Hawaiian Tiki Masks and Door Decor

Since I'm very much in love with Hawaiian stuff, I've been creating Hawaiian-themed decorations for my room, one of which is a set of four papier-maché Tiki masks and a bedroom door guardian. My inspiration for these Tiki gods comes from the ones featured in Disneyland's "Enchanted Tiki Room".

Meet Disneyland's Tiki gods!

I chose to make Tangaroa, father of all Tiki gods, large enough to fit my door… Similar to the doors featured in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas when Jack walks into the woods and stumbles upon the different holiday doors. Then I picked four of the other gods to hang masks of their faces in each of my closet doors. Pele, Hina Kaluua, Ngendei and Tangaroa Ru were the chosen ones.

All of the masks and the door decor are made out of papier-maché with a cardboard base. First I traced and cut each of the silhouettes out of a sturdy cardboard. Then I rolled and flattened 2-3 centimeter newspaper tubes of several lengths. I taped them accordingly in order to create the base forms for the facial features and the face edges. Later the papier-maché magic started, glueing lots of newspaper and toilet paper strips to make the Tiki form. After covering all the needed parts, the Tiki gods were let to dry for a couple of days.

Once dry, the painting process began. I chose several colors and alternated them between the masks. I followed some of Disneyland's colors such as the pink and purple lanterns that hang from Tangaroa. After the paint dried I added a special detail with neon glow paint on the masks' eyes. Then I hung them on the closet with yarn and attached the door decoration using four thumbtacks.

Now you can make your own Enchanted Tiki Garden in an easy and simple way!

The Little Prince Figurine

My boyfriend is a huge admirer of the book "The Little Prince" by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry. One day we decided to make clay sculptures, just for the fun of it, and I decided I would make him a Little Prince figurine. He loved it so much that he placed it on his bedroom's shelf, displaying it as a book keeper.

It took me a week to make the figurine. I molded it on a Saturday, let it dry for the whole week, and painted it the next weekend.

I made the torso and legs as a whole body piece. The rest was made separately: arms, hands, cloak, lapels, belt, head, hair and flower. Then everything was attached using a technique I learned back in my pottery lessons, consisting in tracing diagonal lines and wetting generously both areas to be attached, after which both pieces should be connected carefully.

I flattened the Little Prince's "feet" and molded the cape to support the statue to remain standing. I also made a small hole on the figurine's upper right hand before setting it above a shelf, where it received enough air and sunlight to dry properly.

Normally clay figures should be baked, but since I don't have a pottery oven I simply let it dry naturally. After that I picked the right colors of acrylic paint (special for painting pottery) and proceeded to paint everything with small brushes. I also covered a toothpick with silver paint and stuck it in the figurine's right hand hole. I finally let the Little Prince dry for a couple more days.

Jack Skellington Piggy Bank

A friend once asked me to paint a piggy bank for a charity project hosted by the company were she worked. You see, that company (ARS DDB) conducts a yearly auction during Christmas called "Navidarte", which works as a fundraiser for the Children's Orthopedic Hospital. ARS hands out plain ceramic piggy banks to national artists and company employees, who commit themselves to paint, embelish and fix the pigs however they wish. Every year people go online on this web page, where they can see the piggies, choose their favorite and bid on it in favor of donating to the kid's hospital.

The piece they hand out is a smooth, cute, clay baked pig; a basic figure good enough to work on it from a basic perspective (such as simply painting it) or taking it to a next level by adding elaborate parts and details.

After mentally going through some options and consulting with my friend, I decided to make a classic Jack Skellington piggy bank.

Here's a brief step-by-step:

1. Since I didn't need to mold the piece, I simply proceeded to draw the guide lines with a pencil: Facial features, body parts and suit stripes.
2. Following that same order I painted the face, legs and tail white, while the rest of the pig got black paint. I gave it a couple of coats to make the colors stronger.
3. With a tiny brush I painted the eyes, fingers and other facial features. Then I let it dry for a day.
4. To make Jack's signature pinstripe suit, I carefully retraced all the fine suit lines with a white colored pencil.
5. I carefully covered the pig with a generous coat of white glue, which would make it shinier while protecting the paint job.
6. For a finishing touch, I made Jack's iconic bat tie cutting it out of sturdy cardboard and painting it black. I then attached it below the pig's chin with thin, super sticky, double-sided tape.

So there you have it! My finished Jack Skellington piggy bank. A true bone daddy.