Stuffed Frog Head

My awesome friend Liz Prince had a pretty big birthday last month and for the occasion I made her a stuffed and mounted frog head.  When I designing it,  I had a toad in mind, but the since I ended up using a dark sage green fabric it ended up looking more like a frog.

I approached making this the same way I make most plush things.  I made couple sketches,  then decided on a design and tightened it up to use as a guide as I made the fabric pattern.

 As you can tell,  since fabric is such a flexible material,  there are always changes from the tight drawing to the finished piece.  It's not really necessary to make such a tight image for a plush concept, but it helps give me a very clear image to work from.  I found some plush that had little bumps already pressed into the fabric, which I thought would add some warty texture.  Sadly because I stuffed the head so firmly, all the bumps were pushed out and lost.

The eyes are clear plastic half domes painted from the inside with acrylic to maintain their shine.

Here's something new that I learned as a shortcut when you're short on time.  If you can't actually use wood stain because it takes a long time to fully dry, you can substitute thinned acrylic paint. It dries very quickly and it much less strong smelling.  I'm not sure that acrylic would work on all woods,  but the plaque I got was unfinished pine, so it soaked up the color.  I covered the painted wood with a clear shiny shellac spray finish.

Liz already has quite a collection of mounted fake animal heads so this frog has found a nice place at her pad.

Happy 2012!

Happy New Year and to celebrate I'm updating the site slightly,  out with the old 2011 header:

In with the new header:

A little something new for the new year which will hopefully be filled with some exciting changes and new places.

Toy Workshop Results

On December 10th 2011,  at the Center for Cartoon Studies  I taught a 3-hour plush toy workshop.  It was open to all ages,  so there was a nice mix of kids and adults.  The class ended up being totally full with 24 people ready to make some toys.  Alec volunteered to be my assistant teacher for the day and was a huge help making sure everything ran smoothly.

My goal for the workshop was to have everyone go home with a customized plush character.  I didn't know the skill levels of the participants,  so I assumed everyone was a beginner but left room for each person to use any existing skills. 

Before the class,  I created a simple blank body shape out of fleece that could be translated into many different ideas.  Each person took that shape and using additional felt and fleece fabrics turned it into their toy.   Everyone participating really showed me how many variations could be created from a single shape,  all sorts of different and amazing creatures were made.  I had a great time sharing some toy design skills and everyone went home with a cool plush toy, so I hope they had a good time too.

I didn't get photos of the finished stuffed toys, but here are some as they are being created.

Happy Winter!

Basewood Beard Destroyed!

Alec finished the last chapter of his graphic novel, Basewood, on December 2, 2011.  He then edited and assembled the book and planned a big event for his first haircut and shave in over 3 years.

Each time Alec finished penciling or inking a page of Basewood, he would take a photograph, I took all those photos and some images from his books and created this fun video.

We used Livestream to broadcast the haircut as it happened on December 9, 2011, you can check out that video here: http://livestre.am/1aBwl

Aside from finally seeing Alec without a beard, this is a big step for us as it kicks of the planning stages of our next adventure together.

Plush Toy Workshop at CCS

Two weeks from today on December 10th,  I'll be teaching a soft toy workshop at the Center for Cartoon Studies.   I'll be covering the basics of making a simple plush character and by the end every participant will have created a unique soft toy to take home.

You can sign up for the workshop here.

Cat Pattern

I finally finished the instructions for the Cozy Kitty pattern,  it's now available in the store section.  The patterns are also available on etsy,  along with a couple finished plush kitties,  check 'em out.