What is the history of the Olympic Mascots?
The first official mascot in the Olympics was a dog named Waldi, He was a dog with many vibrant colors and features that resemble a dog like it's face and it's tail. There was one before that, but not much is known about it, it was for the Winter Olympics and it appears to be on a ski with numbers on the side and with the Olympic logo on it's head as well.
Where do the Ideas for the mascots come from?
In more recent years, there has been a voting system for different mascot ideas to be official mascots for that Olympic year. In 2016, the design and the names for the mascots were picked and put into a public vote, the design and name with the most votes becomes the official mascot for the Olympics that year.
What is the mascot and what is our project?
My mascot is based off the native bird of New Zealand known as the kiwi. It's design is based off the current status of kiwis and the culture that the kiwi brings.
The kiwi has certain features within it, like a black beak, a koru on his stomach and the legless design of the kiwi. The koru on the kiwi is to represent the culture of New Zealand and to it's also to represent the plant and art that is the koru.
The reason of the legless kiwi is because it's to honor the dead kiwis that have died from man-made reasons, because we have taken over the home that is the kiwi, and that is also the same reason for the black eyes and beak as well.
How to create a kiwi mascot.
Resources Required:
- Thick brown fabric like fur. (But brown fabric will work too.)
- Black felt or fabric.
- Green felt or fabric.
- At least 3 huge handfuls of stuffing.
- Basic sewing equipment.
Step 1: Make the pattern.
- Cut out a large circle which is bigger than 20cm x 20cm. Repeat this step as you need to sew both sides.
- Cut out a circle bigger than 10cm x 10cm for the head. Also, repeat this step as well to sew both sides.
Step 2: Start sewing.
- Cut out your head and body, it's time to sew them together. Sew from the bottom and work your way up until you reach ¾’s of the way upwards. Remember to sew both sides before you stuff it.
- Get ⅓ of your stuffing and put it all into the kiwi to fill it up or to make it soft.
- Sew the rest up until all of the kiwi body has been sewed up.
- Repeat all these steps for the head.
Step 3: Sew the head on.
- Put the head on the side the koru will be on and sew it on top. When you're satisfied, cut it off and tie a knot.
Step 4: Sew the koru on.
- Sew the koru on the same side as the head and use any technique to sew it. You don’t need to stuff it but you can if you want too. Sew it, cut off and tie the knot.
Step 5: Sew the eyes and beak on.
- Get your black fabric and cut out 2 small circles and 2 sharp triangles like pyramids, but don’t make them as big as pyramids.
- Sew the beak onto the face side and sew it on with any technique. Do the same with the eyes, but put the eyes on both sides.
Now your kiwi has been fully recreated and ready to play with!
Reflection
I thought the kiwi was going to be a hard task, but in the end, It came out alright, and everyone really seemed to like it! Because of it's softness and it's very cool look. The challenge was clear to me, I needed to try a different technique of making something, and to my surprise, It worked!
When I started, it wasn’t easy, but when I became absorbed into my work, I could do much more on the spot, and it was fun!
I loved every second of determination that I put into the project and I hope I can make more projects like this with Growth Mindset that I had in place when I made this project.
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