Make Your Own Minions

Who doesn't want their own minions?

This instructable will show you how to make your very own minions out of things laying around your house or office.

I looked around the internet for ideas and started with my favorites.

1. Empty soda bottles, one for each minion (oval shaped 2 L).

2. Spray paint. Blue & yellow for good minions. Purple & black for evil minions. 1 can = about 10 minions.

3. Scissors

4. Glue gun (other glues may work too)

5. Minion eyes & mouths - the pdf files are included below. (Printing on card stock or heavy paper worked best).

6. Various craft supplies if you want to add real personalities:

Bee Do: 3 used K cups, black sharpie, red sharpie or paint.

Evil Minions: purple yarn (I used thick kind)

Maid: 2-3 paper coffee filters, 1 sheet black card stock or paper, color full ribbon

Nacho: 3 sheets black paper or card stock

Empty out and take off the labels of your bottles. The bottles are very light so you may want to add some weight, such as sand, rocks, or even liquid. If you want to use these as a "Knock-em-over" bean bag game, like I did, you need at least a quarter filled for good stability.

Good minions get spray painted with yellow and blue. The yellow first and spray the color over the top 2/3 of the bottle. Paint the lids separately. If they are attached they may warp.

Let them dry real good before you paint the blue pants on.

Evil minions get painted the same way using purple and black.

Let them dry thoroughly, again, before moving on to details.

Yes, they will need their goggles to see and other accessories.

I did this while waiting for the paint to dry.

Whaaatt?

BEE DO...BEE DO...BEE DO....

Be careful with the glue gun.

It is HOT!

It can melt or bend your bottles.

A couple of dots is all that's needed for Bee do's lights, goggles and mouth.

The most time consuming part became the Evil Minions hair. I cut the hair all the same length, making little bundles, and then glued the bundles all around the cap.

I made the bundles of hair by wrapping the yarn 10 times around a 3.5 in floppy disk. Tied one side with a piece of yarn and cut the opposite side. You should end up with a pom-pom like bundle about 7 or 8 inches long, tied in the middle. I did this a bunch of times. Then I glued the bundles around the cap area first and then worked around the top.

It took about 10 bundles per minion.

The amount of yarn and bundles will depend on the type of yarn you use and how fluffy you want the hair to be.

You can cut and style your minion hair anyway you want.

Maid Hat:

Fold a coffee filter in half. Scrunch it up, kind of, like a fan. Glue it to the top of the bottle. I gave mine a little tilt.

Make a bow using any kind of ribbon. Glue it to the front of the hat.

Maid Apron:

Fold a coffee filter in half, like a taco. Fold it in half again and now it's like half of a quesadilla shape. Fold it one more time, and this should look pizza shape. Mmm… pizza. Fold it one more time. This will be the last time, I promise…

Now, using your scissors, cut little pieces out along the edges. This will make a design pattern. A few snips here and there. Open it up. TA DA! You have lace.

Using some black card-stock or paper, cut out an apron. Then trim your lace to fit the apron. Cutting the lace smaller leaves a little edge of black, which looks nice.

Glue your lace on to the black apron. I added a little ribbon trim to tie the ensemble together.

Viola, you now have a full apron.

Glue the apron on.

I had planned another minion modeled after Carmen Miranda with her flowered head dress. However, I went crazy and used too much hot glue and her face melted. She wasn't pretty. Paper clip earrings didn't help either.

Maybe these images will give you inspiration to get creative and have fun!

Another reminder: Glue guns can get really hot. It can easily bend and damage your bottles.

I call him Nacho.

Nacho was so fun to make. After making a bunch of minions, your ideas start flooding, You get to where you have too many ideas. At the same time, I wanted to keep it cool and simple!!

I wanted something trendy and unique. That’s how Nacho got his mustache and his Mohawk.

I ran out of card stock and I didn't have any black paper left, either. So, I made my own. If you are wondering how… it was really simple. I used the copier at work. I selected double sided copy and left the tray door open (there was nothing to scan, and it was over exposed). I printed a few copies and it was done. More black sheets.

Hair: Using at least 2 black sheets, cut the papers in half (vertically) and stack. Start cutting strips on one side. Cut almost completely across. Stop about 1/4 inch short of the end. Make each strip about a 1/4 of an inch wide, too.

It takes a while and the result is...fringe!

When your half sheet fringe is ready, glue 2 pages together to make one long strip. Do this for another 2 sheets. So you end up with at least 2 long double sheet length fringes.

Don't forget to cut out his mustache!

Now Nacho can come together. Gluing the mohawk takes a little care and patience.

Remember, even if your Cheeto doesn't turn into a butterfly...you can use whatever you want and style your minion anyway you want.

Do keep in mind the weight of the materials and their proportion. Your minion may not be able to carry the load.

Knocked-Over!

They have a mind of their own! Just get creative and make yours...one in a minion.

Hope you find this instructable fun and easy to do.

Don't forget to vote for this in the contest!… Poopaye!!