The Boy lost his first tooth last month. It caught us completely by surprise since it happened about 2 weeks after his 5th birthday. For you non-breeders, that's a bit young to start losing teeth. Most kids are about 6 when their choppers start wiggling loose.
The day his tooth came out I realized The Husband and I hadn't discussed what sort of Tooth Fairy-ish lore we were going to pass on nor had we even thought about how we were going to handle liberated teeth and their exchange for gifts or cash. When I asked The Husband about it, I got the stock response, "Whatever you want to do, baby."
Since I already knew I wanted to make The Boy's tooth receptacle (DIY or die!), I began googling for tooth fairy pillow patterns and inspiration. I came across a tutorial for an adorable Ballerina Tooth Fairy Pillow and decided I'd start there and alter it to suit our family aesthetic.
As I sat and read the instructions for the Ballerina Fairy, I realized the pocket in which the discarded teeth were to be placed was inside the fairy's mouth. Which begged the question ... "What kind of fairy eats teeth?"
The tooth fairies from Hellboy II crawled through my brain for a moment and I briefly indulged the idea of trying to recreate one of those before I came to my senses and remembered how terrifying they were. Evoking terror in my 5-yr-old wasn't my goal, but I was on the right track with regard to a lovely twist on the traditional lore.
Then it hit me: Zombies eat people. Surely they eat teeth as well. I mean really, have you ever seen a discerning zombie picking out icky bits before sinking teeth into dinner? Nope. Me neither. And it's no secret that I love zombies.
I printed the pattern for the Ballerina Fairy so I could use the overall shape but pretty much changed everything after that. I gave my zombie a gaping maw and embroidered around it to reinforce the mouth pocket and underscore his zombie-ish-ness with pale blue lips.
I also gave him goofy teeth and a scratch that he probably earned wrangling a meal. I decided he'd also lost an eye at some point, and embroidered an "x" where it should have been. I selected a blue button for the other eye to match The Boy's blue eyes.
And, of-course, no zombie would be complete without a large wound. This zombie was turned when someone went after his brains and left a large chomp out of his head. I used glittery red felt to represent glistening brain matter.
On the back I embroidered the words "Tooth Zombie", the date The Boy lost his first tooth, and his name (though I've edited that out). I was going for campy-cute and I think I achieved it. More importantly, I had a blast designing and creating this little Tooth Zombie and The Boy absolutely loves it.
He now knows, every time he looses a tooth, he needs to feed it to his Tooth Zombie. In exchange, the Zombie (whom we have yet to name) will leave a small gift for The Boy. This time, it was a new set of 3D reels for his View-Master - The Animals of North America.
Just thought I'd share my latest project and remind you all to watch out for those Tooth Zombies!
Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sewing. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
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