Haunter Earring

Yup, I like pokemon, a lot.  So now I have a little Haunter that follows me around on the ear at all times.  

Above is the template for the 3 piece earring I designed.  Video as to how I did it available on the youtube channel.

Batgirl Utility Belt Part 2

Yup I'm going to be honest here.  This project kicked my butt.  It took way more time than I thought and it was so complex that it felt really difficult to explain each piece.  But it's done, and everyone falls down sometime, and in the near future I am sticking to the easier projects.

Below are all the patterns if you're trying this project, good luck! Feel free to ask me questions, I'll do my best to help!

The final pattern piece for the large pocket body should be 12 inches by 12 inches.  The whole image, the pocket is slightly smaller.

Good luck, and I'll see you this wednesday for an ON TIME EPISODE!  And blog posts... first ones in a while I know.  SORRY!  I fell down, I am back up and not planning on falling down again any time soon.

Batgirl Utility Belt Part 1

It's hard to not love the new batgirl costume.  From the snaps on the capes, to the fact that they specified no spandex.  Batgirl still looks like Batgirl, just a more possible Batgirl.  Mostly she looks like she's in a costume that I would actually enjoy wearing.  I also love the militaristic elements, cargo pockets on the belt and combat boots.

Above is the belt and leg holster pattern, the belt should be 2.75" and the leg holster should 2.5".  You're going to have to mark the pattern on the fabric and then move it down the fabric marking as you go until the piece is 1.5" x the circumference of the waist and leg.  They have a seam allowance of .5"

Then we have the belt end pattern and the two belt loops.  Ignore the belt loops until the second episode is up.  The belt end you want to put over the end of the straps once you have them the length that you want, make sure they're centered and staying nice and straight, they should be the same size as the belt patterns (2.5" and 2.75").  They also have a seam allowance of .5"

Alright on to the yoke pattern.  So this image should be 13" x 13", not the yoke itself the whole image.  You'll have to print it out in pieces an then tape it together once it's all out.  Make sure you cut out two of them and sew them together with a .5" seam allowance.

Come back next week to see the pockets, the belt loops, and the snaps.

Changing the Schedule

For those that don't know I got a job working at Instructables.com  They so far have been amazing employers who have given wonderful feedback to ensure I can properly do my job.

The one down side, and it's not a big one, is that they are having me work Saturday-Tuesday.  This is not a problem except they are 8 hour days.  The day I have normally been uploading my videos is on Sunday, right in the middle.  I tried to do it this week but unfortunately I just couldn't find the time to finish editing my video.  Therefore I am changing the uploading schedule to wednesday, and the blog schedule to wednesday and saturday.

Sorry for the late video, but my schedule changed and there's not much I can do about it but adapt.  Hopefully you'll adapt with me :)

Pokemon makes Bio majors, and Wishbone makes English majors.

Just about every biology major I knew in college remembers Pokemon fondly.  While people who loved Wishbone ended up in the humanities.  I have always found that concept interesting.

Whether the exposure the Pokemon causes people's interest in real world animals, or if possibly they're already inclined and therefore seek things like Pokemon out, it's undeniable that children's media has a huge impact on individuals the children will become.  For me personally, I loved both Pokemon and Wishbone, I ended up graduating with a major in English and minors in Biology and Theater.

So today I would like to talk about three pieces of children's television that I think had the biggest effect on me, and why.

The Magic School Bus:  This show might be my quintessential children's media.  Ms. Frizzle explained so many aspects of science, but she did it in a theatrical way.  It was hard to not become enthralled, not that I put up much a of a fight.  In fact when I was in biology classes as an adult, before a test while we were studying we would often find a relevant episode of The Magic School Bus.  Perhaps the best part was that while we had it on typically other people would wonder into our study zone and would then sit down to watch it with us.  No motivation of a test in the morning just the love for the fun antics of the yellow bus and it's crazy redheaded owner.

The Powerpuff Girls:  For me this isn't the whole show as much as one particular episode.  "Equal Fights" is an episode that involves a woman villain called Femme Fatale who only steal Susan B. Anthony coins.  She convinces the Powerpuff girls to not arrest her under the umbrella of feminism.  The Powerpuff girls go through a period where they oppress men, again under the umbrella of feminism, before eventually explaining the story of Susan B. Anthony in the most brutal way possible.  Enforcing upon a young me that feminism could go wrong, you can oppress men, and real feminism is about the taking the good with the bad in terms of equal rights.

Batman The Animated Series:  This is kind of hard to explain, I just loved the show.  For me it is the only accurate version of Batman in existence.  However, I think what had the most impact was how human everyone in the show was.  Villain and hero a like everyone had bad days, and had days where they had victories.  I remember feeling sorry for Harley Quin and feeling such joy from the friendship between her and Poison Ivy.  I also remember the sibling like interactions between Batgirl and the young Robin.  While at the same time seeing them as the tough crime fighters they were.  Everyone had a personality and everyone was believable in who they were.

I am hugely grateful to the creators of these shows.  I'm sure they are a large part of why I see the world in the way that I do.  As the next generations starts to appear in my life I know what I want to share with them, what I view as valuable lessons and valuable lesson vehicles.  In part it's all thanks to a group of people who like to draw cartoons.

And then life happened...

Sorry about the lack of blog posts.  It turns out my wisdom teeth are really bad at their job, and we're figuring out how bad they are after they've been out of my gums for quite some time.  So there will surgery eventually, but the way this was determined was contracted a nasty infection in my gums.  There was a lack of sleep and a good deal of pain.  Unfortunately the blog post fell through, sorry about that.  They'll be a real blog post tomorrow because I am currently recovering and no longer in pain.  YAY!

Steampunkifying

I've seen steampunk versions of more characters than I think I can count.  Above is a really awesome Rogue cosplay from Dragoncon 2009.  As more and more steampunk version of characters crop up there is an interesting resistance also formulating.

One person even had a such a huge resistance to it that he made a complete fool out of himself.  That's a whole lot of condescending exclusiveness to over look this awesome Duela Dent cosplay.

What I want to talk about though is why I like steampunk versions of characters.  There's a lot to be said for replicating a character.  It's difficult and so amazing when done well.  However steampunkifying a character I think uses a different set of skills that are just as impressive.

When doing a steampunk cosplay there's a matter of making a distinctively steampunk costume while still distinctively a particular character.  There's a lot of design skills involved, there's also the matter that in some sense your start more from scratch because there's usually not an image you're entirely going off of.

Here's what I love about steampunkifying though, it's an amazing equalizer.  Check out the lovely lady on the left in the picture above.  She's dressed as a steampunk batgirl, and although distinctively having more body than the comic original does't look any less authentic.  Or check out the Robin in the middle, she's wearing so much more clothing in non-tight fitting way than the original Robin.  Yet again, does not look any less authentic.

Steampunkifying is challenging in a different way than normal cosplay.  It also allows you to wear more covering clothing while still being accurate.  Lastly those who have a different body type than the original characters still can look amazing because victorian style often involved larger body types being hailed as attractive.

So to those who are resisting it, stop.  It's another way for people to express there love for a particular character, or fandom.  Steampunkifying isn't a bad thing, it's an amazing thing that brings more people into our community.  Let's make sure our community is actually awesome enough to deserve these amazing people.

Large Distressed Gear

I love steampunk, I mean I've spent days looking at different steampunk costumes and accesories.  I've designed more steampunk costumes for myself and others than I can actually count or even keep track of.  However, I really don't have a fully developed steampunk costume, I can just run into my closet take a few basic costume pieces out and create something steampunkish.  Which as a side note does have the effect of making it look like my closet threw up on me, cause it did.

So I have discovered that taking something victorian seeming and then adding a few gears will create a steampunk aesthetic.  You can buy gears either from the craft store or ebay but all of those gears of very small and new looking.  Very small gears work great for jewelry or for small accents, but if you're really trying to scream steampunk you need something bigger.  Not to mention all of those gears look very new, mostly because they are, which is not what I'm going for when I try out steampunk.

Therefore I set out to make a large distressed gear to be used as an icon pieces to complete an outfit.  Check out the video below to see how I did it.

Miss America

No, I'm not talking about the Beauty Title, nor will I ever.  Miss America is currently a comic book heroin who is a part of Young Avengers.  Ironically she has no connection to the Miss America from World War II who was essentially a female version of Captain America.  

Miss America is something else entirely.  First off, she's called Miss America because her legal name is America Chavez.  She doesn't go by the moniker to illicit American pride, or to spread the ideals of America.  It's just her given name and so converted to the moniker because apparently super heros need a cool name.

She's also very similar to Supeman in terms of base powers.  She's invulnerable, can fly, has super human speed, super human strength, and finally can kick holes in reality.  As in likes to travel between realities and take her allies with her.  She also likes to punch things and ask questions/assess later.  Lastly was raised in another dimension.

Why am I telling you all this?  Well first off, because Miss America Chavez is awesome, and secondly because I think she's the closest thing to Captain America that can be created now a days and survive.

Captain America's first issue came out a year before the Pearl Harbor Attack.  During this time period America was trying very hard to practice isolationism, after Pearl Harbor America decided to get involved with the world war.  The first issue has the extremely famous cover of Captain America punching Hitler right in the jaw.  From there on Captain America fought many enemies that were almost all politically connected somehow to the real world.  He also fought home issue, like not doing drugs.  He was America's ideal person, and also America's biggest advocate.  He was founded and was written during a time when American pride was high and when people were happy to read about a Super Hero telling the rest of the world why they should be like America.  

Now let's talk about the millennial generation, which is by the way, my generation.  I was raised during a time where I got told a president that didn't get elected was in charge, let my country get attacked, and then used my country to go to war with a country that was even harboring the person who attacked us.  To make it even better I was taught that the president who didn't get elected, got elected "again," but not by the people of the United States, but by a system that assumes that the populace is uneducated and can't be trusted to elect our leaders.  Cue the giant recession, and news media being oddly blaming of the generation that couldn't vote at the time.  From there we run into the latest iteration of slavery, aka needing to take an unpaid internship so that you can MAYBE be qualified to get a job.  Corporations being declared people and being told that your employers may be allowed to make decision on what they feel like paying for you medically speaking.  Student loans being higher than ever and Corporate and Upper Class taxes being lower than ever and then being told by the media that we're lazy and the country is doomed if we become in charge.  

Ok I'm done, I could go on, but I will try not to.  Shockingly most millennials do not seem to have particularly high American pride.  So if Captain America was created today I think it would have died, quickly, possibly loudly.  Miss America on the other hand first off is of latin descent and is bilingual, was actually raised not in our current America, and lastly she doesn't try to spread America being an awesome place.  She just tries to be awesome and then wears the stars and stripes.  Which I think at this point is what most people are trying to do.  They're trying to be awesome and hopefully pull America up with them.  

If, like me, you feel Captain America really doesn't speak to our current America, despite his current iteration being awesome in other ways, I highly recommend you check out Young Avengers.  Also if, like me, you think America has gone downward and deserves a second chance, go forth be awesome and try to take America with you.

Captain America Wing Hair Clips

I didn't like Captain America before the movie Captain America: The First Avenger.  I didn't see him all that often, which honestly may have been part of the problem.  He was really only around in my childhood when he guest starred on Spider-Man, the mediocre Spiderman animated series that was on when I was a child.

Whenever Captain America was around he was just really boring.  What I remember most was that the Black Cat was exposed to the same Super Soldier Serum that Captain America was in that series.  In my head he just seemed like a goody two shoe male version of one of my favorite characters in that series.  Before you get mad at me you have to remember in my childhood canon Black Cat came first, because I knew about her first, and that I was like 7.

Cue the new movies, which made fun of Captain America's origin story and put in the forefront that Captain America was in fact a form of propaganda.  Then they hooked him up with top quality writers who made his story very compelling, unfortunately lacking female characters, but compelling none the less.

So therefore this week I made something specifically honoring the Captain America from the new movies.  Captain America Hair Clips so that you can express your pride whenever you want.  For the project you will need the pattern below.

If you haven't yet, check out the video I made to show you exactly how I made them.

Why is The Nightmare Before Christmas so popular?

The Nightmare Before Christmas came out in 1993, at this point it is 21 years old.  If that makes you feel really old, you are not alone.

Yet for how old it is, it also is surprisingly immersed in modern culture.  Admittedly it was back when I was a teenager, 6-10 years ago, that I think Jack Skellington really became so popular.  The store Hot Topic essentially was a shrine to him and the movie for a while.  At this point Hot Topic has moved on, there aren't really very many items related to him anymore.  However hop on over to the Disney Store and you get a different story.   With over 50 products and an entire in park store dedicated to him it becomes clear that Jack Skellington still hasn't moved beyond his heyday.

Therefore we get to the question of why?  Why has The Nightmare Before Christmas become so all encompassing?  When similar movies such as The Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie have all but faded from our collective memories despite being so much more recent.

Well there does seem to be a strong correlation in how involved Tim Burton is with each of these projects and how successful it is.  When it comes to The Nightmare Before Christmas despite it being called "Tim Burton's" in all the advertisements it becomes clear upon doing any research that he wasn't that involved in the process.  Henry Selick was the director of the movie, Tim Burton was actually busy directing Batman Returns and Ed Wood at the time.  Tim Burton originally wrote a three page poem that the script was eventually based on and helped Danny Elfman write most of the lyrics.  After that he just put the players in place and left.  Tim Burton absolutely deserves credit for putting the team together and the original idea, but after that he's described as occasionally visiting the project and never for very long.

He sure does like to be seen as though he was involved doesn't he...

Corpse Bride and Frankeweenie however are both directed by Tim Burton, Corpse Bride was also co-directed by Mike Johnson.  Directing stop motion animation is time consuming in a way I think only archaeologists can really understand.  It takes a special brain to successfully direct a movie that is coming together in tiniest of pieces at the slowest of paces.  I conjecture that Tim Burton, talented though I think he is, does not have that special brain on board.

Then there is the simple matter of the story.  Jack Skellington's story is relatable in a way that is almost clandestine.  He's bored, he thinks he might want to do something else with his life, but he's afraid to let people down, while at the same he question when is he allowed to do something that's just for him.  Jack Skellington commits a selfish act in a way most people are guilty of committing at some point in their life.  Essentially he had a life crisis, typically associated with mid life, but in reality that crisis happens to everyone at almost any age.  I think teenagers are pretty much in that crisis all the time, hence why Jack Skellington is so popular in that age group.  It's also common for people in college, how many people switched majors at least once?  Lastly grown ups have this crisis as well, if you're in a career you will at some point question if it is really what you want to do.

However, the jewel of the story is this, Jack does the selfish act and tries something else and the end no real consequences are had, in fact Jack's life becomes much improved due to the celebration of Christmas coming to Halloweentown.  He also rediscovers his love for his life's work, scaring people.  This is the ideal ending for a life crisis and I think what everyone secretly hopes will happen when they go through such a life crisis.

Corpse Bride and Frankeweenie however do not have relatable stories on board.  Sure they're good fun, but the pacing is rushed and story just comes off as silly and unlikely.  As opposed to The Nightmare Before Christmas which is the same length as the other two and yet the story seems epic and phantasmagorical.

It's possibly that Jack Skellington and his story was nothing more than a fluke, a mix of the right people with the right script that just happened by chance.  Whether it was due more to chance than anything else or if it was due to hard work and talent it's still an amazing movie which I highly recommend everyone checking out.

Jack Skellington Measuring Spoons

I'm not going to claim that Disney doesn't use Jack Skellington to their fullest ability.  He's one of their most popular characters for all ages, he basically has his own store in Disney Land.  But when I saw some white ceramic measuring spoons he was all I could think about.

From there it was just the matter of figuring out to get details on.  I looked into the various sharpie mug pin that invaded pinterest.  What I discovered is that those really did not work, at least not that anyone could demonstrate.  Unless you used an oil based paint sharpie, which worked quite well.  Except it wasn't foodsafe, meaning I would have had to keep the paint away from anywhere I thought food was going to touch.  That definitely included the inside of the spoon which I had planned for his face.  From there I turned to google which brought me to Set To Celebrate a company that specializes in event stuff. On their website they had a foodsafe ceramic paint pen in black, it was PERFECT!

Once I got my two weird items together this craft when incredibly well, it took me all of 15 minutes to make all the spoons and then I just had to let them dry for 24 hours.  Plus look at how well they turned out!  I seriously jumped up and down once they were all drawn out I was so excited at how cute they became.

Want to see how I made these spoons?  Check out the video below!

The paint pen can be found here.

Gender Neutral Games

There's something rather unique with Plants vs Zombies within that it is one of the few games that never asks you identify with a gender.

Most games don't ask, they just assume that you're male, or comfortable being identified that way, and the the story begins.

Now some of that has to do with the fact that not so long ago most of the individuals who played video games were male, so it wasn't seen as a problem to have most video game protagonist match their perceived players.  Hence why it takes until Pokemon LeafGreen and FireRed to be able to play as a female trainer in the Pokemon series.

But even now a days most games assume you're male or at least totally fine with playing a male character.  To be completely honest, that bugs the crap out of me.

If you look on the internet it actually bugs the crap out of a lot of people.  That particular aspect is not what I'm really interested in talking about today though, annoying though it is.

The situation I want to talk about is that video games are reinforcing gender stigma and double standards by asking each player their gender and then having that change game play.  One of the minor examples is from Animal Crossing where if you identify as a girl you can only wear a dress.  Boys also can only wear a shirt and pants

Oh great we're back in the 1950's, bravo.  It's not that asking for gender isn't a step forward, having the option to play as a female is quite a change actually.  However, quite often it causes as many awkward problems as it solves.  The certain type of armors female can wear has been spoken of many times on the internet.  

There's also something that's not very inclusive about demanding a gender from the player.  There those individuals that don't identify as one or the other, or there is just simple matter of being a girl wanting to play a girl but not wanting the male NPCs to hit on you.  Thank you very much I get enough of that unwanted attention in real life, I really don't want it in my fantasy one either.

The reason I bring this up is because I believe actively treating female identifying protagonist different reinforces aspects of video game culture that often makes females free unwelcome.  

There is an argument for the difference in gender treatment known as "story integrity," meaning that the story is dependent on the character's gender and must be changed if the gender changes.  My response to that is, really?  The story of a video game is THAT dependent on the main character's gender?  WHY?  Explain it to me, slowly if you think it will help, why that character absolutely has to be a male or must be treated different if it's a female?  

Is it cause they have to rescue a princess and it must love interest?  Because girls never have love interests that are also girls, nope that like never happens.

Is it cause the main character has to be believable strong?  Because girls are not as strong as men, none of them, there are no exceptions to that rule.  Every single woman is weaker than every single man.  

Is it cause of historical integrity?  Because that game was already so historical accurate.  You could always jump off a cathedrals and have no damage as long as you landed in a haystack.  

Is it cause programmers would require so much time to actual render a female character?  Maybe, they probably haven't seen a real female in a while, at least not that I can tell from looking at their games.

So yay Plants vs. Zombies for not asking my gender, and for not having Crazy Dave hit on me if I identified as a girl.

Plants vs Zombies Sunflower Cake

Yup I love Plants vs Zombies, the movie Zombieland, and flourless chocolate cake.  Flourless chocolate cakes are really delicious and moist so I've never felt the need to ice them. With this cake I used milk chocolate to keep the cake a light brown so that the black details would still be visible. If you want to ice the cake go ahead and ice it. But I like lazy cooking, and this is my lazy cooking turning out something pretty.

The twinkies I think make surprisingly awesome petals in my opinion.  They also allow me to reference another zombie franchise that I am quite fond of.  

Want to know how I did it?  Check out the video!

Why Princess Peach doesn't bug me

Oh Princess Peach.  She's one of the oldest female video game characters while at the same time probably the most archaic.  She is someone that many female gamers have a real problem with.  Being the most visible female video game character she is almost always a damsel.  The one time she wasn't and she had her own game, her super power was being emotional.  Basically they made a game about how Princess Peach uses her PMS to defeat monsters.  *sigh* This did not help female gamers feel welcome in the gamer community.

I can never over look how unwelcome female gamers often feel, and I can't really deny that Princess Peach plays a large role in why they're unwelcome.  However, Princess Peach doesn't bug me.

Why?  Well first off let's start off with her often being a damsel.  At this point it's clearly kind of joke to the Mario game creators.  They come up with some reason that Princess Peach is kidnapped and then Mario has to go through the levels to save Princess Peach.  With the exception of Super Mario Bros 2 which kind of wasn't really Mario game in some senses.  Mario games have a very set storyline and it's extremely simple.  Arguably if you changed one of the really major factors in such a simple story it wouldn't be a Mario game anymore.

On top of that Princess Peach is playable character in the RPG Mario Series, along with the Paper Mario Series.  She still sometimes needs to be rescued depending on the specific game, but she has her own powers and abilities to aid in the story.

That's not why she doesn't bug me though.  The reason she doesn't bug me is cause she's a representation of a type of girl.  I knew girls who loved her game, they loved that it was pink and girly, and they loved that her crying and her rage was a strength.  In current society women are presented as overly emotional and it's seen and detriment.  I knew girls who felt empowered by Super Princess Peach.

The problem isn't that Princess Peach exists in my opinion.  The problem is that she's so all encompassing because video game creators do not seem particularly interested in created other female video game characters.  We need female video game characters that are as varied as the male characters.  Honestly until that happens, female will probably continue to feel unwelcome in the world of video games.  I vote we stop sending all the hate to Princess Peach because that can make other female gamers feel unwelcome and send it where it's deserved.  At the actual game creators.

Mario Mushroom T-Shirt Recon

I love the concept of cutting up old t-shirts and crafting them into something more fashionable, or at least less boxy.  The problem I always ran into was that so many t-shirt recons, either from books or internet, involved either showing your bra or not wearing them. 

When I was into t-shirt reconing the most I was 16.  My high school could have sent me home for showing my bra, and honestly 16 year old me wasn't comfortable with not wearing a bra.  On top of that so many of the recons just involved cutting the t-shirt up in various creative ways.  Although this can look awesome, it doesn't always feel very stable on your body.  Another no no for self conscience 16 year old me in fact still a no no to this day.

So when I decided I was doing a t-shirt I did it for a body conscience person like myself.  This is very stable, it will stay on without the straps but with the straps it's bullet proof.  It also covers all sensitive areas thoroughly.  Lastly, if I do say so myself, it looks pretty darn cute. 

Below are the patterns for appliques.  The squares should be 1" X 1" while the eye pieces should be 1.5" wide X 6.5" long.

Lastly if you want to see how I made the Mario Mushroom shirt check out the video below!

Soot Sprite Earrings

Oh my goodness how to explain the impact Miyazaki has had on my life.  I was watching and obsessing over his work before I even knew what anime was.  I remember loving My Neighbor Totoro and watching Kiki's Delivery Service repeatedly.

Miyazaki and Walt Disney are probably the movie creators that had the most impact on my childhood, and how I view the world now.  To this day I can't resist adorable creatures who are clearly mostly there as comedic relief.  The soot sprites are one of the few side kicks from my childhood that I consistently feel zero guilt about loving.

They're so cute! It helps that the movies that appear in are so engaging and wonderful in other ways, but mostly it just reminds me of fond days of my childhood getting lost in Miyazaki's worlds.  

So this week Soot Sprite Earrings with the sugar stars we see them eat in Spirited Away.  Check the video out below!

If you're curious I used black Palette yarn from knitpicks.com  I can not recommend knitpicks.com enough.  Awesome yarn, great shipping time, and wonderful customer service.

Why Mrs. Potts deserves more credit

Alright so Disney is rather all encompassing, as in you probably watched multiple of their creations during your childhood.  Or if you're me, almost all of them even into my adulthood...  Given that knowledge about me you probably are not surprised to learn that I have a lot of opinions about Disney.  Today we're going to stick to Beauty and the Beast.

In the Disney canon almost all main characters don't have a full set of parents.  Even the ones that do, etc. Rapunzel, the parents don't really have an affect on the film.  This has everything to do with the fact that Disney likes to adapt fairy tales/fairy tale styled pieces.

For whatever reason there was a huge trope in the 1600's within the folklore of having the protagonist of the tale be orphans.  I think it actually entirely has to do with the guilt of the time period for what happened to orphans.  There wasn't really any sort of structure in place so either the orphans found a way to work for food/money, if their family was well connected it was possibly that they would become a ward to another family, or possibly would just end up begging on the street.  With all three possibilities there was never a guarantee that any said situation would be pleasant.  I think because of this cultural knowledge people displaced their guilt by telling these phantasmagorical story about orphans that did extremely well.  

Despite that lack of parents being overly common in Disney's inspiration source they still managed create an awesome maternal character in Mrs. Potts.  She and her child is turned into china, I can't imagine not having a break down if that happened to me.  Mrs. Potts however just continues on being a parent because that's what she had to do for her child.  She provides the feminine mature adult voice in the story.  Belle's father occasionally provides the counter part of the masculine mature adult voice but isn't as active as Mrs. Potts is.  It's an important voice to note because such females are rare in Disney.  Most older females, aka not princesses, in Disney's canon are evil.  Mrs. Potts breaks this rule.

She also actually looks old.  Another truly unique trait in the Disney canon.  Check out Rapunzel's mother, she doesn't actually look like she could have 18 year old daughter does she?  On top of all that she has a body type that is not common in the positive characters database over at Disney.  Most of individual who are not stereotypical attractive are evil or stupid.  Mrs. Potts is neither, she's friendly and very competent.

If you haven't watched Beauty and the Beast since you were a kid, give another view.  It's beautifully animated, has a story worth watching, and the cherry on top one of the best representations of a female that Disney has ever done.

Mrs. Potts and Chips Necklace

Mrs. Potts has always been one of my favorite characters and she one of the few Disney mothers that we really get to know.  On top of that she's a teapot, I never got into coffee so tea runs through my veins.  Not to mention that the movie Beauty and the Beast won two Oscars the year it came out along with a slew of other awards and nominations.  So I really like this project and what inspired it basically.

Below is the template that I made.  Mrs. Potts is a coloring book page that I found online, and Chip is actually a paper craft I think used with the Cricut paper cutting machine.  You want to make sure to size it so that Mrs. Potts is around 4.7 inches  to be the same size as necklace I made.

Didn't see the episode?