DIY Travel Buddy - Inuksuk

Have you ever wanted to come back from a travel with awesome pictures? Do you like creative photography? You are tired of selfie sticks and strangers taking your pictures? Well this instructable could be just what you need for your next travel.

As a bonus you´ll learn a cool unusual use for black pepper and laundry lint.

I'm sure you've seen these friendly rock sculptures, let me tell you more about them.

Inuit people (first people to inhabit northern Alaska, Arctic Canada, and Greenland) make inuksuit (plural of inuksuk) by stacking rocks. They use them to mark special places of veneration, hunting, fishing, travel routes. If the inuksuk is built with a human shape it's called inunnguaq.

You can learn more about inuksuit in this video.

I got the inspiration for this instructable by meeting several Inuit people, looking at inunnguaq they build beside their houses. I´m spending some months in the Canadian Arctic, and this is the perfect way to document my adventure (and yours too).

So let's make our inunnguaq! You can attach it to a keychain, your backpack or a necklace. And he'll always be with you ready for a picture.

Step 1: Gather Your Materials

Black pepper

Old toothbrush

Laundry lint

Black and white polymer clay

Wire

Tweezers

Necklace or keychain

Step 2: Mix

Start by mixing a little bit of white clay with black clay until you get your desired color.

It looks nice if the colours aren't perfectly mixed. We are going to make five different rocks, so each will have its own texture and color.

Step 3: Laundry Lint?

Now add a little bit of laundry lint to a part of your clay, it will give the clay a rock like texture.

Step 4: Add a Pinch of Black Pepper

You can add black pepper to give it another kind of texture.

Step 5: Toothbrush

When you have the color and shape you want, you can add more texture with the toothbrush.

Step 6: Join the Pieces

Now let's put the five parts together. Use wire to keep them together.
Next step is important: check that it stands alone. As the clay is still soft you can change the shape until it stands by itself.

Step 7: Another Piece of Wire

Make a loop in another piece of wire. It will help us attach it to the necklace or keychain.
I inserted it in the back of the tummy and the back of the head. As shown in the picture. Now bake it according to the manufacturers instructions. I baked mine at 270F for 30 minutes. Attach it to your necklace / keychain / backpack, and that´s it.

Step 8: Good Job! Your Buddy Is Ready for an Adventure!

You can hold it from the bottom to take him a picture, or find one or two stones that are flat so he can stand. He looks great being the main focus of the picture, and he looks great blurred too, to make the scenery stand out.

If you liked you can vote for this Instructable in the contests below. It will be greatly appreciated. And visit my blog for more DIYs

Comments

[Danger is my middle name]

I love this! I thought it was rock until I read your instructable! A few years ago one of my friends was going to study in New Zealand and I made her a little felted owl before she left. She put him in every picture she took! It became a bit of a game to try to spot him, haha

[CraftersAndMothers]

Great idea! And you could make a book like "Where´s Waldo?" I MUST do it in my next travel. That´s why I love this community, everyone´s ideas and comments make the projects even better! THANKS!

[38ren]

This is ridiculously creative! Props to you, who would've ever thought about using lint and black pepper for realistic texture :)

[CraftersAndMothers]

Thanks!

[mrsmerwin]

I thought it was rock at first. Beautifully done.

[CraftersAndMothers]

Thank you!

[stickmop]

I love inuksuks (sic). We used to build temporary ones canoe camping on river gravel bars. The only real ones I've seen were in Northern Canada. Never saw one in 20 years in Alaska, other than the one I made in my backyard in Anchorage. :-)

There's a real art to stacking the stone ones so that they stay upright over the years.

[CraftersAndMothers]

That's awesome!!!!! Exactly, I'm impressed they stay upright even with the harsh winters of the arctic.

[dilkumarthapa4]

looks easy! looks like rock but then saw it! (y) Good one!

[CraftersAndMothers]

Thanks! Yes it's really easy, you should make one.