Palm leaf Hopper tutorial

Palm leaf Hopper tutorial Split the leaf Remove a leaf from a palm. Using a pin split the leaf in three, separating the hard center vein from the leaf at both sides. Leave the last 2cm intact at the side that was connected to the palm.

Carefully run your nail along the vein to soften it so that it’s more pliable. Fold the vein back on itself and tuck under the leaf where it’s still connected. It might be easier for you to use a tiny bit of putty or Oasis fix to keep the vein in place while you practice doing this and later you will find it’s easy to hold in place while you weave the body.

Start weaving the body Fold one side under and then over the vein. Pull tight. Do the same with the other side and pull tight.

Continue weaving the body two or three more times depending on the length of your palm leaf.

Butterfly Body

Create feelers (Antenna) by tucking the two sides of the leaf into the vein loop and pulling the vein snug. Separate the side strips and carefully run your nail through the length of each to curl as you would ribbon.

Tie and curl the Butterfly Feelers

Top of the Butterfly Finish off the body by weaving the long center vein around itself and cut short. Cut the tail end if required.

Fly or Hop?

You can now add leaves for wings or cut the left-over vein in 2 for legs to tuck into the body.

Grasshoppers Read more: http://www.christinedebeer.co.za/?p=1119

Unique food gifts: How to make an edamame stick

Unique food gifts: How to make an edamame stick 

This one is may not really be “kyaraben” food by itself, but it’s a great way to add green to your bento box.

This technique lets you put edamame together in one place without using a little cup. All you need is uncooked pasta! You can put it in the corner of bento box like in the Piggy & Gir bento, or use it as a divider like in myPortal bento.

Pasta gets soft enough to eat because the moisture from edamame in a couple of hours or when microwaved. But if you’re not sure about eating uncooked pasta, you can fry the pasta.

[edamame stick] (used in “Piggy & GIR”, “Portal” )
- edamame
- pasta

1. After boiling edamame, pop the beans out of the pods and peel the outer skin of the edamame.

2. Stick the soybeans on the uncooked pasta one by one.

Snap off the pasta on the both sides and done!

That’s it!

3. If you put #2 in a bowl of water and microwave it for a couple of minutes, the edamame stick becomes soft and bendy! Maybe you can use this as a necklace for a girl character food or have it surround other food. (be careful when you bend it. If the pasta isn’t soft enough, it might break off.)