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!".

Sharktopus Plush

UPDATE:  SyFy tweeted about my plush!  Tweet Tweet.

So I've had to keep quiet about a recent commission for a while now. Its been killing me because its so cute and I'm really happy with how it turned out.  Luckily its finally been delivered to the person it was made for so I can finally now share.  Share what, you say? ...

SHARKTOPUS!!! Half shark, half octopus!



He's actually not that bad of a guy. He just wants to take a tiny nibble of your leg is all....




Here he is watching tv with my boyfriend. See, friendly as can be!





This is his skin suit, and what he looked like before being stuffed and sewn shut.


A friend of mine asked me if I could make a plush for his girlfriend.  He's a fan of "bad" science fiction movies, and apparently had made her watch the SyFy's masterpiece Sharktopus. He wanted to reward her for being a good sport by having a cute plush version of the creature made.

I had never attempted anything like this before, and it involved drafting a pattern and trying to fit 8 legs nicely around the base of the shark. I had to come up with some new techniques for things, like using a stabilizer inside the dorsal fin to help make it rigid. Also, the tentacles aren't stuffed. Instead I used a cotton batting to plump them up a bit, but to keep them flat and flexible. Perfect for grabbing prey, or hugging unsuspecting girlfriends....

I'm really happy with how he turned out. I'm absolutely in love with his little tentacles and now need to think of even more things to add tentacles too.  I hear he is also a big hit with the unsuspecting girlfriend which makes me super happy.  :D

Commissions and Christmas

Yes, its already time to start thinking about Xmas.  Especially when most of the gifts and goodies you've planned are handmade.

I'll be visiting my sister and her husband, and my nephews this weekend.  We're going to have some Xmas Crafty Time, since I think its something that they really haven't gotten the chance to do much of in the past. I figured I'd whip up some patterns and we'd make some cute felt ornaments, as well as make them each an ornament with their name and birth year on it (sort of a tradition in our household).

Speaking of ornaments, I'm working on creating a line of ornaments to put out for sale both at the Soundry, and online in my Etsy shop. More on that later.

Besides ornaments, I'm diligently working on making and finishing crochet afghans for my parents. I just learned to crochet a few months back at the Maker Faire in Brooklyn New York. I started work on an afghan for myself soon after, and decided it would be a great present for my parents.  They are both older so its hard to pick presents for them, as they do not use any kind of gadgets (they still have a rotary dial phone line) and aren't very materialistic. They also don't like it when we buy them stuff, because they feel we shouldn't have to. But, super cozy afghans that I made, that I'm sure they will like.

In addition to all the Xmas projects I have in my crafty queue, I also have a couple of commissions on the horizon. A friend asked me if I'd be able to make a custom plush based off a made for tv horror movie for him to give to his gf. I just finished up the sketches this weekend.  Also, some of my coworkers saw the plush girls I was dropping off at the Soundry and asked about getting some custom ones made as presents for friends.

Looks like I'll need to stay organized and on task through the holidays!