Cell Block 316

Been pretty busy with some plush preparations for a grand shop reopening.  But I took a 24 hours break to participate in The Soundry's Cell Block 316 art show.  Artists were "locked up" at the Soundry for 24 hours, and had to complete as many works as they could. All projects had to be started and completed within that 24 hour period.  It was a really fun experience and I would totally do it again. It was nice to kinda be forced to make art, because you really had nothing else to do. I couldn't distract myself with a chore, or go watch tv, I had to make art, or do nothing.

I think I got some really cute pieces out of the show, including a couple that may end up as plushies!













This last one was a collaboration piece with another artist, Brittany Hunter. She painted a background and asked me to put some of my little creatures on it, so I did!





Now that this has been wrapped up, its back to work on getting my shop opened again, especially since I have another piece of exciting news coming soon. :D

Pattern tip from Red Marionette

Just saw a great tip from Red Marionette, on making and using patterns from stiff felt.  Its a great idea and can't wait to try it out. Especially for some of my larger plush since it might save me a lot of time I spend tracing patterns now. I have a feeling it will work similarly with the fleece I use for plush as well as with felt I use for ornaments.  :D

Sharktopus - templates in the work

Whoa!  Its been a busy last several weeks.  In addition to 2 wholesale orders, I had to travel out to Seattle for work.  Its been a while settling back into things. After returning, there was work stuff to catch up on, wrapping up a wholesale order, wedding planning things, and some unexpected kitchen floor repairs. 

So now that all of that is easing up, except the kitchen floor which still needs to be done, I am getting back into things.  I had said I was holding off on making things for Suzannah Ashley to sell, but I really just can't help myself. I've had SO MANY requests, particularly for Sharktopus Plush. Plus I can't stand not having some kind of creative outlet.  I've already started cutting out the pieces for holiday ornaments, so I can get a head start on those. I had no idea how popular the Sweet Owls would be last year.

Also, I've drafted a revised pattern for the sharktopus plush.  Just added a few minor tweaks. I've also drafted a pattern for a smaller version that I will test out tonight. So yes, that means there will soon be sharktopus plushies available in my shop.

And because I've been asked a couple of times now, while I'm working on making some sharktopi, I'll be putting together a tutorial on how I attach tentacles to these types of plush. So if you ever were wondering how to attach tentacles, then keep an eye out for that tutorial.  :)

Dead Bat Plush - Clothes That Kill!

A few weeks back, I was contacted by Clothes That Kill! about coming up with a plush of their Dead Bat Logo. Its the first time I was asked to make something to produce in multiples and sell at wholesale. It took a few prototypes to come up with a design that both was easy enough to reproduce in multiples, and was as close to the original artwork as possible. After several revisions to the pattern, a final prototype was made.



Going through the different prototypes allowed me to adapt my techniques and learn more about plush construction, enhancing my techniques.  Once his pattern was finalized I made several more...



But I turned around for a minute and they all flew off!  I finally found them hiding in an empty shelf on my bookcase.



I guess they didn't like the daylight so much.  I managed to wrestle them into a box and deliver them to their buyer.  And another 10 to be made and delivered before the end of April.  :D

They'll be available exclusively through Clothes That Kill!

Early Cuyler Plush

My sister is a big fan of the Adult Swim show Squidbillies. Her favorite character is of course, Early Cuyler. Knowing this, her fiance and I conspired to make a plush Early for her birthday.

I did some research both to get an idea of his facial expressions, and an idea on how to construct him.  I came across vikangaroo, who had made a custom plush Early too. I got a better idea of how to construct his head, but decided to go with my floppy tentacles and to use different techniques for the face.

Here he is all stuffed. I'm using my hat to get an approximate measure for his head, so that I could make his hat.  Also this is before his mouth was embroidered.



I actually really like him like this, he's almost like a Clockwork Orange octopi.


And here is the finished piece with hat and his mouth sewn on:



My sister loved it! And a few weeks later when we both went up to my parents, Early came up with her. He road shotgun all the way to PA from NC, telling everyone along the way, "Don't touch the triiim!".

Long time no post!

Its been a long time since I last posted.  Life got busy and my little blog, and my crafts, got pushed to the side.  My dad has been a sick for about a year with congestive heart failure. Luckily he was approved to be included in the trials for a new procedure to replace a heart valve (A calcified valve was the cause of his problem). He went through the surgery and did great!  Even the doctors were really impressed with how quickly he recovered, and  how quickly you saw the difference in him.  Its amazing, like someone just turned on a switch and gave him his energy back. We're all so happy, and now that he's feeling like his old self again, I can worry less and focus more on crafts and planning for my upcoming wedding.

As for wedding stuff, I'm planning on making a separate blog for that, mainly as a way to teach myself wordpress. I'm a designer by day, and I'd really like to add that among my list of capabilities.  Though I'm sure any wedding crafts I find and do will be cross-posted to this blog as well.

Like I said, because of all the real life business, I haven't had much time to create things, but I do have a few things to share once I take some photographs and wrap up a few loose ends.  One of those things is a pattern I came up with to enter into Spoonflower's Weekly Fabric Contest. The theme this time was "Squid". Designing repeating patterns has been on my list of "want to do" forever, so I really was happy to get to play around and come up with something.  I used a little doodle I had made a while back as the basis for my pattern and cleaned it up in Illustrator. Going back and forth between Illustrator for drawing and Photoshop for creating the offset repeat block, I came up with...



I really like how it turned out, and regardless of where it places in the contest I think I'll make it available for sale. I definitely want to order a few yards for myself to make some things, maybe some wallets or clutches.  If you'd like to vote this, or other fabulous squid-themed fabrics, head over to the Spoonflower Squid Fabric Contest page.

Working on pattern design was something new to me and I must say it was a whole lot of fun.  I'm excited to work on more pattern designs in the future. Currently I'm working on my entry for another upcoming fabric design contest, Project Selvage.  The overall winner will get a licensing contract with Michael Miller fabrics.  How neat is that?!  Although I would be stoked just to make it into the semi-finalist round. The deadline is March 24, so I need to get crackin'!

Working on pieces for Soundry's Member Show

I've been distracted from updating. A lot has been happening lately in real life, however I am finding time here and there to sneak in some creative things. I have a couple of commissions to finish up, including the Sharktopus for Declan O'Brien. Also I'm finishing some work for the upcoming Soundry Members Show. I'm should have 5 pieces in the show including a good sized plush

Some of the things I'm working on that aren't plush:


Drawing finished just last night. 6x8 inches, color pencil on paper.



Painting in progress. 4x12 inches, acrylic on canvas.