gajacobs82
Super Mario Wooden Sprite
I used to make sprites out of perler beads, but found that the payoff wasn't worth the investment. Getting good colors is obnoxious, ironing is obnoxious and spending tons of time to make items that are never any bigger than a coaster just stopped being interesting. That and it suddenly seemed like every one has been doing it.
So I started thinking of other options. My mom had ordered wooden blocks for other craft-type things before. So I looked it up and invested the money into a couple thousand blocks, spray paint, special wood glue and other related items. I don't know if anyone else does this, I suppose I don't really want to know. I'd rather delude myself into thinking I'm vaguely original lol.
This was actually the first one I ever made. I've learned a lot about the process since then such as how to best paint the blocks, which types of glue to use, where to apply the glue, what to do about making sure it holds up over time and so forth. I quickly found it wasn't as simple as just painting and gluing together the blocks and being done with it.
I think it turned out well. It is impossible for any manufacturer to promise these blocks will all be EXACTLY the same, so there are imperfections. Personally, I think it adds to its charm. Since this photo I've added a backing (which I've cut so that you can't see it) and added a photo hanger to the back of it. It's hanging on the wall next to my computer at this point.
It might be hard to tell how large this is (the other photos in the set might help), but I'd guess it's about 8 inches tall. Much better than my typical miniature perler bead creations.
Since then I've had other ideas. Of course you can increase or decrease the size of these by just buying different sized blocks. I've also had ideas where the backing is actually the shape of a frame... so that once the backing (with the sprite glued to it) is placed into it, it winds up looking like a neat 3D framed object as opposed to just something behind glass.
I've also considered working with stains instead of paints. NES sprites would suit this in particular because they're typically only a few colors. Mario would look damn cool with three different shades of a brown stain here, I think.
There will be more images like this to come, so watch out.
Super Mario Wooden Sprite
I used to make sprites out of perler beads, but found that the payoff wasn't worth the investment. Getting good colors is obnoxious, ironing is obnoxious and spending tons of time to make items that are never any bigger than a coaster just stopped being interesting. That and it suddenly seemed like every one has been doing it.
So I started thinking of other options. My mom had ordered wooden blocks for other craft-type things before. So I looked it up and invested the money into a couple thousand blocks, spray paint, special wood glue and other related items. I don't know if anyone else does this, I suppose I don't really want to know. I'd rather delude myself into thinking I'm vaguely original lol.
This was actually the first one I ever made. I've learned a lot about the process since then such as how to best paint the blocks, which types of glue to use, where to apply the glue, what to do about making sure it holds up over time and so forth. I quickly found it wasn't as simple as just painting and gluing together the blocks and being done with it.
I think it turned out well. It is impossible for any manufacturer to promise these blocks will all be EXACTLY the same, so there are imperfections. Personally, I think it adds to its charm. Since this photo I've added a backing (which I've cut so that you can't see it) and added a photo hanger to the back of it. It's hanging on the wall next to my computer at this point.
It might be hard to tell how large this is (the other photos in the set might help), but I'd guess it's about 8 inches tall. Much better than my typical miniature perler bead creations.
Since then I've had other ideas. Of course you can increase or decrease the size of these by just buying different sized blocks. I've also had ideas where the backing is actually the shape of a frame... so that once the backing (with the sprite glued to it) is placed into it, it winds up looking like a neat 3D framed object as opposed to just something behind glass.
I've also considered working with stains instead of paints. NES sprites would suit this in particular because they're typically only a few colors. Mario would look damn cool with three different shades of a brown stain here, I think.
There will be more images like this to come, so watch out.