When the winds howl, and the doors slam, you know you need a door stop. Introducing Chiki Tiki, the mega 6kg door stop .. who pulls faces at the wind.
How to Make Mix Media Door Stop
This rough sketch keeps me on track as work progresses. Even when the final outcome is nothing much like the sketch!!!
For that reason I have attached a thumbnail version of this sketch to most of the following photos.
This material is from a recycled pile of fabric I got a long time ago from Reverse Garbage, NSW.
Sorry the picture is not very clear but you can more or less see the outline.
Note:
a box of “handmade components” is very handy indeed. Mine consists of things I attempted, things that never got finished, experimental pieces, and just generally things that you would never think could be made into anything. These components are all ideal for mix media creations 😀
In this instance, because the base material I chose looks like it could fray, I closely hand-stitched all round the door stop outline. That should help diminish danger of fraying.
Only after that do I cut around the outline.
Important:
Leave a seam all round outline as you cut. Cut both the front and back pieces together. If there is a distinctive front and back sides to fabric, make sure that the right sides are facing together when you cut.
Prepare the components. If necessary, finish them off to the desired level for use in this door stop.
The 2 handmade cabs here – I will using them as eyes. They were made a long time ago. An experimental phase. They are made from wooden buttons and Swarovski crystals and pearls. They were only partially finished at the time. I got “called away” by other projects.
Play around with the placement of your various components till they seem kind of satisfactory.
In this type of free form work, it is not always possible to determine ahead of time all the various components you will need.
Trust that various touches and tweaks and what you will need for them will come to you as you work along.
Choose coloured fabric for front. My fabric is again recycled materials.
Use the cut base fabric as a cutting template.
Once you have played around with what the main materials are to decorate the front, sew them down. Add any embellishments you think might work.
Remember that you are not sewing onto the front and back of the door stop – you are just working with the front piece.
If you decide to have ears for your door stop, prepare and set the ears. Cut the ears according to the shape and size you want.
Remember that if you have 2 (or more!) ears, then do them now as well.
We want to attach the ears to the front piece before the front and back are sewn together.
To do that, after you have determined the placement you want (as in the previous photo), flip the ears inwards. Tack down securely.
After this, you can sew the front and back pieces of the door stop together securely.
Here I have decided (mid-stream) to have an additional inner back piece to my door stop. I felt that the back base material might not be quite strong enough. I intend to put quite heavy stuffing into this door stop.
So I cut another piece of material that is going to go inside and as a second backing to the back material.
When you are ready to join both the front and back pieces of the door stop, pin, tack and sew along the outline.
Make sure that no loose pieces (from the front piece), e.g. the floppy ears, are caught inbetween the pieces as you sew them together.
Leave an opening for the stuffing. I left an opening at the bottom.
Turn the door stop inside out.
Not all the components are sewn on before the front and back are sewn together.
The astute among you might have noticed that the door stop at this stage does not have the neck lace banding that the finished item has.
I attached the lace banding after the front and back pieces were sewn together because the banding goes all the way round Chiki Tiki door stop.
I have tons of spare economical seed beads from the days when I ran a business. I could not bear to throw them away even though they weighed a ton.
Well, they have come into good use now. I used about 13 packs of seed beads for the stuffing. That is almost 6kg. Chiki Tiki doorstop is one heavy dude!
You can use any heavy material for your stuffing of course. As long as they are not big and bulky (e.g. large rocks), it will be quite all right.
The head of Chiki Tiki doorstop is not filled with seed beads. Instead I stuffed in part of my collection remnant yarns, threads, fabric, and fluff. Recycle! Recycle! Recycle!
Just be a bit careful when you put in your stuff, especially towards the end. You want your door stop quite full but with enough ease so that you can close up the opening without having the stuffing fall out.
Detailed Photos of Chiki Tiki - the heavy, quirky doorstop
Chiki Tiki insists that he does not look so over-weight when he is lying down. Personally, I think he is just feeling a bit lazy. However, here are some photos of him taking a lie down.
Some more detailed Close-up Photos
Chiki Tiki bids you farewell.
