My Cross Stitch - Tumblr Posts

Cross-Stitch Pap

I have taken up a new hobby, and combined it with my current hobby, to create something beautiful - Cross stitching Undertale! My sister showed me a cross stitching app and I was instantly addicted. Eventually, I began to wonder about actual cross stitching, and took it for a spin! I bought a kit at first, but ended up deciding to start with something smaller and dearer to my heart: Papyrus. His pixelated physique is perfect for cross stitching!

I just want to share the amazing journey, how he slowly bloomed across the canvas - and I took more than enough pictures to do so ^^; So see more below!

Here is my pattern - I opened it up in paint.net (well, created and refined it there from sprite sheets I downloaded) and turned on the pixel grid.

I’m using 14 count Aida cloth, which means there are 14 little holes every inch. It seems to be the standard. Here, I’m realizing very quickly that the white stitches don’t show up very well, and truncate my plan of drawing all of him to just drawing his head, and buying some black aida cloth for a bigger project later.

Eye see you!

He basically has a face at this point!

Smile for the camera!

His face is done! Well, I hadn’t yet stitched in the white for his lower teeth and jawbone....

Finally finished his scarf! Also messed up slightly, but only I know where~ ...I adjusted for it, since it was a pretty small issue. This is just my first project, after all... some mistakes are to be expected. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself. All the white and black are finally done! Now for his scarf!

Wow that red was vibrant! I picked the brightest, most vivid red I could find. Nothing less than the most vivacious colors for the Great Papyrus!

And he’s finished!!!!!!!! He sat like this for quite a while as I struggled to figure out how to display him...

But I cut him out and prepared to wash him. I made him way too close to the top of the fabric ^^;;

My mom helped with this part! She has the most beautiful cross-stitch I’ve ever seen - I thought they were professional stuff, bought for a high price in stores until now, but no! She made them all herself!

-quick interlude with one of her pieces- -future goals-

I eventually decided on a cheap and easy way to frame him for a, well, photo frame. I used a piece of cardboard (chipboard, really) with a white back as a solid frame. This is not a lasting solution - I’m pretty sure the acid from the cardboard will sink into the thread and slowly die it with age. However, this isn’t exactly a piece I’ll be passing to my grandkids (somewhat hampered by my lack of plans for marriage and or kids), so I decided it would suffice for my first piece : )

And it did!

...I’ll probably make a post for my second piece and my current work in progress - Sans and Papyrus together

Cross Stitch Papyrus and Sans!

Look at these two beautiful monsters…That I finished back in September. 

Well, here they are now, and I absolutely adore them! There were a few little issues along the way, but I still absolutely love it.

Below, I’ll show you the steps I went through! (and the mishaps I experienced…)

Here’s the pattern I created and used, based off of both of their overworld sprites. (The file is called oops because I accidentally deleted the paint.net file and had to recreate it from a pic I’d taken.)

Decided to start out with Sans - his outline came along really quickly!

Look at that grin! ^_^ He isn’t empty-headed anymore, there’s white filling it halfway - even if you can’t really see it.

This is what the backside looks like, when I’m trying to keep it as neat as possible. The white is a little clearer here than it is in the last picture.

I really hope I picked the right colors for him…

Random fact - I absolutely love in-progress pics, for my stuff and for others. It’s so incredible to see the steps as the creations are formed and beauty (or even mediocrity) emerges.

…something is wrong

I had to go back and rip out his foot… I messed it up… Luckily, I realized it before I finished off the current thread. I had to go back diagonal stitch by diagonal stitch, pulling it out from the front and then behind by tugging at it with the needle. I hope that’s the biggest problem I have to rip up! I hate losing progress - that’s also the reason this is only being shown now in December rather than September, my internet and tumblr were being little butts and discarded my post without even saving it.

Whew, he’s landed squarely on his feet! And this time, there’s no extra row. Sans is all done!!!!!!!!!!

Time for THE GREAT PAPYRUS!!!

That’s… mildly unsettling. You can see his giant teeth, and gaps in his skull where his eyes will be.

This is your friendly reminder that Papyrus the skeleton has eyebrows.

And a magnificent cape.

And incredible battle body! No, I’m not just referring to his outfit. *audible wink*

Can I just reaffirm how much I absolutely adore these two and wish we could be friends? My adoration for them is as bright as the red of Pap’s cape.

Pap’s outline is done! ….aaaaaand I realize I screwed up. I started his head one pixel higher than I should have, leaving him floating a square off the (invisible) ground that Sans is staring on. So, I had to add an extra layer of pixels to his legs… which amounted to four in total, but it still meant I had to rip up his boot. :/ What is it with me messing up their feet?

Look how nicely he appears now!!!

Side by side comparison with my first project! Trying to psyche myself up to finish Pap… I have so much trouble finishing things, it’s absolutely terrible. :/

BOOM

LOOK AT THEM

LOOK AT THESE TWO BEAUTIES.

Papyrus, his cape flapping in the wind. Sans, his face in a grin as he shrugs to a joke he’s made.

AHHHHH

Now to wash them, to purge them of any impurities!

Don’t worry - skeletons don’t need to breathe! I used a small amount Wool-ite with just plain water and gently scrubbed at the fabric and even more carefully at the threads.

Time for their relaxing dry-off experience…

Ironed out and ready to go! …and also apparently my feet, in those comfy aloe socks you can pick up at Christmas time.

I’m prepared to frame them, now. There’s a frame, 4x6, and a piece of chipboard I’d cut to just that size.

You can see how I folded the fabric over the board, threading it so that the sides pulled together. I kind of cut it close heightwise on accident… whoops! That made it a little more awkward.

…so, this frame is one where you slide the glass over the picture, and it slips into place. Sans and Papyrus were a biiiiiit (okay, a lotta bit) to thick for this to work. Back to Walmart for a new frame!

Boom.

Here they are, 3 months later, and still absolutely beautiful.

So! Thank you for staying around to see all these progress pictures and listen to all of my rambling! I hope this was at least somewhat interesting, and I’ll work on posting my third project - that I also finished a bit ago - and my last completed project to date. I kind of got stuck on the fourth one despite how small it was, had to completely redesign the fifth one after I spent hours creating the pattern. So, I’ve been put off cross-stitching for a while, but I hope to start up again! …I better, if I want the fourth and fifth pieces to be done by Christmas - one’s a present for my dad, and the other for my mom. : )

Secret Santa Sans Keychain!

Hello everybody! It’s time to unveil the results of 2017′s Undertale Secret Santa! Run by @undertalesecretsanta , January 15th has arrived, and everybody shall (hopefully) post their gifts!

My secret santa recipient is Kat! Her blog is @eclecti-kat (@eclecti-kat ... if I keep repeating myself, will tumblr realize and tag her? It doesn’t look like it), and she posts some interesting reblogs! Kat, I really hope you like this little guy! I’ve poured a lot of love into him.

This is my third plastic canvas project, and I learned a lot with him and the Napstablook magnet I made right before him. If you’d like to see, I have photos of Sans in progress below, from start to finish...

Here is a link to all the pictures of the project on google drive.

Ah, I’m so proud of my baby... To think that he started out as a simple piece of plastic. He’s actually the outline - I messed up the knees(?) of the one I’d already cut out.

Here’s the ‘pattern’ I’m using - simply one of Sans sprites, ripped from the game. I downloaded all of the sprite sheets I could find, and they’ve turned out to be great references! I use Paint.net to get a good close look at him, turn on grid, edit easily... basically, it’s a free poor man’s simple mini photoshop (I think), but I really like it.

The first thing to appear is Sans giant smile! At this point, I’m not entirely sure on how to translate the pattern to plastic... unlike cross-stitch, where you make an ‘X’, you only make a ‘/’here. Half stitch, rather than a full stitch - though I believe it’s called a continental stitch? It looks lopsided, slightly. I had to pull out his left eye and restart from there...

Looks like Sans’ managed to get his head on straight!

And with those shoes, the white is done. If you look closely ateither side of the shoe, you can see how it doesn’t look symmetrical.

I’ve been trying to keep the back as neat as possible, but this is what it looks like.

He looks a bit cold without his jacket... let’s fix that!

Boom! Much better.

Now his jacket is properly finished!

Make sure you always start off on the right foot!

Ahhhh!!!! Look at him!!! His insides are all in place!

Now, at this point, I need to finish him and wrap up the sides. I have 2 ways of doing this - the ultra time consuming way where I make another keychain of Sans, and bind them together to make a whole, thus hiding the back. Or... I could just loop the sides, but that would leave the back looking all scraggly and just hanging out - no matter how much time I spent trying to make the stitches look neat and clean, the back still looked weird.

However! My brilliant, beautiful, talented mother came up with a wonderful idea, and we had family bonding time working on it together last Saturday.

Felt backing!

You can see how the edges look so much nicer, now! This was actually fairly time consuming, but nowhere near as bad as it would have been to make another Sans - and then I would have the question of whether or not I choose a different pose, or just Sans back?

Halfway done with the felt! Though, I have to admit... I really hope Kat isn’t allergic to cats! I got off as much cat fur as I could, but there’s still a few strands here and there from where cat hair magically appeared. I have two cats, and it’s a mystery how far and wide their hair can spread...

And he’s done!!!

*sniff* I’m so happy with how he turned out... I didn’t track how long he took, so this is an estimate, but... Not bad for 6 hours of work, huh? ^_^

I really want to make more of these figures! I have to make a Sans and Papyrus for myself, maybe a Toriel... ahhhhhhhhhhh I’m so glad I discovered cross stitching last year! And that it goes so well with Undertale!

Well! Thank you all for coming along with me on my trip to completing Sans! I’d love to hear any thoughts on it... and maybe whether someday I should take commissions? Ha

Papyrus Keychain!

Look at my pretty boy! Isn’t he so handsome??? I’m so proud of him… *sniffs*

In other news, I am starting to take seriously the suggestions that I sell the crafts I make online? So I’m trying to start making more for selling, and coming up with other ideas? I’m getting excited and nervous about it, but also hopeful? Then I get stuck on the time and prices… The materials don’t cost too much, but I spend hours on these guys… the backing alone took well over an hour for this Papyrus. He’s about the size of an outstretched hand (which is a bit big for keychain size >_

…Papyrus, sweetie, I’m sorry for selling your body!!!

…He seems proud of how highly he’s valued.

I already came up with a name for my theoretical store - I’d probably use Etsy? “S” for my first name, “Ann” for my middle name and my internet handle, so… SAnn’s Studio!

….*shifty eyes* What do you mean that looks like someone else’s name? There are two ‘n’s instead of one and different capitalization!

…So! Pics of the Papyrus making process below!

So here’s the sprite of Papyrus I used as my pattern, where he looks suitably heroic! Fitting for the noble friend Papyrus! 

Here’s a bigger version of him : )

Traced out as best as I can, though I might skip this step next time as it takes so long and I have plastic canvas to spare if I mess up…

I double check with my pattern as I cut - which is good, because I messed up!!! I approached from the bottom to find out where I messed up, and it was at the tiny notch going in for his waist - problems with tracing out the pattern…

So I fixed it with purple, and luckily I messed up twice so that it worked out perfectly in the end??? ^^;;;; I must have had the blessings of Papyrus on my side for that to work out so smoothly - or Sans, making sure everything is okay for his brother! : )

Then I had to cut out his arm. Do you know how much those 3 blocks refused to be cut free??? I was determined, and figured out how to do it properly, and finally succeeded. 

Brothers! Or at least, the prototypes for the brothers. Saves me about an hour of figuring out the pattern and second-guessing every cut - now I just have to trace the existing Papyrus onto plastic canvas!

Mmmm…. this looks like something I’ve read… can’t imagine where…

I did the blue first, and then tried to tie off his legs… everything just wanted to slide up on in there, so I had to protect his virtue somehow! …it didn’t work too well. In the meantime, he decided to take tips from the Cheshire cat on how to smile! ^^;

…Okay, the real reason I left the blue tied around his legs wasn’t to hobble him, but so that I could tuck it behind the black stitches to hold him in place. Let me tell you, though, I missed it when it was gone. Everything slithered up to his crotch while I was trying to work, and I constantly had to pull him free of the string.

I wrapped him up in a nice, warm… shawl? sash? made of bones as I tucked him aside for a few days to work on later. 

Is that cat hair or yarn fuzzies? I just hope Papyrus isn’t allergic!

Yellow, how can I help you today? …Hello, yellow!

Oh. Oh, my. He’s rather resplendent in red, isn’t he?

Fun time with felt… I need to get tracing paper because I just can’t see where I traced onto black felt!

Rough outline >_

Psst, check out this Toriel Prototype I made along the way. She’s enormous!!! …and tumblr is rotating the image for some reason???

THIS SUCKER IS BARELY VISIBLE. After all the work I put into it!

See? No, you can’t see! Nether can I!!! >:/    …oh well.

I’m still so proud of him… *sniffle*

I actually bought some metal rings and things to try to make better looking keychains? I’m not entirely sure how that will work out, I haven’t tried it yet…

aaaand I have less than half an hour before work and I need to get ready.

Thank you people so much for reading and appreciating! I hope I didn’t throw people off with the mention of money early on… Sorry…

I think I’ll go make a few Sanses now! Or an annoying dog? Or I have that Toriel prototype… or I could do Alphys… Or more heart/SOUL pins… Let me know if you have any ideas or think this is a good idea!!! I appreciate each and every one of you, and every note makes me so happy!!!! (especially since I’ll be posting this in the middle of work, bleh. I definitely appreciate the pick-me-up then.)