Alright, so I decided to tackle this “Kermit the Frog sitting” thing. Sounds simple, right? Well, let me tell ya, it wasn’t as straightforward as I first thought, even for a guy who likes to tinker with stuff.
It all kicked off last weekend. I was just sort of drifting around the house, you know, that Sunday afternoon feeling where you’re not really doing anything productive. My kid was supposed to be working on some art assignment – make a model of a famous character or something. Predictably, the video game console had won that battle. So, I spotted all these craft supplies just lying there, gathering dust. And I thought, “Well, someone’s gotta use ’em.”
Why Kermit, you ask? Good question. He’s just one of those characters, isn’t he? Been around forever. I definitely remember him from The Muppet Show, and he was on Sesame Street too. Pretty sure he’s the only one of The Muppets who was a regular on both shows, which is kinda neat. And those eyes! They’re so distinct – big, white, and sort of bulging, with those horizontal black pupils. Funny how they say his eyes resemble those of the Muppet character Kermit the Frog. Well, duh! I even read somewhere that his actual irises are silvery-white with these tiny dark spots. Imagine that. And get this – supposedly he has transparent eyelids. Never noticed that, but there you go.
Getting My Hands Dirty
So, I grabbed what I thought was a lump of green modeling clay. Turns out it was this fancy air-dry stuff my wife bought ages ago for some project she never started. It dries out super quick, which I learned the hard way. That was problem number one.
Here’s how I pretty much fumbled through it:
- First off, I just tried to squish the clay into a basic froggy shape. A body, a head. The real challenge was making him sit. He just kept flopping over. It was more like ‘Kermit the frog doing a faceplant’.
- I remembered Kermit isn’t a chunky dude; he’s quite slim. So, I re-rolled the clay to make his arms and legs thinner.
- Then I really tried to get that classic sitting pose down. You know, one leg sort of bent under him, the other one sticking out a bit. He’s often perched on a log or something in the pictures, but my kitchen counter had to do. No tiny logs available.
- For the eyes, I made two biggish balls of clay and stuck them on top of his head. That’s a key Kermit look. I found some scraps of white paper for the main part of the eyes and later, very carefully, used a black marker for the pupils once the clay was a bit less sticky. Didn’t have any silvery-white, but you make do.
- The mouth was just a simple slit I carved in with the end of a teaspoon. Kept it basic.
I gotta be honest, my first couple of attempts were a total mess. One looked less like Kermit and more like a sad, green amoeba. Another one’s leg just snapped off when I tried to pose it. I was close to just chucking the whole lot in the bin and going back to staring at the TV. It felt a bit like that time I tried to put together a flat-pack wardrobe. The instructions made it look so easy, but three hours later, I was sitting in a pile of wood, screws, and pure frustration, with a thing that leaned more than the Tower of Pisa. My partner found it hilarious. This Kermit situation was giving me similar vibes.
But then I thought about Jim Henson. He was the original guy who performed Kermit, right? Did it for years and years, up until he sadly passed away in 1990. That man was a proper creative force. If he could make a bit of felt and some ping pong balls into such an iconic character, I figured I could at least make a lump of clay sit properly.
So, I took a breather, grabbed another piece of clay, and went at it again. This time, I made the bottom part of his body a bit wider and flatter, trying to give him a more stable base. Seemed like a smart move. And I sort of propped him up against the toaster while he was setting, just to be on the safe side.
The final piece? Look, it’s not going to be in any museums. It’s definitely a sitting Kermit, I’ll give it that. Maybe a bit lumpy, and the green is probably not the official Kermit Pantone color, but he’s there. Sitting on the shelf, looking like he’s about to offer some folksy wisdom. My kid actually saw it and said, “Hey, that’s not bad!” Which, from a teenager, is basically a five-star review. He then asked if I could make Gonzo next. I said, “Woah there, let’s master the frog first, mate.”
It was a pretty decent way to spend an afternoon, actually. Kept my hands busy and my mind off other stuff. And now I’ve got this slightly wonky, homemade Kermit keeping an eye on things in the kitchen. It’s the simple pleasures, eh?
