ROCK stars
BECI ORPIN SHOWS HOW TO MAKE SOME LOW-MAINTENANCE PETS
When I was young, I spent an inordinate amount of time collecting rocks and putting faces on them. Googly eyes were one particular favourite touch. At one stage, I set up a street-side stall trying to fob them off. So when it came to making these guys, I had a lot of experience to draw from, except this time there wasn’t a googly eye in sight. These guys are a “Beci-2017” version. The best thing about pet rocks is they are so easy to make. You could dress them up to look like your friends, members of your family or even your pets – there’s definitely a Tio [her cat] in there. Spend time planning what (or who) you’ll paint on your rocks, matching their shapes to different personalities. You will be rewarded with extra good-looking rocks if you do.
1 Spread your rocks out on a work table, looking at their shapes and sizes. Sketch out some rough ideas for each rock.
2 Use a pencil to draw your designs on the rocks.
3 Using the small paintbrushes and paints, colour in the larger areas, such as the eyes, the hair or a hat.
4 Once the paint is dry, fill in the details such as the eyeballs, nose and mouth. If you can still see pencil lines once the paint has dried, use an eraser to rub them out. If you like, finish with a coat of varnish.
5 Work out what trims you’d like to add to give your rocks a bit of 3D fun.
6 You could cut small ears or tails from felt scraps, make small bows from ribbon, braids from wool or add a pompom to the top of a hat or for a nose.
7 Glue the trims to the painted rocks.
8 If you like, create a home. Pet rocks are fond of beds of soft, small-leaved foliage.