Back in December 2023, I got to thinking how fun it would be to have more Willard merch using cute digital illustrations…sort of in the style of Hello Kitty, Richard Scarry and other vintage kids illustration influences. Sure, I have a treasure trove of photos but sometimes they don’t scale well and it can be hard to remove the background. The only problem? I had no confidence in my Adobe Illustrator skills (and even my regular analog illustration skills were rusty), and I also didn’t want to hire someone out because I could see this being something I’d want to add to and adjust pretty often.
I made the decision to dive in and figure it out! That led to my realizing that I also loved illustrating all kinds of anthropomorphic animals and I formed a whole new branch of my business (my animal art). However, now armed with a lot of confidence with Adobe Illustrator, I finally circled back and created some preliminary Willard’s World repeat prints/vectors!
I have two prints in two different colorways:
and you can see some product mock-ups below. Please comment and let me know if there are other products you’d like to see or other variations on these prints! I definitely plan to adapt the pajama Willard print to a Christmas theme as well! (as for the bucket hat–it’s not something I ever imagined doing but I felt strangely compelled to!)
Earlier this spring I was playing around in my sketchbook when a new character began to emerge. Curmudgeonly and irritable yet hopelessly persistent in her efforts to be famous/loved as well as to live as a Little House on the Prairie cosplayer, I named her Geraldine. It has been really fun to do more of a cartoon style.
My love of baby walruses started last fall and they had been showing up a lot in my sketchbook. I have been practicing my pen and ink skills, particularly shading via hatching.
After my initial sketch, I decided to make a more official try but I got off on the wrong foot with my inking; it started to look furry and it was an example of where less would have been more! I’ve realized that trying to use the hatching to show local color is rarely going to be the right choice for me, especially since most of my illustrations are on the small side.
Below you can see my third attempt of this walrus girl (as you can see, I botched the left foot and eventually simply removed it!) I had decided that I would try to render this illustration using the same style/process that Arnold Lobel commonly used for books like Uncle Elephant or Owl at Home. After studying these books and listening to an interview of his, it sounded like he would do an initial pen drawing and then color with watercolor, and also add graphite pencil. I thought it was really interesting that the two color separation printing process often limited artists to selecting two colors (in addition to black) from a range of swatches. Artists would have to provide separate plates/layers for each color and they would have to guess as to how the two colors would interact on the parts where they overlapped. An interview I heard on a podcast provided some insight to this process; apparently, once you had one experience with the colors you selected, at least you had that information for next time and there would be less guesswork involved.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun to try to limit myself to two colors and also to use the graphite shading idea. For some reason it had never occurred to me to use the graphite pencil over the color rather than erasing all of my pencil lines. I often feel very affectionate toward my pencil sketches and miss them once erased after inking. Adding more pencil lines helped reclaim some of that warmth that I would often be missing from my initial sketch.
As you can see, I didn’t quite manage to stick to two colors and I also ended up with a very similar color scheme to Lobel’s Uncle Elephant! Although I messed up the feet, I do love how this illustration turned out. While I have work to do as far as my pen skills, I think the combination of the pen work, the watercolor and that touch of graphite shading creates an overall luminous illustration with pleasing light and shadow.
As many of you know, I have been pivoting to focus on illustration in the past six+ months. I spent about seven years consistently making soft sculpture with occasional forays into drawing and painting. This past winter, I had wanted to brush up on my illustration and Adobe suite skills in order to make some Willard & Friends imagery for new merch, but, in the process, became absorbed in drawing and painting all kinds of anthropomorphic animal friends (those illustrations can all be found on products in my Etsy shop!).
Earlier this spring I was primarily making line drawings that I would scan and color digitally but recently I’ve been enjoying doing the whole process on paper, with “analog” materials, so to speak. I want to share more of my process since this is an ongoing learning experience for me. I have dipped in and out of drawing for years but had never given it serious attention or taken the time to go back to basics to learn certain concepts. My goal is to be able to draw these characters more or less from my imagination (both because I like the idea, but also because it’s pretty tricky to find a reference photo that incorporates the animal, pose and garments that I want!) So, some things I’ve been doing include practicing figure drawing especially using vintage illustrations on Pinterest which are for children’s clothing catalogs. This helps me memorize some common ways that fabric falls on moving figures.
I did a process video of a recent illustration of two precious orangutan siblings and you can watch it here!
While I typically eschew anything “normal” or “traditional” in my dollmaking, when I noticed that one of my existing patterns could easily be turned into a classic teddy bear, I had to do it. Now I have a perfectly Way Home Teddy Bear. I will be offering this as made-to-order (with this original also being available for the first order placed). This doll is in my classic creature 15″ body style with jointed legs, semi floppy arms and rotund, weighted belly. The dolls come in outfits like the one shown: simple joggers, solid tee and shoes.
These silly befuddled creature babies are made with a slightly different body than I usually use. This body style is a bit simpler and more floppy. They have some pellets in their bellies/bottoms to create a pleasant feel when holding them. They can fit into most newborn and some preemie size clothing so long as the pant legs aren’t too narrow! While they cannot stand up on their own like my other style of creature dolls, they can sit on their own. They are just as fun to hold and pose, but in a different way!
Baby Gary (green) is smiling and about 15″ from head to toe, while Baby Carl (white) is very grumpy, and about 13″ from head to toe. They both feature a new style of eyelids I have been playing with that creates more of a soft, confused-newborn kind of effect.
I had been wanting to design a new creature body that was a bit taller and wider than my “saggy” body, and I also wanted to work on a new head design that would be ungulate-inspired and incorporate a new technique for eyes that I have been working on. The result was this friendly, serene looking creature who makes me feel peaceful every time I look at it. I decided to call this kind of creature the Humbly, or Humblies plural. Like my saggy style plush dolls, Humblies are fully lined inside their torsos and the lining is filled with beans. Humblies have extra beans and so are pleasantly heavy and saggy. It makes them very comforting to hold, especially with the slightly larger size.
Both the Humblies below will be available in my early December drop.
My saggy paunchy creature body is back and this time it’s in the form of adorable hedgie Gaston.
This body style is so fun–soft, plump, and full of beans! This body style doesn’t lend itself to being dressed in typical baby clothes, but I made it such that it works well on its own. In the past, I’ve also made belly shirts to go with this body style.
I love all of the mole rats and have been wanting to make a naked mole rat for years. It finally happened! Keith will be available in my July shop drop. He is made with a non-jointed, semi-floppy body that is smaller than my usual creature dolls. He can fit in preemie size clothing and some newborn size clothing. He is made of high-quality minky fabric. Keith features many hand-stitched wrinkles, thread sculpting and other details to give him the perfect look. Keith’s legs, arms and head are firmly stuffed, while his body is lined and filled with a lot of pellets, making him heavier and more “sloshy” than my usual dolls.
The dust having settled, Mother Willard is back at home base, packing away her disguises and drafting a letter to her confused children. She took a moment to look at a precious memento before tucking it back in the drawer along with her various IDs.
School’s not quite out for the summer and Ms. Willette is the new head teacher at the Way Home Academy of Big Feelings. All four pupils will soon be available for adoption so be sure to sign up for my mailing list to get details on when/where and how to buy!
Rusty and Willard finally got to catch up and have a heart to heart about the Mother Willard fiasco. Rusty brought all of his best crystals and made a special spell jar just for the occasion. He waved a moonstone tower around and muttered something about bathing Willard in love and light, and fashioned a little altar to hold mother Willard in safety and peace, whether she likes it or not. All Willard knows is he felt better after the whole thing, plus now he’s also got a new thing to shop online for (crystals).
With Mother Willard still at large, Willard and Willette had to return to regular life. What better way to shake off the disappointment than to get his vegetable garden all ready to go.
Willard’s favorite vegetable to grow is purple pak choi, and his least favorite are snap peas only because Ms. Blodgett steals them!
As we saw in the Instagram video below, Mother Willard wasn’t able to stick with the planned family outing and instead jumped out of the truck and hid in the bushes.
A new personality in the Way Home Universe was introduced last week: Marty. He is one of two employees of the Way Home General Store (the other employee, Dwight, we have yet to meet) and is passionate about his job…although I’d like him to consider taking a vacation for his mental health. Then again, he doesn’t sound confident in Dwight’s abilities to do anything other than make a breakfast sandwich and there are a lot more tasks involved in keeping the Way Home General up and running!
Like Kenneth and Rusty, Marty’s voice and some of his mannerisms were inspired by my upbringing in rural Vermont and my familiarity with country store culture!
When I make dolls to sell, I dress them in brand new clothes. When I make dolls to keep as my Way Home Universe characters, I can dress them in used clothing as well. I found these FILA sneakers at a local thrift store and couldn’t resist them. I felt they were older and worn enough not to necessarily require that the wearer be a basketball player (Marty does not play sports, unless you count ring toss). I also found the perfect country flannel for him.
Willard and Willette found their mother, but the visit was a little disappointing. She was asleep when they arrived and kept talking about how she needed to be back by three o’clock to watch her show.
Be sure to turn on the captions when you watch the video below!
I made a new creature named Rusty recently and was working on his voice and character all last week when I was driving around in my car. Last weekend I did some puppetry with Rusty and Ms. Blodgett. I had already established that Ms. Blodgett was the neighborhood gossip and meddler, and I had also established that Rusty had entrepreneurial aspirations in the vein of becoming a life coach or other kind of coach (I’m not sure Rusty has clarified what he’s coaching about, only that he wants to be a coach).
I have somehow stumbled upon the concept of “coaching” myself and I find it a fascinating cultural phenomenon. On the one hand, there are many legit consultants out there who are extremely knowledgeable and helpful when it comes to particular topics.
But there is also another type of “coach” in the internet space whose actual knowledge and offer seems unclear, yet who are offering to coach other coaches. The underlying premise and “hook” seems to be financial independence, being one’s own boss and sometimes a sprinkle of “spirituality”.
Many seem to find themselves intrigued by these “offers,” regardless of how foundation-less they sometimes seem, and how closely they sometimes resemble MLMs. I find the whole thing fascinating and that is why I decided that Rusty would be someone seeking this promise of “abundance” and financial freedom. Like many folks, Rusty also has a sincere desire to help others.
Unfortunately, Rusty’s marketing of his coaching offer is thus far limited to the small neighborhood in which Willard resides, where he is unlikely to find his target market niche. He encounters Ms. Blodgett, who is quick to offer her own ideas about his coaching offer while simultaneously criticizing or downright ignoring what he has to say about it. Can his plans–already threatened by his anxiety and social awkwardness–survive her scrutiny? We’ll have to find out!
I developed this 10.5” doll body style as an alternative to my full-sized baby creature dolls. Although I love the full-sized, sometimes it’s nice to have something more compact.
This doll has a floppier and simpler body, but the same head as my larger dolls (just reduced in size) so that it still has that same character and dimension.
Its bum is lightly weighted and it can sit or be held upright. I plan to make more creatures in this style as well.
Pre-orders for Lil’ Willard will go live soon. Each will come with a removable tee shirt and certificate of authenticity. Lil’ Willards’ eyelids are not lined, but the raw edge is finished with a blanket stitch just to be thorough 🙂
I have been tinkering with ways to make smaller versions of Willard plush. I would love to have vinyl action figures made, but this is a fairly long process and I wanted to see if I could make something myself.
At this tiny scale, certain techniques that I use with full-size Willard aren’t possible, so I opted for an embroidered face. While, in many ways, it doesn’t even necessarily look exactly like OG Willard, it does fit right in with the Way Home Universe and is absolutely adorable in its own right.
One thing I love about Smol Willard is that the size makes it easy to easily create fun toy photography. You could take Smol Willard on adventures and get some tasteful bokeh effect shots, or even remove the background of a good photo of him and layer it with illustrations. The sky is the limit. I would like to create some downloadable graphics that one could print and attach to box board in order to create little playscenes.
I will be taking pre-orders for Smol Willard starting soon— keep an eye on your email for specifics! Smol Willards will look identical to the one above, except that the hand-drawn and embroidered faces will vary slightly from doll to doll, making each one truly one of a kind.
I have been making more stop-motion videos which is definitely a steep learning curve! Today I made one of Willard shifting around on his couch and his pet possum, George Jones, climbing up for a snuggle.
Meet Kenneth, Willard’s good-natured and fairly oblivious neighbor. Kenneth is never seen without a can of Coke in hand. His “rig”‘s been in the shop which is why you see him walking in the video. He enjoys circulating the neighborhood and chatting with or TO anyone who is outside. In the video below, Willard was overwhelmed because he wasn’t expecting company and hadn’t rehearsed what he wanted to say. Later, he felt very guilty for his lack of responsiveness. He may be slipping past Kenneth’s place under the cover of darkness (so as to avoid more chit-chat) to leave a 12-pack of Coke to make up for it.
The original pattern I used for Kenneth was actually intended to look like a hippo, and I had visions of a kindly lady hippo creature. But as I cut it up and made it an open mouth version, it evolved into more of a monster. As I played with it as a puppet, a classic old man Vermonter accent emerged from my mouth and suddenly Kenneth was born. Lately, I have been thinking about the rural gathering places that I was constantly in and out of as a youth, and the old men that would sit around and chit chat about not very much at all. I suppose Kenneth emerged from the collective memories of this upbringing: loud, gruff, but ultimately well-meaning old men shuffling around the village making small talk. Kenneth represents the creme-de-la-creme of this cohort, as he never participates in spiteful gossip or begrudges the “flatlanders.”
Willard and Willette had a great visit and enjoyed staying up watching paranormal shows and eating snacks, as well as loafing around in their pajamas and having more snacks. Today, it’s time for Willette to leave.
Goodbyes are always poignant, lonesome and sprinkled with a strange sense of relief and a touch of looking around for something to fill the void. Willette will be busy with her trip home, and Willard will re-acquaint himself with an empty house and try to avoid questions from Ms. Blodgett.
I had been thinking for a while of adding an additional creature that would look like a relative of Willard–resembling him, but not identical to him in terms of his facial features. I knew I wanted it to be a female and made of baby pink fabric to match Willard’s baby/pastel tone skin.
At first I thought of making it his mother, but then was leaning more toward a sister. My 89-year-old grandmother, who has become very invested in the Willard storyline, apparently had some of the same thoughts because she suggested a sister named either WillAnn or Wiletta. I settled on Willette.
I fell in love with Willette as soon as I made her. Typically, I make creatures and sell them and they don’t spend much time in my Way Home creature universe. But now that I’ve developed more of a narrative around Willard, I really want to start making dolls that I can keep and continue using in my story telling. This also gives me a good excuse to go shopping for adorable shoes and buy fun fabrics to make outfits for these dolls (and of course, if people want their own versions, I can always do more made-to-order replicas.
If you follow my Instagram you know that Willette contacted Willard online, where she found him after they had been separated at birth. They had a Facetime chat and made plans for a visit, which is what you see below.
I had so much fun making Willard’s house! I have been wanting to create more of an enhanced universe for Willard and Friends for some time now, but couldn’t quite decide how I wanted to do so, and how I could do it within limited space and going too crazy.
The house comes apart if necessary and is made of found cardboard and foam. The only things I purchased were the grass and fence.
I have spent the last six years obsessed with learning how to make patterns to sew my own dolls and soft toys, and I had spent the ten or so years prior to that learning how to make my own patterns for women’s clothing. The method I primarily use is called flat pattern drafting and it helps you make three dimensional, sculptural plush (like most of the stuffed animals that you might see in the stores). I will be offering trainings on this topic soon. However, I want to spend some time on some basic concepts that don’t really require this knowledge, and one of those is what I call 2D plush.
What are 2D plush (I started using this term a long time ago but recently realized some others do, as well, so I’m not sure who coined it)? Basically, this is how I refer to plush that are created by creating one, flat shape, sewing two pieces of fabric together in that shape, (usually) turning it and then stuffing it. Of course, once stuffed, it isn’t truly two-dimensional anymore, but three-dimensional! But it doesn’t rely on the pattern to create any of that dimension. And, it’s not nearly as 3d or shapely as a more complicated pattern.
I’ll admit, I didn’t really enjoy 2D plush when handmade plush first started getting more popular. I didn’t like how flat they looked and I also have a habit of wanting things to be as complicated as possible for no good reason–while these seemed simple. I still don’t often make fully 2D plush, but I often use a combination of 2D and 3D flat pattern drafting with my dolls and soft toys. And I have really come around to some of their merits.
If you stick around long enough to learn 3D flat pattern drafting from me, you’ll see it can be a lot of work. There are some situations where 2D is truly the better choice, so why make it harder than it needs to be!
Here are some advantages of 2D:
2D plush is really good to use with fabrics that are fluffy and really difficult to work with. Cutting these fabrics (think Luxe Cuddle) is often agonizing, what with the shedding and slipping around. So a very simple pattern reduces cutting time. In fact, one of the biggest advantages of a 2D pattern is that you can simply trace the shape (without seam allowance) onto the backside of the folded fabric, pin it, and sew on the line. You do still have to cut it out, but in this case you don’t need to worry as much about the fabric pieces staying together properly and slipping around.
On a similar note, a 2D pattern often allows these fun and fluffy, yet FUSSY, fabrics to shine. Seamlines from a more complicated pattern will often be obscured by the longer fibers anyway, so why create extra work for yourself? The owl above is a 2D pattern with lots of dimension thanks to the fabric.
2D plush are great for stretchy fabrics. Many Waldorf dollmakers use a full body 2D doll pattern that has no darts at all. The fabric is so stretchy and stuffed so firmly that the doll will look round and full, and they use other techniques to add details like elbows and such. Making a more detailed pattern is actually counter productive if you’re using fabric with true stretch.
2D plush are great if you want to weight the plush heavily. This is a similar situation as above in that the extra amount of weight is going to sink down which means that any dimension you create with your seams will not be upheld the way it would with stuffing. The bat and owl shown above are heavily weighted.
2D plush is a great choice when you’re making something tiny. The itsy-bitsy ape babies shown below are less than 5″ long. At that scale, you don’t want to be fussing with darts and seams.
Finally, 2D plush is great if you want to use embroidery, appliqué or other embellishments as the primary feature of your plush. I like usually like to communicate expression and facial and body shape through the patterning itself (3D) but sometimes it’s fun to use the fabric almost as a canvas where you embroider, appliqué fabric pieces or even paint on it. In this case you want a flat surface without extra seams so that you can easily use these techniques, perhaps even in an embroidery hoop, so 2D is perfect. All of the 2D plush pictured in this post have tons of embroidered expression (that is, if you can pardon the poor photo quality).
So there you have it: 2D plush has a lot of room for possibility while keeping the pattern-making and machine sewing aspect nice and simple. It also means that you can dive right in as a plush-maker newbie and familiarize yourself with the fundamentals of fabric choice, sewing, and basic patterning. What questions do you have?
This past fall, I really wanted to play with a new body style. I wanted it to be floppy and droopy and a bit simpler than my regular patterns. I also wanted it to be a pattern that is sewn completely on machine and is ready to turn and stuff once sewn (with the exception of the eyes and face features). I thought it would be nice to have a simpler pattern that could have more sensory features, like silky minky fabric and more weight, and also be less involved in terms of facial features.
The very first doll I made in this style is below: I kept for myself and I’m proud to say I sleep with it like a teddy bear!
I then made an actual teddy bear version which was sold just after the New Year.
And the kitten you see at the top of this post is the most recent iteration. I ended up making a special liner to go in the lower two thirds of the body, including the legs, so that I could fill it almost completely with pellets rather than my usual method which is to put pellets in a sack and position that inside of the belly. The result is heavy, saggy, sloshy goodness!
Even though I love making creatures, their heads are generally inspired or start out as patterns that resemble some kind of animal head. Recently I got very excited about making actual animal heads to go on the saggy body and I drafted a mole, elephant, hippo and rodent in addition to the kitten and bear heads! I don’t generally love doing straight-up animals anymore because I can get hung up on realism, but I think with this pattern I can keep it fun. I can’t wait to sew some more!
Introducing Seamus (blue bird goblin) and Ronald (orange happy dino).
I had been wanting to do a bird-inspired creature for a while. Whenever I want to make a new face style, I work from my front head foundation pattern and chop it up and swivel it around, sometimes adding new pieces (like this beak) until I have a new pattern. I then test that pattern and make changes until I’m satisfied. I pin the test versions to one of my shop creatures so that I can see how it will look. Because of the flat pattern drafting method, I know this new face will always attach perfectly to the existing back head pattern and body.
I love how Seamus has a no-nonsense kind of look to him! With his beak alone, he didn’t seem complete, so I added goblin ears!
Ronald’s face pattern began as an attempt to make a baby crocodile, but as I tested it, I found it looked more like a dragon or dinosaur. I decided to go in that direction instead (and will come back to the crocodile snout another time). I decided to line the mouth so that his smile would be more apparent.
These creature friends are both roughly 15-16″ tall and have jointed legs and semi-floppy arms. They will be available at my next shop drop.
Betsy is related to Scooter but doesn’t have goblin ears. Instead she has fabulous pink hair. Her good-natured smile is made more endearing by her little teeth.
Betsy is something of a matriarch amongst the creature friends group. She earned an honorary band member role with the creature band (see my Instagram video) and her contribution was to dance feverishly since she doesn’t play an instrument…yet (she’s learning accordion).
Meet one of the newest Way Home creatures, Rupert. Rupert’s pattern is one I’ve used before, but with an open mouth, some different sculpting and different eye placement, it’s a completely different look. I read somewhere recently that “discovery is superior to invention” and I have to agree. Even though I always start my dolls with some kind of intention, the final outcome is rarely about my plan and much more about experimenting until I feel that the character has let him or herself shine through.
Rupert’s pouty lower lip can be shifted side to side or sort of tucked back up for different looks. He’s a very hefty creature and can stand on his own with his shoes on! He will come with the outfit shown.
For my recent batch of creatures I tried to “recreate” two previous creatures. I use this term loosely as I wasn’t attached to them looking like replicas.
One such creature is my adorable turtle-ish baby. I have used this face pattern only two other times (not counting Barbara Ann which was also the same face pattern but used differently) and I really wanted to recreate the mischievous baby look. I also made a discovery about my open mouth liners recently, so I worked this one differently and I like how it sits better. I absolutely love how Cyrus turned out. He was tickling the ivories in my recent creature music video on Instagram.
I also made another doll in the vein of Sad Mitchell and his predecessor who doesn’t have a name (but who is among my top favorite dolls). This new doll is called Cecil and has electric yellow skin with neon blue hair! You might recognize Cecil from his drum solo in the creature music video.
These and other friends will be available soon! Keep an eye on your email for details and sign up for the mailing list if you haven’t already!
Another wonderful doll friend is also done: Scooter.
Since Sleeping Beauty has been viewed in my home roughly 1,353 times in the last two months (no complaints here, that movie rocks) I have been scheming to make a creature head pattern loosely inspired by Malificent’s goons. They’re essentially pig/warthog heads on humanoid type bodies.
I love his wrinkly snout and smile. I would like to make this again with an open mouth, and another time with a frown. I can play with inserting teeth, etc. Too much fun!
I decided to give him these elvin ears because it felt right.
Like his friend Willard, Scooter may have an auction rather than my typical Etsy listing format to allow more folks to have a chance to buy. Mailing list subscribers will get all of the details tomorrow!
I had wanted to make a new face pattern inspired by manatees. As I neared completion of this doll, I shared him on a reel as an example of one of my many (most) creatures with eyelids rather than just eyeballs.
Much to my surprise, the reel got more than a million views in less than a week and garnered a lot of attention and comments. It seems the larger internet community is divided as to whether Willard is scary or cute, and whether giving him eyelids did in fact supply him with a soul and personality as I contended it would. Additionally, many commenters felt that Willard ran anywhere on the continuum from sleepy, to burnt out from a soul sucking retail job, to sedated (which I assure was not my intention when creating this doll!) On the whole, people were immediately obsessed and found him sad and adorable which—hello!—he is. And he’s not the first of my dolls to be these things.
Anyway, it was quite the kerfuffle and Willard and I are exhausted! However, being an unintentional joke turned out to be a great way to reach many people who love these creatures and that was a wonderful way to wrap up 2022.
Since my shop drops were already becoming a bit of a skirmish for hopeful buyers, and given the increased interest in purchasing Willard, I will be trying an auction format this time around. Mailing list subscribers will get all of the details tomorrow.
I have been wanting to take my Squat Creature pattern and turn it into a dino-style plush for a while, and I finally did it. It was one of those rare and very enjoyable times that I make a pattern and it works out on the first try!
I also used a face/mouth style that I haven’t used on any of the creatures that I’ve sold yet–this is my “beaky” style that I’ve done for several plush that I kept for myself. It is near and dear to my heart as those particular creatures have gotten played with and provided much enrichment in my home and for my daughter. I love the smiley, innocent expression.
I’m not normally drawn to pastels. I recently ordered some fabric and sometimes I like to get low-quantity/last-chance types of fabrics because in some ways it narrows the range that I have to choose from. This forces me to work with colors or textures that I normally wouldn’t choose (this is the same reason I enjoy shopping at used clothing stores or on eBay). Combined with the fact that I’m no longer making plush that *has* to look just like something in the real world, this can lead to fun and unexpected results.
I ended up with these pastel colors and came up with the idea to combine them in this way, and I love it. Actually, this palette reminds me a lot of vintage (I was tempted to say “retro,” until I realized that anything from the time period I was a child is, in fact, now considered vintage!) baby and children’s clothing and gear, and I love that. I have very nostalgic feelings for toys and gear from that time period.
I have been experimenting with smaller, “hand-held” sized plush creatures to offer something a little more compact and less expensive than my larger babies. It isn’t as easy as it sounds, as sometimes the smaller ones can take just as long as the bigger ones (making it hard to charge less). However, I was able to adapt my patterns to make something that is truly a little simpler to make while still having some dimension and a great expression.
This doll sits at about 8″ high and is made of silky soft minky fabric. I weighted the doll with glass beads, which have a sandy, squishy texture compared to my usual poly pellets. Combined, those features make this plush extremely appealing to the senses. I love the tactile and sensory aspects of plush and I like to find ways to accomplish something that has high sensory value but still holds its own as a doll/plush character and not just a “two dimensional” plush.
I call this the Dusty Snowball because it reminds me of snow in February here in Vermont–the snow gets dirty and dusty from all of the mud spraying onto it. For some reason, that “vibe” seemed to perfectly encapsulate this creature–he seems pure, but a little bedraggled!
I have only used this beakish/bill-ish/slightly dinosaur like face/muzzle once before (see my green toothy guy from a few posts back) and I really love it, so I used it for this squat creature plush.
I didn’t give him a button nose (or any nose) this time and I love his little bill/lip.
He is sporting a signature creature cloak made of cotton plaid flannel and lined with black knit fabric. He can wear it with the hood up or down, or simply wear his birthday suit—after all, don’t we all need that option with these chilly fall mornings and warm afternoons?
This creature, named Marshall (because his shape and the color of this thick fleece remind me of marshmallows) will be available in my next drop.
Here is another creature I recently made in the style that we’ve seen before with Barbara Ann and Terry. I love this design and I love it even more now that I came up with this adorable hooded capelet for this style plush. It provides that extra something while not detracting from the design.
This plush will be available in my shop tonight, September 16, at 6:00 PM EST and adoption fee will be $125 to include free domestic shipping (international shipping is calculated at check out).
I had so much fun working up this doll merging one of my creature head patterns with an Everybuddies body pattern that I’ve always loved, but haven’t used in a while–it doesn’t use any darts or joints but is still poseable. I got the idea (while having a bout of insomnia the other night) to make more humanoid versions of my creature dolls–I was excited about making human dolls that had a bit of a befuddled personality to them, like my creatures. And the result didn’t disappoint: Dizzy is a bewildered looking boy with a pouty open mouth. His hair is the piece de resistance, as it can be brushed in different ways to give him different looks. I personally love the hair-standing-on-end frazzled look.
As I’ve said before, I like it when my dolls come out looking as if they’re experiencing emotions, or have personality traits, that we don’t normally enjoy or which aren’t typically reflected in commercial toys. I felt this boy seemed a bit anxious and I gave him an “anxietie jurnall” prop to reflect this. I also felt this doll came out looking a bit like an old man AND a baby, which is really the best outcome I could have hoped for. If you can relate to having been told you were “wise beyond your years” or “an 80 year old trapped in a young person’s body,” maybe you can relate to Dizzy as he pens the following heading in one of his many journals “Diffrent things that could go rong.”
Dizzy will be available in my shop tonight, September 16, at 6:00 PM EST and his adoption price will be $155 to include free priority shipping in the US (international shipping extra and calculated at check out).
I had so much fun working up this doll merging one of my creature head patterns with an Everybuddies body pattern that I’ve always loved, but haven’t used in a while–it doesn’t use any darts or joints but is still poseable. I got the idea to make more humanoid versions of my creature dolls–I was excited about making human dolls that had a bit of a befuddled personality to them, like my creatures. And the result didn’t disappoint: Dizzy is a bewildered looking boy with a pouty open mouth. His hair is the piece de resistance, as it can be brushed in different ways to give him different looks. I personally love the hair-standing-on-end frazzled look.
As I’ve said before, I like it when my dolls come out looking as if they’re experiencing emotions, or have personality traits, that we don’t normally enjoy or which aren’t typically reflected in commercial toys. I felt this boy seemed a bit anxious and I gave him an “anxietie jurnall” prop to reflect this. I also felt this doll came out looking a bit like an old man AND a baby, which is really the best outcome I could have hoped for. If you can relate to having been told you were “wise beyond your years” or “an 80 year old trapped in a young person’s body,” maybe you can relate to Dizzy as he pens the following heading in one of his many journals “Diffrent things that could go rong.”
Dizzy will be available in my shop tonight, September 16, at 6:00 PM EST and his adoption price will be $155 to include free priority shipping in the US (international shipping extra and calculated at check out).
This was the last doll I made as part of my upcoming drop. It hearkens back to some creatures I made earlier this summer and has fewer extra features. I felt this doll ended up looking decidedly babyish and I love that it has that infantile look, while some of my other new monsters, while still looking like babies, have a more sage or wise countenance.
I gave this bald alien baby large, wide set eyes and a very slightly open, smiling mouth with a tiny set of teeth poking out of the lower lip!
This alien baby will be available as part of my next drop and the adoption fee will be $165.
I enjoyed adding a horn feature to one of my earlier monsters, the Mendy Monster (who has since been adopted) and decided that these two babies could use them as well.
For this monster, I also added goblin-style ears to match his/her contrast color eyelids, nose and muzzle. I love that this monster has a serious, wise-beyond-their-years look and looks very alert and focused, but also still has a babyish overall personality. The combination of purple and grey was a spur of the moment decision because I saw how well the hues looked together.
This monster has a decidedly fairy look, and one follower said it’s the first monster I’ve made that looks definitely female. The almond shape of the eyes does give an impish and feminine energy! I love the way this green fur feels–it’s very soft but still has a tufted look (unlike many luxe cuddle furs which have a choppier look).
Both of these babies will be available as part of my next drop–purple and grey monster’s adoption fee will be $185 and magenta monster’s fee will be $175.
As I’ve said before, I love studying animals and their infinite different visages. Last year I was on a serious mole-rat kick: not just the popular naked mole rats, but all of the other varieties, including the clownish African Mole Rat, also know as the Big-Headed Mole Rat.
I also recently got interested in walrus’, which took me down a tangent of reading about poor Freya, but I digress.
I decided to work on a creature face that would have a hanging, flattened jowl somewhat like a walrus and as it evolved I also noticed rodent characteristics like my beloved mole rats. I settled on very large, low, far apart eyes. This was a fun design and I love the result. I placed the teeth sort of where you’d find them on a mole rat, but not as close together. And, while the teeth aren’t as long as tusks, the shape of the jowls definitely screams Walrus.
This baby will be available as part of my next drop and the adoption fee will be $175
I was recently very inspired by the Blob Fish and wanted to use this as a design feature in my next creature. As I tinkered with the design, I recalled other animals, such as the Proboscis Monkey and Elephant Seal, which also have large, seemingly unwieldly noses.
The result, unlike any of the above animals, was more adorable than I could have predicted. As I’ve said before, I never quite know how these will look, especially as I decide on the eye placement and eyelid position after the machine sewing has been completed. I opted for a higher, forward-facing eye for this little guy, and a lower and slightly open mouth.
I knew that I wanted to use this almost primary yellow fabric for a doll and wasn’t initially sure if this was the right design to use it for, but I love it. To me, this baby looks a bit anxious and concerned–a bit serious. He will be available as part of my next drop and the adoption fee will be $175.
The third creature baby that I’ll have ready for adoption soon (make sure you’re signed up for my mailing list so that you can be notified about release dates!) is a baby Ogress, or Ogrette? A girl Ogre (all of my creature babies can be whatever gender you/they want).
Tilly has a very colorful pair of overalls that I made just for her. They have differently colored glowing balls of light. Her tuft of hair is a shocking electric green and her body is a lovely blue. I am learning that my creature babies can be anywhere on a spectrum of primary emotional constitution, ranging from melancholy, to calm but happy, to totally mischievous. I’d say Tilly is a mix of calm and mischievous.
Meet all of the creatures who will be available for adoption in my October 2023 drop!
All creatures come with the new clothing and shoes shown (not handmade).
All creatures except Gilbert are made with fleece and have jointed legs and floppy arms. They are stuffed firmly everywhere but the torso, where they are stuffed less firmly and weighted. Over time, they will soften and relax. These four creatures fit in baby clothing ranging from newborn to three month size depending on the brand, and fit in size 3 baby shoes.
Gilbert is made in my non jointed floppy body and is made with pinky fabric. He is stuffed firmly in the legs, arms and head and his torso has a lining filled with more weight than the others. It will slosh around and feel heavy and pleasant to hold. Gilbert fits best in newborn and some preemie sized clothing.
Important notes: These are art dolls for adult collectors, and not intended for children. Dolls will maintain quality best when played with gently and kept in dedicated spot.
Allergy notes: Made in a home studio that is smoke-free and pet-friendly (one dog): dolls do not come in contact with pets and I make every effort not to bring pet hair into the studio when working on dolls! Clifford does have 100% wool felt teeth and his whiskers are coated with beeswax.
Garth, sorrowful hound creature
Eustace, platypus-inspired creature
Clifford, rodent-inspired creature boy
Gilbert Capybara
Perry
(Perry’s shoes are technically pre-owned, but like new).
Way Home Art 