Critical Role is Geek & Sundry’s live Dungeons & Dragons show, featuring Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer and his troupe of fellow voice actors. Catch them every Thursday night at 7:00 PM PT on the Geek & Sundry Twitch channel and on Alpha.
Caleb Widogast’s familiar Frumpkin is every bit a member of The Mighty Nein as the group’s human (and non-human) members. Familiars may be magical creatures, but even they need a little time to play now and then. While Caleb might scowl at Frumpkin batting around his precious spellbooks, you can make a soft felt book packed with catnip to make your familiar feel just as loved as Frumpkin.
It’s even okay if this Critical Role inspired DIY toy gets dirty—it just adds authenticity!
What You Need
- Brown and off-white felt
- Loose catnip
- Large craft jewel
- Gold glitter fabric paint
- Thin ribbon
- Hot glue gun
- Scissors
- Paintbrush
Get Started!
Step One: Begin by cutting one piece of brown felt, approximately 4 inches wide and 8 inches long. Next, cut two pieces of the off-white felt, just slightly smaller than the brown piece you cut.
Step Two: Take one piece of the off-white felt and gently shake a small amount of catnip on the right side of it. Hot glue around the right edges, and fold the felt piece in half to make the first pages.
Step Three: Line up the “pages” of the piece you just glued with the right edge of the other white piece of felt. Hot glue the folded piece on to the unfolded piece of white felt, and let cool.
Step Four: Cut the thin ribbon a few inches long, and then hot glue the ribbon on the other side of the open felt.
Step Five: Place a little more catnip on the felt, and fold it over and hot glue like you did the pages earlier. Make sure you glue all of the page edges completely or the catnip will fall out of the toy.
Step Six: Line the folded pages just alongside the right side of the brown felt, leaving room all around the sides to make it look like the cover of a book. Glue the pages to the brown felt.
Step Seven: Next, squeeze some hot glue on the off-white felt, and fold over the brown felt to complete the book. Trim the felt as needed.
Step Eight: Paint small triangles on each corner of the book’s front cover with the gold glitter fabric paint. Let dry completely. (None of the glitter should fall off if you use fabric paint; be careful using glitter glue or plain glue with glitter as it may irritate your cat’s eyes and mouth.)
Step Nine: Place a large circle of the gold fabric paint in the middle of the cover, and gently place the jewel in the middle. Gently press and move it around to make sure all of the edges of the jewel are covered in paint. Let dry completely.
Step Ten: Flip the book over and paint the same triangles on the corners, and let dry completely.
Your spellbook is complete! Give it a good shake to make sure none of the catnip falls out, and then it’s ready to work its magic on your feline familiar.
(Be sure to supervise your cat while they play with the toy to make sure they don’t remove the jewel or ribbon.)
WANT MORE CRITICAL ROLE?
- Catch up on Vox Machina’s adventures you missed with the Critical Role podcast.
- Don’t miss the new campaign of Critical Role, live on Alpha and Twitch Thursdays at 7:00 PM Pacific.
Featured Image: Bianca Bickford
All Other Photos: Kelly Knox