The results of my little poll are in, and yetis beat out the competition by a small margin:
You asked for it, you got it! Introducing Cotton Candy Yetis!
These guys will be available at No Coast, but there's only six of 'em, so get to the booth early!
And for those of you who were really hoping for more frogs and owls, no worries. I have plenty of both of those as well.
See you at No Coast! I'm booth D-2 this year, in the main hallway near the security desk.
The Queen herself is vaguely heart-shaped, and she has heart-shaped pupils and suckers, as well as heart-shaped jewels on her crown.
I based my Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum on the John Tenniel illustrations from Through the Looking Glass.
I actually used my owl pattern, enlarged, for their general shape (Alice also uses my owl pattern, but much smaller), and then I just added arms and legs. I was really nervous about embroidering the faces since I've never made anything remotely human-looking before, but I am rather pleased with how they came out.
I decided to also make sailor hats for Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, to more closely tie them to the Queen of Hearts piece.
And here's the whole gang together:
I've long been a fan of Alice in Wonderland (I even wrote my undergrad thesis paper on the tale, because I'm that nerdy), so I'm more excited than usual to be participating in this show. Many, many thanks to Cimmi for curating! If you're in the Santa Barbara area, please go check it out (and take lots of pictures!). Visit the Paul Cumes Fine Art Gallery website for more info.
Ah, the power of Twitter. This afternoon, someone I follow reposted a Tweet (retweeted) from a user named BuyZombie. Since I craft zombie critters and generally like most things zombie, I was intrigued and clicked over to their profile. BuyZombie.com is an awesome Website that is "an ever-growing database of everything Zombie related you can buy or do on the Internet" and has "grown to be a hub for zombie news, media, reviews, and announcements!" Naturally, I had to follow someone who runs such a cool site and I swear, not even an hour later, I saw this Tweet from them:
How cool is that?! Thanks to Stuart for such a nice write-up of my zombie critters!
Yep, it must be October all right—zombies have shuffled their way into my Etsy shop! There should be a zombie critter to satisfy most souls, and I plan to add one or two more in the next week.
I did it. I just submitted three pieces for consideration to the Mortal Plush show in DC this summer. The theme of the show is plush that convey emotion. You saw bigfoot yesterday, exhibiting ennui. I also submitted two sea monsters.
This one with the jaunty little top hat is excited:
While this meanie is displaying fury:
I cut it very close to the deadline (today) like my typical procrastinating self. This time, it wasn't because I was sewing up until the final possible moment, it was the weather. Seriously! Because I haven't yet built myself a little light tent, I have to rely on the sun for nice photos, or haul my creatures into my day job to use the photo studio there. Can you guess what's going to be at the top of the list for my May goals (which I'll be blogging about later this weekend)?
Anyway, I really hope I get accepted to the show. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
That's what this guy is feeling right now. Poor little Bigfoot tried everything he could think of to snap out of his funk. But nothing can cheer him up. Not even eating the cat.
This guy is my final submission for Mortal Plush. I'll show you my finished sea monster submissions tomorrow, when I can snap better pictures of them.
Just a reminder that if you live in or near New York, you should check out the APW Gallery tonight from 6 to 9 pm for the opening reception of the first annual Custom Toy Exhibit. The exhibit features over 300 artists worldwide and is also a viewer-judged contest, with first prize being a solo exhibit. I am super stoked to have one piece in the show (and maybe the only plush?), Octozombie, which you can see at the bottom of the picture below.
Unfortunately, I am unable to go to New York and see the exhibit myself, so if you go, please snap a picture or two for me, and don't forget to vote for Octozombie while you're there! If you can't make it to the opening reception tonight, the exhibit runs through April 27.
APW Gallery
48-18 Van Dam Street
Long Island City, NY, 11101
Introducing
octozombie! He is made with 100% wool and has needle-felted mouth, eye
sockets, eyeballs, teeth, and blood. Detached tentacle reattaches with
use of a magnet hidden inside. Tentacles are wired for posability. His
fish prey is also 100% wool, with a needle-felted head wound.
I just sent this fearsome creature to terrorize the Big Apple. He's my entry in the APW Gallery's
Custom Toy Exhibit, running April 3 to April 27. The exhibit is
actually contest, with the grand prize being a solo exhibition. So if
you live in or near New York, please go see the exhibit and vote for
octozombie!
Also, don't forget that you can now become a fan of Plushroom Soup on Facebook, and you can also follow me on Twitter! So become a fan and a follower, and make me feel popular! :)
So, I finally got around to photographing the other yeti in the other
fur I posted about last week.
This poor guy, confused as all get out, was found on the last patch of snow in the yard. I brought him in and tried to acclimate him to spring and to his new home, but he still seems quite unsure.
I don't think he's cut out to be a flower vendor, but I do like this one's fur better than the last one. What do you think?
I was looking over past posts today and noticed that I had somehow failed to blog about my favorite creation to date: zombie frog.
Zombie frog was the first truly twisted (but still cute) plushie I ever created. I had dabbled in strange before, but nothing that had gore, not to mention removable body parts! I started out with the same pattern I used for my regular frogs, which was hand-drawn by me. I decided to use wool felt instead of my usual cotton, as I knew the details I wanted to add would be easier to accomplish if I could needle-felt them in later.
I started with the face. Before sewing the two sides together, I used wool roving to needle-felt his details. I cut a small hole for each eye, and a long slit for his mouth. I needle-felted little cup-like shapes, then pushed them through the holes I created, using the felting needle to felt the shapes into the wool face. I kept shaping with my needle until I liked the result. Next, I needle-felted two eyeballs, giving one of them an optic nerve so it could dangle from its socket, then I needle-felted each eye into its socket.
Then, I sewed the two right sides of the head together and added stuffing.
I wanted one of zombie frog’s legs and his head to be removable, and for him to be able to hold either his head or his leg in one of his hands. So before I sewed his head closed, I glued a super strong craft magnet into the bottom. I also glued a magnet inside the body where the leg would attach, another inside the body where the head would attach, one inside his right arm, and one inside his left leg. I then stuffed both arms and legs, sewed all but his left leg into his body, then stuffed the body and sewed the opening closed. The final touch was to add some gore. Again, I did this by needle-felting roving into the areas that I wanted to look bloody.
Creating this guy opened up a whole new world of crafting for me, and was pretty much the start of Plushroom Soup. Look for more zombie goodness this month; I am currently making a zombie octopus and a zombie pegasus. What other zombie critters would you like to see?
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