Shipwreck Enclosure 1.0
Day 0.5 (06-22-2026)
The next step after rolling, designing, and making Darling was to build her an 'enclosure', essentially the pet's pen or habitat. As an Aquatic creature, she has to have an enclosure with the 'water' trait. Though there are a few options such as sewer, pond, or tide-pool, I chose to build her a Shipwreck habitat as it provides an additional +1 happiness bonus for Aquatic/Mollusk creatures. The first enclosure or home in TSPN is designated as 3x3 in size, with expansions allowed further into gameplay. While this is typically interpreted as 3"x3", my model for Darling was 3.5" in width and 4.5" in height. She would look simply monstrous in a 3"x3" habitat, so I elected to do 3x3 squares where each square is roughly 3"x3".
I started by making a cardboard base approximately 9"x9" and then covering it in paper. I drew on a 3x3 grid and sketched out my desired layering. I then cut the paper into my desired shapes and used those guides to cut new cardboard layers to add dimension. Once I was satisfied with the base, I began building the shipwreck. It took me a few tries to get the shape and curvature of the ship correct, a lot of cutting, re-cutting, and taping the cardboard. It came out rather plain intially, so I made a hand rail for the top of the ship. Unfortunately, I didn't have any paints on hand so I decided to save detailing the ship for later. I wanted to ensure my extra details would match with the ship's paint job. At it's barest, Darling enclosure was complete.
Making Darling
Day 0 (06-22-2026)
As my very first Tabletop Solo Pet Nursery (TSPN/Teaspoon) pet, I decided to roll for them off of the tables provided by TSPN's creator, Simpsominiatures. (For readability's sake, I used the 'cleaned up' version by community member Adrinus. I rolled an Aquatic creature (Aquatic/Mollusk) with a manavore diet (consumes mana/magic as food). For physical traits, I rolled fuzzy with undersized eyes, a proboscis mouth, a mini nose, average-sized ears, and 6 tentacle legs. For the stats, I rolled a 2 for health and hunger, a 2 in aesthetics, a 2 in magic, an 8 in intelligence (fitting due to her octopus-like appearance), and a 2 in danger. I tested my d8 to confirm it was not weighted towards 2s and it did not seem to be so, just a strange course of luck. I rolled a Hardy personality type, whic provides a +1 to HP.
I drew my intial sketch to get an idea of my creature, and then re-drew their body in separate pieces which I detailed with colored pencils and then taped onto cardboard. I picked a mostly-warm palette for this creature as, while sketching, I had the vague idea that they would be orange. I then added yellow and red to create the appearance of gradients and used blues for the suckers on the the tentacles so that they would 'pop'. Once taped to the cardboard, I cut out the pieces and taped over them again for a 'laminated' effect. I assembled the creature's body parts together on a 'hinge' made out of part of an old twist tie, and used the rest of the twist tie to make their proboscis so that it could be a 3D detail.
Once fully assembled, I felt a feminine vibe for the creature and gave her She/her pronouns, as well as naming her Darling because I thought she was a rather cute, if unique, creature.
Quick Info
Darling is an Aquatic creature in the world of Tabletop Solo Pet Nursery (TSPN/Teaspoon). She is 4'6" tall (model height is 4.5"), and lives in an abandoned shipwreck of an old sailing boat.
Though naturally sea-dwelling, she has both lungs and gills (hidden under her fur) so she can breathe in the sea or on land. She swims much like an octopus while in water, but walks with her six tentacles on land. She can also use her tentacles like a sort of hand, though she lacks fingers and must use her suckers to adapt where she can. She has funnel-like indentations on the sides of her head that are often hidden by fur, allowing her to hear much like the ears of birds. When in the water, the ears have an inner flap that closes and keeps water out. She relies on dense inner-ear bones, called ear stones or otoliths, to 'hear' underwater reverberations.
