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Saturday, July 2, 2022

Meow Wolf Cherry Blitz spray horse

I made the prototype and pattern for Emily Montoya's Cherry Blitz spray horse. She created the concept and original sculpture that is at Omega Mart in Las Vegas. She was working on the installation version while I was figuring out the soft product version to make them both ready for the Omega Mart opening in early 2021.

Cherry Blitz finished product, available in the Meow Wolf store


 

Turnaround working sketch the first prototype was based on. The label was not designed yet, so a space was left for that to be added later.
 

It has an interior plastic armature, so the legs and neck are posable.

It was a challenge to figure out how to securely attach the spray bottle head to the neck of the "spray horse". The material is a fabric backed polyurethane. It's thick so it took some tweaking to create the smaller shapes and body details.

I still haven't made it to Omega Mart in Las Vegas, but I'll get there eventually to have the most unique shopping experience of my life. Check out the truly awesome Omega Mart Training Video.

Adam Savage also picked up a Cherry Blitz while touring the southwest, check it out here: https://youtu.be/J6oPJmGsioA

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Swirly the Sovereign Snake stuffed animal

Swirly the Sovereign Snake is my latest stuffed animal. Inspired by funny snakes like Sir Hiss from Disney's Robin Hood, I designed my own royal snake.  I think snakes are really silly, so it was fun making a plush version with a bouncy, coiled body. Top it with a crown and you've got a very regal but funny snake.




Alec often draws funny looking snake sketch, be them sad or mad, they always crack me up. I used that idea is putting together Swirly the Sovereign Snake. I played around with a couple different eye looks and ended up with an appliqué solid eye, with highlight and eyelashes. I think the eyelashes add a lot of character.

The finished snake measures:
9 inches long (nose to body coil)
10 inches wide (base to top of head)
7 inches long (body coil)

It's a great pattern for extra scraps, you can patch them all together on the body to make unique markings on the body.

Adding the cape and crown really gives Swirly a lot of personality, as well as their regal attitude.

Once it hand, Swirly is very springy and can be posed in many different ways.

The Swirly the Sovereign Snake pattern is now available for sale on etsy & ko-fi as a digital download. You get the pattern as well as step by step instructions to make a custom swirly snake.

 Make a bunch of new snakes friends!

Monday, March 21, 2022

Meow Wolf Bearret plush toy

 I worked on the plush toy version of Bearret, one on the creatures at the Meow Wolf Convergence Station in Denver. The original sculpture is a design by Caity Kennedy and her team. I worked with them in creating the much smaller plush version.

 

These are the reference images I was given as the team was constructing the exhibit at the same time I was working on the plush version. From these images I worked up a sketch of some options for the plush toy.

There is always lots of back and forth in interpreting a large sculpture into a small plush toy. The real Bearret has many layers of cut felt to create its body texture. We ended up creating several custom patterns to be printed on the minky fabric through Spoonflower to give the feeling of the multicolored texture of the real sculpture.

Once of the perks of custom printing the fabric was once I had the pattern pieces shaped, I was able to get both the fabric design as well as the pattern pieces printed directly on the fabric.



 

With its long spindly legs, I wasn't sure if Bearret would need an internal support armature to stay in a standing pose. Luckily by firmly stuffing the legs that was enough to get it to stand and it keeps some flexibility so Bearret can sit and be posed in different positions.

I developed the prototype and pattern for mass production, which is currently in the works. I also handmade a limited edition of 20 pieces for the opening in September 2020.

I haven't been able to get to Denver to see the real Bearret, but I know it's huge. The plush version is smaller and more huggable at about 15 inches tall and 12.5 inches front to back.