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Pearl makes monsters

Pearl Sutton

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posted 4 years ago

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For Halloween this year I'm giving out monsters; paper monster puppets, to be exact. I want to encourage kids to be creative and imaginative, not to eat stuff that's bad for them.
A few years ago I made these and gave out a few to kids...

This year I'm making more. And hoping to corrupt others to doing so too!!

You need a piece of paper, scissors.
The paper will get cut to be square, folded to have creases going certain ways to make it fold right and to mark where you are folding to. I marked my folds with a pen so you could see them you do NOT want to do that, it was just for pictures.
In Origami, folds that poke up are HILL folds, folds that go down are VALLEY folds. The folds on this that go diagonal I call X folds, the ones that go up and down and across I call + folds.
I'll put any needed commentary between the pictures....
You start by making the X and + folds

Then lay the page right, and fold corners to center, flip it, corners to center again. Straighten and fluff it, and it's done.

If you look at that and think "that's HARD!!" I think that if you try it, you'll find it makes sense really fast. Variants on this have been used by young girls in school for many years, takes a 3rd grade girl a couple minutes to learn this.

I wanted to make a bunch, so I got 15 sheets of paper, folded the first corner and cut off the ends, then timed how long it took me to fold the stack. 14 minutes, so each one took me a bit less than a minute.

Decorating them will take me much longer than folding did :D
I'll post pics as they get done.
They need eyes, tongues, fangs, ears, spots, stripes whiskers etc....

I think this is a MUCH better thing to give out for Halloween!

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Well made buildings are fractal -- equally intelligent design at every level of detail.
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Pearl Sutton

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posted 4 years ago

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And I got tired of making them quickly, so this is what I came up with with...

Nancy Reading

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posted 4 years ago

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Oh I remember making those! Although mine were never in pretty colours - just whatever paper I could get hold of. I seem to remember that we used them for fortune telling, there was a rhyme you could say and then you unfolded one of the flaps (which had little messages written underneath). Of course since you were the one that had written the message, you could always try again if you didn't like the fortune you were about to unfold.
Anyone else do that? Remember the rhyme?

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Pearl Sutton

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posted 4 years ago

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I know a dozen versions of the things that were said for fortune telling. They are a regional thing, different everywhere.

I'm planning to open these up and write cool quotes in them. The last batch only said something like "Hey! get out of my mouth!" I think I can do better than that :D

Heather Staas

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posted 4 years ago

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I LOVE this idea, they are adorable. When my daughter was little she would have loved to get one of these. Then probably gone home and "reverse engineered" it to make a dozen variations of her own. Her favorite "gift" when she was little was a new pad of construction paper and a roll of scotch tape <3 Thanks for sharing these. No kids do trick-or-treat in my neighborhood or I'd be very tempted to join in on this!

"The world is changed by your example, not your opinion." ~ Paulo Coelho

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Pearl Sutton

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posted 4 years ago

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Heather Staas wrote:I LOVE this idea, they are adorable. When my daughter was little she would have loved to get one of these. Then probably gone home and "reverse engineered" it to make a dozen variations of her own. Her favorite "gift" when she was little was a new pad of construction paper and a roll of scotch tape <3 Thanks for sharing these. No kids do trick-or-treat in my neighborhood or I'd be very tempted to join in on this!

I have also been known to keep extra ones in my purse and give them out at the grocery store etc :D
No rule says you have to have a socially acceptable reason to give out monsters.
:D

That's also how I know so many versions of the rhymes and games, the mom or grandma of the kids in the stores show me, I ask. I always ask the mother quietly before I offer to a kid, so if she said no, he isn't saddened. No one has said no yet, and most have been amused and showed me their version.

Pearl Sutton

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posted 4 years ago

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and a silly story about these things...
When I was 11 or so the whole family went a fairly nice restaurant, I doubt it was high end, but better than us 5 kids got to go to normally. There were cloth napkins at each place, they were square. I folded mine into a puppet (it was big, they good sized napkins.) My dad took it away from me. I thought I was in trouble. The waiter came to take our order and dad used the puppet to tell the waiter our order :D

Nancy Reading

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Pearl Sutton wrote:The waiter came to take our order and dad used the puppet to tell the waiter our order :D

Your Dad was great! Thanks for sharing Pearl.

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Jay Angler

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posted 4 years ago

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So how did Halloween night go? Were the kids all asking for seconds?

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Carla Burke

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posted 4 years ago

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How did the cute lil' monsters go over, Pearl??

"The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance."~Ben Franklin. "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." ~ Plato

Pearl Sutton

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Oh yes, the monsters were a hit, I knew they would be, I've done variants on this before.
What I found interesting was I had them on a tray, lined up like the pic above where they are posed in lines. I'd ask the kids "Which one is yours?" and they all knew exactly which one they wanted, no hesitation, no thinking on it.

Not a single kid questioned that they got no candy. They were thrilled with the monsters.
I call this a win!

:D

Thekla McDaniels

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posted 1 week ago

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Love it, Pearl!

I am especially impressed that you were able to provide such clear instructions.

As school girls we would go through a phase of making and playing with these, then come back to them a few months or weeks later.

We made them out of anything. Returned school work, especially! We’d make little ones out of the strip of paper removed to make the square.

We numbered the outer flaps and colored or named the inner flaps, with the fortune under the inner flaps.

“What’s your favorite number”. Then open, close the folds, alternating the plus then diagonal folds the chosen number of times, stopping with the mouth open. Then the girl would choose the favorite color or name from those exposed. Fortune read from under the chosen color.

If we didn’t have scissors handy we would fold the crease marking the strip to be removed, creasing it tight with fingernail against wooden desktop, back and forth several times to weaken the paper fibers.

Then moisten a finger in our mouths and run the moisened finger along the fold. It took a few moistenings of the finger to moisten the whole length of the fold. 🤣 This was a fastidious process! No spitting drooling or messy liquid saliva.

The moist finger was also used to erase a mistake in schoolwork, made in pencil. We didn’t use ball point pens unless we were making a final copy of written work.

Interestingly, my family moved several hundred miles away in 1962. In our new location the schoolgirls didn’t make these.

If you turn the fortune teller face down it can be an “Easter” (or otherwise) basket

Best luck: satisfaction

Greatest curse, greed

Nancy Reading

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posted 1 week ago

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Thekla McDaniels wrote:We numbered the outer flaps and colored or named the inner flaps, with the fortune under the inner flaps.

Ah that's it Thekla! Thanks for jogging my memory

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Pearl Sutton

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posted 1 week ago

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Thank You Jay for bouncing this through the daily! It reminded me how fun these are to give out! I'd rather spread creativity than candy. Making a batch right now to give out this evening at a local thing.
It's happening now!! Mass production of monsters!!
I think they will sing as I give them out...
:D

And don't forget if you need a costume quickly, read this thread!
Best Last Minute, Clothes-You-Already-Own Halloween Costumes
A good story is the best part, and you can think on that while you do other stuff.

Jay Angler

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posted 1 week ago

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Pearl Sutton wrote:... Making a batch right now to give out this evening at a local thing.
It's happening now!! Mass production of monsters!!

Where did you get the pretty colours of quality paper, Pearl? All I have is plain white for typing/printing, or construction paper and I know it won't hold up to folding and bending.

Not sure I'd even be able to get it in just our local shops. Do craft stores sell packages of mixed colours?

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Pearl Sutton

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It's computer printer paper called Astrobrights that I get at office supply stores.
I have made LOTS out of just white too, no reason they can't be white.

Edit: Thinking on it... I bought the Astrobrights ot least 15 years ago, or much longer, I recall buying them in the 1990's. I have NOT looked for them in at least 10 years, I have no idea if they are still around.

Thekla McDaniels

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I have seen the astrobrights in the last few years.

The hobby-art supply store “Michael’s “ is where I think I have seen it their paper and scrapbooking sections, and likely “hobby lobby”.

Think art supplies, not office supply places.

Hope this helps

Best luck: satisfaction

Greatest curse, greed

Pearl Sutton

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Office Max and Staples is where I bought mine...

Update on the mass production, man, I bit off more than I can chew. Not sure how I'll get eyes on them all.

Jay Angler

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Pearl Sutton wrote:Update on the mass production, man, I bit off more than I can chew. Not sure how I'll get eyes on them all.

Are you cutting a gluing eyes on, or painting eyes on?

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Pearl Sutton

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Jay Angler wrote:

Pearl Sutton wrote:Update on the mass production, man, I bit off more than I can chew. Not sure how I'll get eyes on them all.

Are you cutting a gluing eyes on, or painting eyes on?

I usually glue. That entails cutting. I may be painting, it's easier. Although THAT gets down to what paint do I have... Only white paints I'm sure of right off are spray paint, elastomeric coating, and I may have some exterior latex.

Dunno yet. I bit off too much. This pile is still not folded, and I'm FAST.

Edit: actually, I wonder if I have white craft paint? I should, it might be dead though....

Thekla McDaniels

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Pearl Sutton wrote:Office Max and Staples is where I bought mine...

Update on the mass production, man, I bit off more than I can chew. Not sure how I'll get eyes on them all.

Draw on with a sharpie?

Best luck: satisfaction

Greatest curse, greed

Pearl Sutton

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Thekla McDaniels wrote:

Pearl Sutton wrote:Office Max and Staples is where I bought mine...

Update on the mass production, man, I bit off more than I can chew. Not sure how I'll get eyes on them all.

Draw on with a sharpie?

Yeah, that's going through my mind too

Pearl Sutton

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Not as horrifying as I thought. Only 40. Folded.
Looking for paint.

Pearl Sutton

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posted 6 days ago

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I got 40 made, in time to grab food, get on my outfit, get there.... Wrong day. I'm assuming it's today.
So...

I made 6 colors, picture is of one of each. Not as elaborate as in the past, as I was working alone, on too many of them, on a tight schedule. Still cute, definitely look more like singers than monsters. I like that part!

:D

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Bah, should have looked back at the pics in the first post, I didn't think these tongues looked right....
Ended up with craft paint for the white eyes, and sharpies.

I need help from y'all!!
If I want to make them singers I have to make them sing as I give them out. And they need to be songs that won't drive the parents crazy if the kids are singing them later. What songs do little kids know these days? I can do a lot of kids songs, but I don't have a clue which are common anymore.

Pearl Sutton

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Help help help! About an hour before I leave, I still need some current kids songs. Old ones that I know that they will too, please, not something horrifying their parents will hate.

Jay Angler

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Pearl Sutton wrote:Help help help! About an hour before I leave, I still need some current kids songs. Old ones that I know that they will too, please, not something horrifying their parents will hate.

Sorry, I'm not around little kids much these days, but age really matters, so what sort of range are you looking for?

The Ants Go Marching didn't bother me, but *please* don't do the bloody 99 Bottles of Beer!
She'll be commin' round the mountain would work for me also.

Not sure this was the version we sang, but "hello Maddah, hello Faddah"

Then there's the younger classics like, Row, Row, Row your Boat, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Mary had little Lamb, etc.

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M Ljin

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There Was an Old Woman All Skin and Bones. This was what we sung as children!

I remember we sung it on Halloween in four part harmony to a version resembling what Jean Ritchie sang.

Not quite little kids, but I heard some teenagers singing “Wagon Wheel” out in the forest while hiking. I ended up showing them how to eat spikenard berries!

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M Ljin

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The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round…

One can never be too kind to oneself or others.
Never our fault, always our responsibility

Pearl Sutton

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I gave out a bunch of them :D They went over REALLY well!!
I gave up, the kids were too wired to sing, I made the critters sing la la la and taught them how to hold it. Lot of chaos. The town square trick or treat party.

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