fight you!
But he's really bad at it. So all his limbs snap off.
And I especially love his little red undies and the red yarn "blood" spurting.
Meet the Lady of the Lake--who will hand you the sword that makes you king! (I.e. A watery tart distributing swords.)
A paperclip and string on a dowel make up the fishing rod for this page--and you have to hook yourself your sword (or some SPAM, if you'd prefer).
This is another "great idea, would execute a bit differently" page. In the pocket are a bunch of numbers and formula pieces. They velcro on to a strip up top--so you can replicate the actual formula (listed on the pocket) or you can just play around with some math.
It's the rabbit with the big pointy teeth!
His jaw is hinged on a button, so you can open his mouth and brush his big pointy teeth. (Toothbrush not pictured).
Probably my favorite page. It's the Black Beast of Aaaarrrggghhh! Look at his little googly eyes and his open mouth...
Which has devoured 5 knights and peasants! The victims can be counted and pulled in and out of his mouth-pocket via the ribbons.
Oh Sir Galahad. Always getting into trouble in the castle of young maidens. His shirt unlaces...
And you can see that he's pretty ripped. I don't blame the maidens.
It's time to discover what's really inside the Trojan Rabbit... (Its button wheels spin too.)
And we get a cross-sketch/movie surprise. It's the Spanish Inquisition! (I bet you didn't suspect that...no one ever does...)
But then the next flap opens and you see that there's really no one there. As in the movie, they forgot to put anyone inside!
The last page utilizes elastic to fling livestock at the taunting French Knight. Or he can fling the livestock down at you. Whichever.
Fin.
No comments:
Post a Comment