Dizzy Doll

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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).

Dizzy Doll

Uncategorized

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).

A simple purple monster baby

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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.

Horns A Plenty

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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.

Walrus or Mole-Rat? So hard to choose

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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

Elephant Blob Proboscis

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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.

Ogress, or is it Ogrette?

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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.

Puppetry

Creature Dolls, Uncategorized

This past winter, I decided to make my daughter a silly puppet. I had made my first fabric puppets using the Tuscon Puppet lady’s patterns a couple of years ago, so I had a general idea of how to do the mouth and was excited to try my own pattern. The result was a silly bird that we named Dody. My daughter seemed to enjoy talking to Dody and watching the her various hijinks. The puppet became like a member of the family. Although my daughter has also taken to other dolls and soft toys, the moving parts of a puppet and the tendency for the holder to want to animate them more, seems to create more of an impression than a regular soft toy.

I made several other puppets after that point. I spent a lot of time studying the commercially-made plush puppets my daughter had in order to determine how they were constructed. I figured out that there are two basic ways that the mouth liners can be made, and identified some basic construction choices that help make the open mouth functional yet compatible with the overall design.

Almost all of my recent creature dolls can be puppets with moveable mouths. I have made the mouth slightly open on some of my dolls, because it looks really cute, but I hadn’t made any with a full opening to use as a puppet.

For this puppet, I tried a new leg style on my baby creature pattern (normally I do a jointed leg) and I also set the arms in a little differently. I stabilized the mouth liners with foam interfacing and inserted a cotton liner so that the stuffing and insides are safe from your hand when its inserted. Although I am not sure I’d do this leg style for a regular doll since it’s not that flexible, it worked nicely for the puppet because the legs are stable but can also be forced down to sitting type position as you’re holding the puppet.

I also want to tinker with the mouth liner–the foam was a bit bulky. I may try something thinner, or perhaps line the inside of the mouth with the foam again but not have the foam also in the seam allowance.

I dressed this puppet in these adorable knitted overalls (adapted from pattern I purchased from Unique Knit by Caroline)–I had been saving this gorgeous Malabrigo yarn for YEARS and made a baby sweater and these pants, but never found the right doll for them. The pants fit this puppet perfectly and I made them into overalls to tie it all together.

My original vision for this puppet included a short, pageboy style wig but I think that both of these look adorable and hilarious. I love combining somewhat outdated/old looking wigs with these creatures.

I have always loved Folkmanis puppets, as well as my beloved Hosung monkey puppets, because they’re functional soft toys while also puppets. As much as I like more professional puppets, they’re made with a lot of glue and foam and really aren’t meant to double as a durable soft toy. I’m happy that I figured out how to make patterns that can be both. My experience with my daughter proved the amazing social-emotional and educational potential that puppets have–so this is a big incentive for me to make them.

Creature Feature

Creature Dolls, Uncategorized

I have continued to work on my creature plush dolls. I have so much fun playing with different mouth shapes and eye placement, and of course, outfits! This creature baby came out quite frog-like, although that wasn’t my intention.

These creatures represent for me a happy marriage of creepy and cute. In this case, I actually think the creepy aspect really hearkens back to the human aspects, whereas the “cute” comes from the monstrous and babyish features. That is not to say that I think humans are exclusively creepy or bad–rather, I’m really interested in human emotions such as surliness, misery, irritability, yearning–all emotions that are NOT happy, precious, cheerful–yet, I find they become endearing when paired with babyish features (this is probably why people love babies that look like grumpy old men).

As I said in my aliens post, I don’t like creepy or monstrous characters that are too one-dimensional. I have to inject some element of human vulnerability. I do enjoy making simple and cheerful dolls with Everybuddies but I also really like making these creatures that have an element of desperation and unease…while still being cute. This froggish baby creature will be available in my shop on Thursday, August 11 at 8:00 PM EST.

Happy, Simple Dolls and Critters

Everybuddies PDF Patterns, Soft Toys and Dolls Discussion, Uncategorized

I had been working on digitizing my Bunting Doll pattern (below) to sell in my Everybuddies pattern shop when I got the idea to also do this pattern as a furry critter and/or monster pattern. I used the same pattern but added floppy ears and did the face embroidery differently and ended up with this sweet puppy.

I loved how it turned out but also realized that the number of seams and pieces in this pattern make it a bit of a challenge to sew up in plush fabric. This isn’t a surprise as I tend to over design at times, making more seams than necessary. I decided to simplify the pattern and worked up these person, monster and teddy dolls using the simplified version. I kept the body/rear structure as this allows the doll to sit on its own–something that I think sets these dolls apart from most plush which are just two identical body pieces sewn together.

This new version is much easier to sew up with difficult faux fur, and also shows off the pattern of the fleece better without a center front seam. I also made a version with the face partially on the fold so that there is no center seam in the middle of the face (for the human versions, I still keep the seam because that allows me to get that button nose).

I love to make complicated, challenging patterns, but I also like to challenge myself to simplify. The nice thing about having simpler patterns is that they take less time to work up and, in many ways, they offer more options. I find it a productive design challenge to make something that’s better for its simplicity, where the simplicity is the strength, rather than the simplicity coming across as an outcome of the designer’s limitations. This is more challenging than making something that’s very detailed/realistic/technical.

The bear has sold but the puppy, monster and plaid doll are available in my Etsy shop.