Toothless Bookmark

A while ago I saw a picture on Pinterest of a toothless bookmark like this, but I couldn't find any tutorial for it, so I decided to just try to make it myself and put a little tutorial out there for people like me who really wanted to recreate it. ;) That one was created (partially) out of felt I think, mine is just paper.


A friend of mine really likes toothless (and who can blame her?): she has a toothless hoodie and I gave her DIY toothless socks for new years, so I thought I'd expand her collection by gifting her this bookmark. I might end up making a second one for myself though! It's super cute, but functional. While I like the result there are a few things I would've done differently, so I'll mention the mistakes I made while doing this tutorial so you can keep it in mind for yourself!
I drew and cut out all the elements just by eye, but if you guys are interested I'll make a template for this, so you don't have to take that risk or for if you're not so confident in your skills just yet (not that mine are that great :p). Just let me know and I'll make a full template! I might do so anyway if I decide to make more of these, but for now the one I have a plan for (gifting away) is finished, so there's no need...

30 minutes - Easy

Needed

- Card stock / Thick paper (black or light-coloured)
- Black paint or black marker
- Pencil
- White paper
- Green marker or Green paper
- Red marker or Red paper
- Glue

Instructions

- Start by creating the corner that will go around the page corner, so the actual bookmark part. For this draw this pattern on the card stock. So three equal size squares, in a corner formation (mine were 5 cm ~ 2 inches). The crossed out triangles we don't need. My card stock was just the backside of a block of lined paper.

- Cut out the shape (everything besides the crossed out triangles). I used this surgeon knife I had lying around, but scissors work just as well. 

- Once you've cut out your shape, fold over the two lines (use something like a ruler to help you create the fold, especially if you card stock is really thick like mine) so that the triangles overlap and glue the two triangles together.

- If you used light-coloured card stock like I did, paint it black or make it black with a marker (first I painted it, but then decided to go over it with a marker because my paint didn't cover it well). I did both sides, because I wanted my bookmark to look nice from both sides.

- Draw the different parts of the toothless (1 tail, 2 big long ears, 2 top small parts, 2 side long parts, 2 side short parts and 2 paws) on the card stock. I just did this by eye, but if you want I'll make a template for you guys (just let me know below), so you can do it easier/more uniform or if you want to use this tutorial with kids. Cut them out and paint/colour these parts as well, both sides.

- Arrange them together on how you imagine it (and maybe take a picture of it to use as guideline) before you start glueing.

- Before I started glueing I went over my paint with a marker, as I said, because my paint didn't cover well. I would also recommend making the sides black as well at this point, to have a really nice finish when you're done. I tried to do this when it was already glued together, but this was difficult.

- Go around the outer sides of all your cut-outs with a pencil, so it gives them a silver sheen and you can differentiate between the pieces easier. It gave the end result more depth, so it seemed a little bit more real.

- Glue the toothless together in the following order: 2 big ears to head, 2 top parts to head, both sets of side pieces to head over each other, 2 paws to head then tail to back of head (over some of the others). I used contact glue, which worked well, but truly that's all I had so can't say anything about other kinds. Glue your toothless to the corner bookmark.


- Cut out eyes (again if you want, I'll make a template, just let me know) out of white or green paper, glue them into place (here I would recommend using a less strong glue if you have it). If you used white paper go over them with your green marker (I used green paper but went over them with green fluo marker, to make them brighter). Draw on pupils with black marker. I'm not really pleased with how mine turned out. I wanted him looking down at the book, but I put them too much in the corner (which made him look at his nose), and then I made them bigger, but now I think they're a bit too large.

- Cut out half of the end-piece of the tail out of white or red paper, glue into place (with lesser glue). If you used white paper like me, you can just not colour in the skull logo. If you used red, cut out the logo out of some white paper and glue that on.

- Cut out the 8 nails (or two sets of 4) out of white paper, glue two sets of 4 together and then glue them to the back of the paws. This was the hardest part, because I was struggling with my glue.

- Draw ribs on the tail (in red over the red side, not through the skull; in pencil over the other side). Draw the nostrils and mouth in pencil. Define the eyes by drawing around them in pencil. I also drew lines from the centre of the pupils to the end of the pupils with pencil, which you can only see when the light shines on them.

- Put in your favourite book and enjoy!