Well, we’ve all been there, and I have a lot coming up. The car MOT, road tax and insurance has just had to be paid, there’s a summer holiday coming up and a residency at the Edinburgh Fringe once again this year where, like any business, one must invest a lot before any profit can be made. So, why am I telling you this. Well, just like you my Star Wars collecting need MUST be scratched but for the next few months there are other life commitments that need to be met. Well, never fear. Sure, there are eBay bargains to be had but my fiancé has turned me onto crafting Star Wars collectables at home recently and it’s proven a fun thing to do together, and they’ve slotted into the collection quite nicely next to some other one-of-a-kind items. Below, we’ll take a look a few of the projects and how they don’t need to break the bank.
Star Wars Easter Eggs
An easy one to do and all you need is some paint and to remember what it was like to be five years old. Any paint would do, of course, but you can get a box of paint pens that will really do the job and any varnish you have lying about will come in handy to keep any scratches forming on the paint. Just a heads up – I did the easy ones of Boba and Mando. Like anything here, using a free template online is your best bet of how to do the detailing.
Total cost: a six pack of eggs.
Total time: 90 minutes
Star Wars Peg People
Now, these people have become some of my favourite things and memories over the past year. We painted these people whilst watching the Wimbledon final last July and it was a blast. Again, its just paint pens and a sharpie for detail and some varnish to help finish it off. This was a ton of fun and really went in well to the collection.
Total cost: pack of peg dolls for £10
Total time: 2 ½ hours
Star Wars Toilet People
Okay, so I may have just told a white lie as we created these characters last weekend and these are my absolute favourite for their oddity, funniness and how much fun we had making them. We did pick up a few extra materials from the pound shop such as some pipe cleaner and googly eyes but everything else was lying around the house. I crafted Luke and Han whilst Kristina made Leia and R2 and the fun thing here was that we really had to get creative with C-3PO as he was proving tricky and so he was a joint effort. A few of them took a little trial and error as I’m quite surprised how into it you can get with the detailing and wanting it to be right. These are going on display after all. And, obviously, these are just loo rolls collected over the past few weeks.
Total cost: £3 (not including loo roll as we needed those anyway)
Total time: 2 hours
Star Wars Yoda Plush
This was used from felt that was left over from Christmas from various gifts and decorations and the stuffing was used from an old toy. I can take no credit here as this was a little gift off the other half. I have no talent or skill with it comes to stitching and that is that. He does look ace next to the life-size Yoda, however.
Total cost: £0 (used whatever was around the house)
Total time: 90 minutes
Star Wars Coke Bottle
Another fun one using a cheap pack of playdough and crafting whatever came to mind was this coke bottle. All it needs is a little imagination.
Total cost: £0
Total time: 30 minutes
Star Wars Jawa
Okay, here’s the daddy of them all. Last Christmas, Kristina and I set about what to get each other for the Christmas and one of us mentioned we should each make something just for fun. So, I cheated a little as I made a photo album of all our adventures and only had to stick the pictures in the book but Kristina went all the way and made this little, yet not so little, Jawa. She dyed the fabric, paper mâché some balls for the body and made a little belt. The light up eyes, I’m told, were a pack of 50 off Temu. As soon as I opened him on 25th December I thought he was the bee’s knees and I hope you’ll agree too. The best compliment I could give him, and I meant it, was that if I’d have seen him at a toy fair then I’d have paid a few quid for him.
Total cost: No more that fiver I’m told
Total time: I’m told not long at all
We’ve got a few ideas in the works over the summer on quiet days off and whatever we come up with next then I’ll be sure to share with you as there’s some cracking ones here to keep any little ones entertained during the upcoming school holidays.
