Ink and Glue
  • Home
  • About I&G
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About I&G
  • Contact

a slithery, sinuous snake

8/31/2015

 
Picture
I wanted to create a snake toy that could bend and curve as well as an actual, live snake. I started with egg carton cups, since it's one of those materials that's free (this is a theme in my work), easy to find, and also easy to cut, glue, and paint. After some trial and error, I came up with this vibrant yellow serpent. You and your kids can make one, too. The process is straightforward but has a couple of tricky moments,  so grown-ups should be on hand to assist beginners as needed.



First, dissect a cardboard egg carton. I cut mine apart with the help of a craft knife and scissors. Trim each cup so they're roughly the same-ish. Then, paint them. I like acrylic paint for this because it provides a nice, opaque coat. I painted mine inside and out because I wanted them to look good for the blog, but it's fine to skip painting the inside.
Picture
Next, use a push pin to poke a hole in the center of each cup. Wiggle the pin around a bit to widen the holes.
Picture
Thread a steel yarn needle (I got mine at Joanns years ago; they're cheap) with sturdy cotton string or twine — the kind you get at a hardware store. Cut the length of the string to 12 to 16 inches, and knot the end.
Picture
Going through the inside of the cup, thread the first section — what will eventually be the tail — onto the string.
Picture
Pull the string all the way through so the knot is nestled inside. Dab a generous glob of tacky glue around the knot.
Picture
Picture
Thread the next section onto the string, sliding it to within an inch and a half or so of the first.
Picture
This is the awkward part: dab a nice glob of glue around and inside the hole of the second cup. Then, slide the cup down the string a bit, so it's sort of overlapping the first cup. (When the glue dries, the cup will be adhered in its place on the string.)
Picture
Picture
Picture
Continue with the rest of the cups. For a head, I painted one of the cups differently from the others, so I put that one on last. Adjust the spacing of the cups on the string as needed, then let it dry somewhere it won't be touched by an impatient child and/or used as a toy by a curious cat.
Picture
Trim the end of the string to about an inch from the cup. You can choose to knot it closely to the cup, or coat it with paint and separate the strands a little for a forked tongue. Glue on paper eyes (mine are Sharpie marker on scraps of watercolor paper).
Picture
Now, you could stop right here, and you'd have a perfectly functional, wiggly snake toy. It's not really designed to survive lots of hands-on contact, so I suggest adding some sticks and making it into a puppet.
Use a standard hole punch to make a hole at the base of the first and last cups.
Picture
Picture
Gently insert the eraser end of a pencil into each hole. A quarter-inch dowel would also work (and would probably look more sophisticated), but I had pencils on hand.
Picture
And here she is! This snake is super flexible, and is easy to move and slither all around the house.
Picture
Thankssss for sssstopping by!
xo
Denise
9/2/2015 02:30:51 am

This looks like so much fun to make! A. is obsessed with snakes and other reptiles these days...


Comments are closed.

    Categories

    All
    Christmas
    Easter
    Franklin Friday
    Halloween
    Have You Met?
    I Love Museums
    I Love Stuff
    I Love Vintage
    Inspiration
    My Projects
    Nature Craft
    Recycling Crafts
    Round Ups
    Thanksgiving
    Valentine's Day

    Archives

    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

    Author

    I'm Debbie Way, an artist and writer who enjoys making things.

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly