Siouxsie Sioux Tray

     One thing is for certain, I love art, and whenever I get the chance to, I have to incorporate my love for either music, hearses or cats into them. In this particular case, it's music. 

     This lovely lady is Siouxsie Sioux, the singer for Siouxsie And The Banshees, and The Creatures. I painted her about a year or two ago when I was still in high school and had free range of expensive art equipment. Our project was to make a type of tray or platter. I'll be the first to tell you I didn't know where I was going with this, all that was for certain is that this tray would have Siouxsie on it.

    At some point, I put on spiked handles, which even though at the time I knew it was a bad idea (how the heck are you supposed to carry that thing!?) honestly, I love how they look, and its much easier to carry then I originally thought it would be.

     At the last minute I realized it was kiln loading day and I hadn't put any design around the edges. I could have waited until next week, but as impatient as I can be, I would rather risk ruining something by quickly throwing it together at the last minute, then wait. I wanted the Eye of Horus, but couldn't remember in my mind exactly how it was, so an abstract eye shape became the corners, and badly done barbed wire became the edges. Though I'm still a bit angry with myself for not being patient enough to wait a week, I love how it came out.

Andrew Eldritch Painting

     Here's a Warhol inspired image I painted of Andrew Eldritch:

     For those who don't know, Andrew Eldritch is the singer for a band called The Sisters of Mercy. Though he is greatly accepted by the goth subculture, he distances himself from ever being called or considered goth. Whatever his reason, I still enjoy his music though he comes off as a bit egotistical. 

     I'm not much of a painter by any means, but I enjoyed working on this piece. You don't really have to be a good painter or drawer at all to do a Warhol style painting like this. its a great starting place for beginners in painting, and besides, it does look pretty cool. 

Crochet Octopus With Top Hat And Monocle

     For my first free tutorial I figured I would share my first and favorite creation, the Fancy Octopus! you can either make him with ball tentacles or spiral style tentacles. 

Materials:

• 5mm (H) crochet hook

• 3.75mm (F) crochet hook (needed for ball tentacles only

• Two colors of yarn

• Black pipe cleaner for eyes and mouth

• Sewing needle and thread to eyes, mouth, and monocle.

• Yarn needle

• Piece of wire and small amount of chain

• Stuffing

Body

Ch 2

Rnd 1: 8 sc in 2nd chain from hook (8 sc)

Rnd 2: ch 1, 1 sc in next stitch, 2 sc in next sc, around (12 sc)

Rnd 3: repeat Rnd 2 

Rnd 4: sc 1 in next two sc each, 2 sc in next sc,  around (24 sc) 

Rnd 5: repeat Rnd 4 (32 sc)

Rnd 6: sc 1 in next 3 sc each, 2 sc in next sc around (40 sc)

Rnd 7-9: sc in each sc around (40 sc)

-Make 2, but on one add this:

Rnd 10-12 sc in each sc around (40 sc)

Tentacles 

Ball tentacles (use 3.75mm)

Ch 1

Rnd 1: sc 3 in ch

Rnd 2: sc 2 in each sc around (6 sc)

Rnd 3: sc 2 in each sc around (12 sc)

Rnd 4: sc 2 in next st, 1 sc in next. (18 sc)

Rnd 5-7: sc 1 in each stitch around. (18 sc)

Rnd 8: sc 2 tog (decrease) sc 1 in next stitch. (12 sc)

Around this point you'll want to stuff your tentacles before they are completely closed.

Rnd 9: sc 2 tog (decrease) (6 sc)

Rnd 10: sc 2 tog. (3 sc)

Bind off.

(Make 8)

Spiral Tentacles

Ch 12

Row 1: dc 2 in 3rd ch from hook, dc 2 in each ch till end. (20 dc)

Bind off

(Make 8)

Top Hat

When I made this pattern, I always guessed on making the hat, and never remembered to write it down. in my attempt to recreate the top hat and also make it look better, I came up with this, using a 5 mm (H) hook.

Rnd 1: ch 1 and sc 8 in circle (8)

Rnd 2: ch 1 and sc into each st around through the back loop only (8)

Rnd 3: sc into each st around (8)

Rnd 4: sc into each st around (8)

Rnd 5: ch 1 sc 2 in each st around through front loop only (16)

Bind off.

Surgery (Putting Him Together)

     On one of the body parts (doesn't matter which one) take all the legs and pull the extra strings from them through the body with a crochet hook (or yarn needle) in an organized fashion so they all look neat and normal when he is sitting, and then tie them each individually inside.

     Use the same technique to put the hat on the opposite piece.

     Putting on the eyes and mouth were always the most difficult part to me, but you can make it easier and more sturdy by taking about a 3-4 inch piece of pipe cleaner and positioning each end of the eye or mouth where you would like, poke through the inside of the body part, and twist together (not too tightly) and to keep it more situated on the outside, take sewing thread of the same color and sew the eye or mouth down.

    Bend wire into a circle shape that fits around the eye for the monocle, and attach small chain to it. sew on monocle. the other end of the chain gets sewed into an area near the legs after you attach the body parts.

     The inside looks like a mess by this point, but lucky no one will have to see. now you can whip stitch the two body pieces together (remember to stuff him before he's completely closed!) and have your happy little fancy octopus!

Notes and Tips:

-Make sure you leave leg and hat ends long enough to tie them into the octopus.

-For of the body pieces, I would suggest leaving one end very long for when you have to whip stitch both body pieces together.

     Have any questions, problems, suggestions, or see mistakes about this pattern? you can email me and I can do my best to fix them and help you better understand with more pictures and explanations.

Thanks and enjoy!

This pattern was created by me and is not for distribution or resale.