Plushroom Soup

Plush You! 2011 Review

Last week, I had the pleasure to attend the Plush You! show for the third time. I think the collection of plush on display, from about 60 different artists, was the best yet!

I helped Kristen set up the show on Thursday night, which meant I got first dibs on buying a plush. I had such a hard time choosing which one to take home, but I finally settled on this handsome viking dude by Pepper Stitches:

The Plush Team was, of course, very well represented, including Cutesy but Not Cutesy, Plush Goodness, Hibou Cards, Weird Bug Lady, Moons Creations, Yummy Pancake, Talkproof, Pterodactyl Pants, Green Elevator, Yermit, Scrumptious Delight, Chris Creatures, ThEm DoLLz, Green Star Studio, Needlings, Cretur Fetur, Squirrel Momma, Lowell and Son, and Out of the Frame (I think I mentioned every teamer in the show; apologies if I've left anyone out!).

My dudes looked pretty awesome in their little cubby, keeping good company with Moxie's awesome e-textile monsters.

I even got to chat with Moxie for a spell, and she is as supremely awesome as her critters are.

I also met Anisa from Nonsense Institue (she's so sweet!):

And another plush-maker from Minnesota! She even lives in my neighborhood! Meghan and her husband were so fun to chat with, and I can't wait to get my craft on with Meghan sometime. Her toys are not only cool to look at, but they're interactive too!

Aside from the show, I also visted the Seattle Art Museum, Olympic Sculpture Park, Bainbridge, the Asian Art Museum, the conservatory in Volunteer Park, the Japanese Gardens, the Arboretum, Fremont Market, and Pike Place Market. I would say Bainbridge and the Japanese Garden were the highlights for me this year.

You can see many more photos of the show and my adventures around Seattle on Flickr.

Ta Daaaaa!

It's finally time to reveal my finished plushies from the last post!

First up is my interpretation of the La Catrinas from Dia de los Muertos festivals. She's heading to the Starkweather Arts Center in Romeo, Michigan for a Day of the Dead show. The show will run October 7-29, and there are lots of amazing artists participating (I think the Plush Team may have a slight monopoly on the exhibit!), so if you're in the area, be sure to check it out!

I really enjoyed making this catrina, so I've cut out a few more and hope to put at least one in the Etsy shop soon.

I'm even more pleased with how my pieces for this year's Plush You! turned out. As I mentioned, I decided to continue with the fractured fairy tale theme I employed last year. I decided to take popular women characters and turn them into men instead. First up, we have Cinderfella, who of course couldn't even conceive of leaving the party before midnight, so he lost a slipper and his stagecoach turned back into just an ordinary, if rather large, pumpkin:

This guy was a LOT of work. He has little glass slippers (made from vinyl), a gored, ribbon-trimmed doublet (that'd be his skirt), a wool jacket with fancy buttons, and a cotton eyelet ruff (collar).

I don't know what possessed me to make him a gored doublet (okay, yes I do—George R.R. Martin, I'm looking at YOU). Because I don't really make clothes. I've tried in the past to make clothes for myself and the results have been fairly disastrous. So making them even tinier? With no prior experience and no pattern? But thanks in large part to all things Game of Thrones, I just had to dress my little dudes in fancy medieval/Renaissance/Tudor costumes. On top of that, I've always been a jump-right-in-and-just-figure-it-out sort of gal. Luckily, things turned out well. For the most part. I did have to re-sew Cinderfella's and the next guy's coats, but that was only because I miscalculated measurements and they were too small the first time.

So anyway, a lot of work. But I'm so, so happy with the result.

Which brings us to Alex . . . in Wonderland.

As you can tell, he's not at all sure about this Wonderland place. But isn't he just adorable? I'm in love with his jaunty little outfit, right down to the adorable white rabbit buttons I found to fasten the sides of his knickers/pantaloons!

Last but not least, we have Sleeping Brawny.

This guy is my favorite of the three. I think mostly because I love how his jacket turned out, and even on the first try! Also, his mustache is pretty great, no?

All three of these guys are packed up and ready to head to Seattle. Plush You! opens on October 13 this year, with an opening reception from 5:00 to 9:00 pm. Hope to see you there!

 

Works in Progress

I'm entering into my second busiest time of year (second only to the frenzied activities leading up to No Coast each year): Plush You!, Halloween, and Dia de los Muertos.

I've always wanted to participate in a Dia de los Muertos show, and this year I finally have the opportunity to do so.

I was inspired by the wodden la catrina dolls common in Day of the Dead festivities, and immediately started picturing elegant plush versions.

I've drawn out the pattern, and selected a few fabrics.

Once I got started, though, I couldn't stop thinking about Game of Thrones (I've been reading the books and watching the HBO series). In the books, the author is consistently mentioning women wearing dresses with dagged sleeves. So I knew I had to incorporate them into my catrina.

Ready to turn right side out. The dagged sleeves are sitting under her arms.

And the Game of Thrones influence didn't stop there. I've also been simultaneously working on my Plush You! pieces: three fractured fairy tale dudes, all dressed in costumes inspired by the books, the show, and my general love of tudor/renaissance/medieval period dramas. Here's a sneak peek of all them sewn up, but not turned right side out yet:

Can you guess any of their identities? Here's a few hints:

I'll show you all four finished pieces later this week, and we'll see how many of you accurately guessed my Plush You! pieces. :)

 

Upcoming Events

I will be a vendor this June at the first-ever Unraveled DIY Festival, an event presented by the MN Textile Center, in conjunction with this year's Surface Design Association Conference. I have no idea what to expect, since this is the first year, but given the narrow focus of the show and the built-in audience of all the conference attendees, I'm hopeful that this will be a good show. If nothing else, it will be an excellent networking opportunity. Hope to see you there!

Details:
Friday, June 10, 2011
6 - 9 pm
Rapson Hall (University of MN)
89 Church Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
You can park in the Church Street parking garage is located across the street from Rapson Hall.

Festival Admission: $3.

Also, I will once again be teaching regularly at Crafty Planet. I'm really looking forward to teaching others how to craft, and excited to stretch my skills a bit and hone my teaching techniques. I'd love to see you in one of my classes! More details to come soon for each class, as I'm still working out my syllabi.

Beginning Needle-Felting
Sunday, June 26
11 am - 2 pm

Make Your Own Plushie
Tuesday, July 19
6 - 9 pm

Beginning 3D Pattern Drafting
Thursdays, August 25 & September 1
6 - 9 pm

Beginning Needle-Felting
Sunday, October 2
11 am - 2 pm

Plush Monster
Sunday, October 30
11 am - 2 pm

 

I Want Candy

This weekend, the first ever Plush Team group show opens at Hot*Pop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The show's theme is Candyland, which we were all allowed to interpret any way we saw fit.

For some reason, the very first thing that came to mind when I heard the theme was "Candy Mountain, Charlie! Charrrrrrlieeeeeee." If you're not familiar, go watch the video first, then look at the plush version I created below.

I painstakingly sculpted out of Fimo all the candy pieces for Candy Mountain. The lollipops were so much fun to make! Aside from that, I must admit that it was a bit of a pain in the arse to make such tiny candy pieces out of clay, and an even bigger pain to attach them all to the mountain. But it was well worth it, I think. I love the way candy mountain turned out.
I also love the way Charlie the Unicorn turned out, though I wish I had made Candy Mountain to scale.
The best part about Charlie is that if you turn him around, he bears the scar from his kidney removal, just like at the end of the video!

The second piece I made for the show is Grandma Sugarsweet: Forget about eating your broccoli. This "sweet" old lady caters only to your sweet tooth. Eat your sugar, dearie!

Again, the candy pieces, as well as Grandma's tray, were sculpted from Fimo. The candy ribbons were fun to make also. My grandpa always had a tin of these by his chair when I was growing up. 
Grandma Sugarsweet hits the candy a bit too hard, I think. She's always got a stray lolli or cane stuck to her!
And finally, my favorite piece, the Gingerbread Zombie (or as I like to call him, Gingerzombie, because it makes me giggle):
The show opens Friday, January 21 and runs through March 20. So if you're in or near Milwaukee, make sure you pop in and see the show! Many talented plush creators contributed awesome designs to the show.

Ornamented

I spent all weekend making ornaments. Cut, sew, turn, hand-stitch; rinse and repeat. Ad nauseum. And I'm not finished yet! Many more have been added to the pile since I took this shot:

You may notice this year's newcomer: the tiny alpaca. It's such a pain in the butt to cut and sew an alpaca that small, but I think it's well worth it!

A good portion of this batch was dropped off at I Like You for their annual ornament show, which opens on November 20. The rest will be at No Coast!

Speaking of, I'm in booth B-19 this year. This year promises to be better than ever, with more new vendors than I've ever seen! Don't miss out!

Plush You! Seattle

The 6th annual Plush You! show opens tomorrow night at Schmancy in Seattle. I'm super stoked to be attending the show for the second time (though it's my first time representing Plushroom Soup). I can't wait to meet many of my fellow Plush Team members in person, as well as many other plush superstars.

This year, I decided to send a fractured fairy tale: my own twisted version of Little Red Riding Hood.

Little Dead Riding Hood, the Woodsman, and the Big Bad Werequatch (or Werefoot, if you prefer).

Little Dead sports the epitome of zombie girl fashion: a completely removable cloak made of soft buttersuede and lined with cotton canvas, a skirt featuring creepy spiders and spiderwebs, striped tights, black boots, and fashionable little pigtails held in place with coordinating ribbons.

Little Dead carries a basket of moldy bread and rolls, with a stow-away black rat. Eeeww!

Little Dead keeps some pretty questionable company, in the form of a Werequatch. The werewolf that encountered this bigfoot definitely bit off more than he could chew, and never lived to tell the tale.

The Woodsman sure has his work cut out for him with this pair! Fortunately, his wool pants, hiking boots, flannel shirt, and knit cap keep him toasty while hunting, and he's very well-armed. In addition to the traditional hatchet, he carries a special double-headed axe and a special rifle as well.

His axe serves him well when fighting zombies, as long as he remembers the cardinal double-tap rule (kudos to the readers who get this fairly nerdy reference).

The Woodsman's rifle is loaded with special silver bullets, the only weapon known to effectively dispatch Weres.

I had so much fun crafting this trio, despite a couple of challenges while doing so! Clay is not really my forte, so the weapons and Little Dead's basket gave me a few fits and aren't 100 percent the way I wanted them to look. But I'm proud of myself for continuing to refine my people-making skills, as I've been wanting to do fractured fairy tales for a very long time. I hope this bunch enjoys their time in Seattle and can hold their own next to all the amazing plush talent that will be present.

If you're in or near Seattle, go see the show! It's on display until November 8 at Schmancy, Fancy, and Nancy. But if you can't make it, don't fret. I'll be sure to post a recap of the show when I return from Seattle!

Plush You! LA Revealed

Today is the opening of Plush You! LA at Munky King Gallery in LA. I really wish I could be there! If you go, please take lots of pictures to share!

The three pieces I sent were inspired by carnivals, circuses, and fairs, if you haven't guessed already.

We've got Boris the Strong Man, with his handlebar mustache, old-timey uniform, and nautical tattoos:

Bartholomew the Juggler, with his bald head, chevron 'stash, and dapper vest:

And Beatrice the Bearded Lady / Trapeze Artist, with her curly locks, pencil 'stash, and dainty heels.

When I first settled on my theme, I knew I wanted it to involve mustaches. Originally, I was just going to make little imps with 'stashes, but then I started thinking about the State Fair coming up, which made me think of kitschy carnival and circus stuff, which led to these guys. I was a bit daunted by my idea, since the only "people" I had made before were Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and a tiny Alice, but I knew I just had to do it.

I'm happiest with the strong man. He came out the closest to what I had envisioned, and I had so much fun sewing on his facial and chest hair, shaping his muscles, and painting his tattoos. Bartholomew's juggling was a challenge. I was ecstatic when I found his vintage bowling pins and balls on Etsy, and I knew I wanted to string them in an arc to make it look more like he was juggling. But I didn't have the correct wire gauge on hand, and had no time to run out for the right stuff. So it's flimsier than I would like.

Beatrice, oh Beatrice. Her bosom was a huge problem. I thought just doing shaping darts would take care of it, but the stuffing just did not want to stay. I ended up having to gently needle-felt some ball shapes to fill out her bustier, but even those didn't quite do the trick. And saddest of all: I had the perfect little feather boa made for her, but forgot to drape her in it before I snapped pictures and sent her off to LA!

Ah well. I'm glad I took on my own little challenge, as I already have valuable lessons for the next set of carnies. . . .

Sneak Peek

I just put the finishing touches on my Plush You! LA pieces. Whew! Here's a sneak peek. Can you guess what they are?

Foot in the Door 4, Take 2

This weekend I finally had a chance to go back to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to check out the Foot in the Door 4 exhibit (you may remember my post about my horrible luck on opening night). And not a moment too soon, as Sunday was the last day. Yes, I am a terrible procrastinator in pretty much all things.

As well as my yeti stood out in photos from the MIA's Flickr pool, it actually took me a short while to spot him on the wall. So much art! Soooooooo much art.

From far away:

Closer:

Oh, hai!

I can touch it because it's mine. I have always wanted to touch art on a museum wall. Silly? Yes. But also fun.

It really was great to see something I had created hanging on the wall in our city's finest museum. And while I didn't have much time to peruse the three jam-packed rooms of the exhibit (we arrived a mere 20 minutes before closing time. Yes, yes, I know!), I could tell my yeti was in some really good company. My only beef with the exhibit is that it would've been nice to see the artist's names next to each piece so I could jot them down to look up later. I know I can find them online, and I totally understand why the MIA didn't add info to this exhibit, but it would've been a nice touch. Because really, how many people are actually going to take the time to comb through a database? Especially if they forgot to write down the column numbers (you can see them at the bottom of the first photo above).

All in all, though, I'm really glad I went back (I did seriously consider not going because I'm just that lazy). Thanks again to the MIA for this awesome opportunity! Yeti will come home this week, and I think he'll take up residence in my day job cubicle until he finds a new home.