I'm blue da ba dee da ba die

So my latest requested plushie was Grimmjow Jaegerjacquez - a character from Bleach manga. I confess I was not familiar and had to do some research for details and query others.

He's had a variety of outfits but I think this was the one requested.

The most exciting challenge for me was the fact that he has a hole through the middle of his body. A fact that reminds me of Existenz (1999) a film where people get a hole in their back and jack into some kind of gaming network.  It's not at all the same but every time I was planning this aspect I kept being reminded.

I was going to photograph the process but as the hole through the middle involved a black tube of felt attached to one side at one point at around the middle of his body... I leave you to guess why I didn't.

Anyway, I was a little nervous because I had to guess how wide his body would be and therefore how long the black tube would need to be but fortunately I guessed OK.  Essentially in order to be able to turn him right way out after sewing the two sides together I had to leave one end free. Once the right way out I could then attach the far end of the tube. Then, to stuff the doll I left a pole through the hole so that it didn't collapse while I stuffed the body.

I can't photograph in a way that shows you that you can see through the hole but it's kind of cool.

The next stage was the short jacket. The description on the wiki says a turned up collar and the sleeves rolled up, white, with black lining.

I'm not good at lining things so I tend to just line each piece and then turn them inside out and attach.

Unfortunately this meant somehow the sleeves were too exact to roll up but I still like the effect.

Hopefully the new owner will like it too! They liked stage 1 (without the jacket) so here's hoping.

It's been a long time, we shouldn't of left you

...without a dope beat to step to...

It appears I have not blogged since October. Good grief!

I'm going to throw you a few pics of some plushies I did  a while back.

These two dolls are the school uniform of the children at the school a friend of mine who is a newly qualified teacher. Apart from aiming to get the details right, I decided early on, one of the girls would be black because most of my characters are white and there are plenty of kids at that school who aren't, also she was a sort of homage to one of my friend's daughters who is cute and adorable. I wanted the smile to be clear and her mouth disappeared for some reason with black thread on brown even though her eyes didn't so I gave it a small white line to make it stand out

My friend was very pleased so I'm glad they came out alright. She gave me a book token and some chocolate. Bless.

I also made a Furiosa doll for a friend. The tricky bit was the arm, which I made out of pipe cleaner. I'm not very patient so rather than going out to get the right colour I coloured in with felt pens the yellow pipe cleaner to make it dark metal grey.

Similarly for her oil slicked shorn head, I coloured in for a looong time the pink fabric for her head. I really wished I'd used embroider but that would have been equally long.

The basic doll was made first then I sewed on her metal arm.

My friend and customer was very happy.

I have got some update on the Nursery rhyme book. WITH PICTURES, of actual sewing done. But I'm too sleepy to do it now.

Where do we go from here?

I realised I never posted any pics of Babydoll mark 2

There aren't many pics but here it is!

She was a second version for the same person who wanted one for herself and one for her partner.

Anyway as mentioned previously I have been asked to make

• Imperator Furiosa
• 2 kids in a school  uniform
• Delorean - still no idea when I'll do that one
• I think I may have promised a Harley Quinn and possibly Rogue and possibly Scarlet Witch...

That's where we are on projects anyway

Doctor no 11....yes again

So glancing back at my previous posts forever ago I'm sure you're thinking where's my darn delorean, where's my nursery rhyme book for the niece?

And the answer would be I don't know I got distracted. Instead I've been asked for the straightforward kind of plushies and I've finally made one of them - the 11th Doctor. This is not my first outing with the 11th Doctor. The last time I made one for a friend's daughter.

I have just realised I left something out of my plushie this time - the braces! Ooops. Never mind can add those on top. Done it before.

Anyway, on my second outing I was thinking about what fabric I had to hand in the more or less right colours.

I don't use a lot of felt really in my plushies despite the fact that it doesn't fray and is therefore easy to use. I guess because I don't have a lot generally and I have a looooooooot of other bits of cloth. I was slightly excited this time to get a chance to use a fat square I'd bought ages ago on holiday that was faintly reminiscent of tweed but cotton for the jacket.

I confess I did some cursory colour research but then I just got stuck in. I had to slightly make use of some scraps creatively to create the hair as I didn't have enough of the fabric I wanted.

I probably should have taken more care of the lining up of the pattern of the fabric of the jacket but I like the way it looks.

The requestor had asked for a fez, which I hadn't done the last time.

The last stage involved me realising I'd mised out the braces, I sadly didn't photograph them but they were the same material as the bow tie which was a fun touch.

So there we are, he's done. I like some aspects of this one better than the previous version. Admittedly the previous plushie was much earlier into my odyssey into plushie making. I currently appear to have made well over 20 of the darn things!

I've got to the stage now where I quite like that things aren't perfect, that the legs and other parts aren't even and the fabrics vary so much. I like the challenges that each one brings, even when I make the same plushie again.

I've got a toughie coming up - someone asked me for Imperator Furiosa and I'm thinking about how I can make that arm. Sadly I don't have any more grey pipe cleaners. But maybe I can cover some ones I have of another colour.

Baby got back....

Hello Babydoll from Suckerpunch how are you today?

Fine thanks, how are you?

Well I finished the secret commission the other day so now it's your turn! A friend wants a plushie version of you cos you're one of her cosplays.

The main reference shots I used were


Plus this image of just the costume for Babydoll

I planned out the basic layers. The base doll just has a blue top a very small midriff and blue shorts to go under the skirt. The sailor collar went over the top sewn on separately, and the pigtails were also sewn on separately as was the skirt. Last touch was the harness.

I don't know why I like these inside out shots but I guess for me what I like about them is how it doesn't look like anything and then it's turned out the other way and it really has some shape.

I had thought I had a shot with no skirt and no sailor collar thing but I didn't apparently. I also didn't take a shot at the point on turning the doll right side out I discovered her legs were just too long and I had to shrink them a bit.

Anyway, after I'd done the basic doll I then sewed the skirt. I did debate actually ironing box pleats but decided in the end that the better part of valour was faking it with embroidering. So here you go, for some reason I don't fancy right siding it up.

Once the skirt was on I made the pigtails and sewed them on, and then made the sailor collar. I used the blue stripes to sew down the hems out of laziness.

Just at an unfortunate moment towards the end I ran out of blue embroidery thread with a mere inch or so to go. It was killing, but I survived until I could retrieve some more from Mum's house.

I then made the holster/harness and the plaited rope strap. I only sewed down the sailor collar after the holster was sewn onto the doll. It is not removable.

When I finally go the last bit of blue embroidery thread I went a bit mad and wrapped it up and posted it off without taking a final complete picture. I hope the owner will do that for me!

All in all I'm pleased how she came out. She's very cute and I like how well the details turned out.

I've just remembered someone asked me for a Delorean plushie...dunno if I'll get to that.

Future projects

So while I'm blogging, this is my current list.

1. The things wot I am crafting right now. It's a surprise, so I can't talk about what it is yet till it is gifted so I can tell you after Christmas.

2. Babydoll (Sucker Punch film)

3. Book for my new niece. I'm planning on basing it on a German nursery rhyme my Omi taught me.

These are the words


Die Eltern:
Die Schnecke hat ihr Haus,
das Fellchen hat die Maus,
der Sperling hat die Federn fein,
der Falter seine Flügelein.
Nun sage mir, was hast denn du?

Das Kind:
Ich habe Kleider und auch Schuh,
Vater, Mutter, Lust und Leben,
das hat mir der liebe Gott gegeben.
Amen

I don't speak German but this is relatively easy ish

It means something like

Old person:
The snail has her house
A fur coat has the mouse
The sparrow has fine feathers
The butterfly beautiful wings
So then my child what have you?

Child:
I have clothes and shoes
Father, mother, love and life
That is what the good God has given me
Amen.

It will be an 8 page book with front cover and the idea sketches and micro test have all been done.

I'll try and share the proper sketches when I get that far but I want to do the plushies first.

Belatedly things get a bit stormy....

From one deity (Loki) to his brother, Thor, God of Thunder.

I prefer reference material that goes back to the source the person wants - in this case the films, but sometimes it's hard to get all the details. And to get them all in one image.

I found this image which seemed from other pictures to have a lot of useful details visible.

The first thing I realised was that there were a lot of details that I couldn't possibly hope to replicate in a plushie both due to scale and the style of the object. In addition I didn't have much actual silvery colour but I did want some metallic elements, so I had to decide how to use it to best effect.

What I aimed for was a general impression of the costume rather than a replica.

In some ways the costume was simpler than Loki's as there was not an extra coat. In essence you have Thor's suit and boots, and you have a cloak, as opposed to Loki's suit with tunic, coat and cloak.

In addition I had wanted to make some proper flowing hair as I had with Loki but I never got round to sourcing yellow wool so I just stuck with cloth. I liked this goldy cloth though so it came out alright even if it was a toughie to hem for the beard.  I didn't have any bits large enough to do it in one piece but I kind of liked that effect as it sort of felt like different swathes of hair.

The first stage of Thor was putting together all the different bits for the body without cloak.

Thor's actual sleeve has a sort of mail bit and a cuff that is smooth. A plushie's arm is too short for that so I just gave him a silver sleeve.The next bit I added on was the belt and the front details of the armour.

Once I completed the basic Thor front and back I hemmed up the cloak and created two small silvery bits to attach the cloak to Thor. The cloak is not detatchable and can't be removed.

I had always planned to do a helmet but I didn't have enough silver for the whole thing. or to cover it entirely in silver.

So I decided to do it in grey felt. However while I wasn't sure at first about using the left over pieces to add silver details, I decided I had enough, so I made the wings on the side completely silver and used silver pieces at the front and over the back and top to give some extra feeling of silver without having to cover the entire thing. I also added some paper between the felt and silver to the wings to give them some stiffness.

So there you have him. The new owner thinks he his ace! I would have liked to have made a hammer but I didn't have any feelings about how I wanted to do it, and the owner has a little hammer keyring which fits! Plus he seems to look like a blond bearded friend of mine! No not Chris Hemsworth, I'm not connected to famous people. He's an English teacher.

A Harry Potter diversion

So I got a commission from a friend at work. It started with one and quickly crept up to 2 but as far as I'm concerned if you're paying you get to say how many you want.

Her requests were :

1. Severus Snape
2. Albus Dumbledore

This is not my first Harry Potter plushie as I did the boy himself Harry Potter a good while back.

I did warn her early on that Snape was not likely to be super complex or very very obvious. His colour scheme is so simple it's hard to make it distinctive. I did have some fun looking up details as I always do.

I noticed for example, that there is obviously some kind of white undershirt going on under his tunic just faintly obvious at cuff and neck.

His tunic is also a dark navy blue, and has button detailing down the middle and along the arms.

I also noted that his robes don't seem to have separate sleeves


And his legs are black trousers or leggings with black boots.

I was going to make him very pale but I got distracted by being efficient and ended up cutting his face colour from the same pinky colour as Dumbledore which I did at the same time.

Apologies, no making of photos.

At the end I suddenly had a couple of small thoughts of cute accessories. I made him a wand out of a twisty metal covered in black plastic thingy and ...

 A little book saying property of the half blood prince - which is him after all!

The new owner seems happy so yay! On to Dumbledore.

I also now appear to have a waiting list again

After Dumbledore there is :

1. Thor
2. Babydoll (Sucker Punch)
3. Mystery plushie to be revealed at a later date!
4. Hermione Granger

Back to the Future II - ish

So I'm afraid I didn't do many making of photographs of this, just this blurry one:

The biggest different technique I used here was interfacing. I added it to some fabric which was the perfect colour for the denim but was the wrong weight and also very stretchy which is a pain to work with. I also added it to the stretchy face fabric to make my life easier. I'd done a little bit of this for Doc but this time I used it in a big way on the face. It was so great. Only slight problem was forgetting the stretchy fabric might need a cooler iron and ruining some bits by slightly melting them. Oops.

So the main pics I have are some reference pics.

His period outfits are sometimes a bit varied but the most familiar costume is the jeans and blue check shirt with a red bodywarmer/windcheater.



I have to warn you I am not feeling patient so although I made sure I did the right shoes - this photo was so useful for that:



I'm afraid I just couldn't be bothered to do braces this time as in this screen shot



I did give him the red under t shirt though.

I'm taking a rest before Clara although technically I don't have a choice, the nearest I have to a pale peach colour is just not similar enough to Caucasian flesh-tones being more of a bluey pink.

I'll be posting it off soon!

Doc Emmett Brown

This plushie will eventually be part of a trio but for now he's flying solo. I mentioned earlier why I chose this specific outfit so the next stage was basically some cloth choices.

He isn't a complex design in essentials, with no fiddly parts to his costume.

I had intended to do the hair with cloth but it came out a bit pressed against his head so I decided I'd use some wool a bit like Loki.

Although I'm not unhappy with Loki's hair, it didn't entirely go the way I'd like it to look, but I feel it works particularly well here. The sunnies are card with cooking foil on them and I embroidered on the watches on both wrists. The jacket material was stretchy which drove me a little crazy but worked out fine.

So here he is finished!!

Not bad compared to the original eh?

Toys toys toys

Well, out of nowhere, I appear to have a list of plushie commissions so I thought I'd write a note about it to keep myself on track.

I've been asked for one very recently due end of January, so it has bumped some non time sensitive ones down the list. Apologies to those whose requests they were.

1. Doc Emmett Brown (Back to the Future films) (due end of Jan)
2. Hermione Grangers (Harry Potter books and films) (deadline tba)
3. Edward Cullen - take 2 (Twilight books and films) (deadline tba)
4. Clara Clayton (Back to the Future films) (deadline tba)
5. Marty McFly (Back to the Future films) (deadline tba)

Doc Emmett Brown

Starting with Doc, I've got the fabrics chosen and cut out and it shouldn't be a huge technical challenge. I had some thoughts about his outfit. He wears several very iconic outfits throughout the films.

The lab coat is a classic but not very exciting or very visually easily recognisable as Doc on a simpliefied plushie. It could come out, much like some of the buyable costumes looking like a cross between ANY mad scientist and a spoof of Einstein.



The radiation suit is also a classic but not very interesting once it's been simplified into a plushie.



He's also worn a rather uninteresting Western style outfit.

So in the end I went with the rather more colourful yellow suit with a red shirt combo.



Sadly I don't have anything patterned for that fabulously insane red shirt so it will be just textured red, but I love that he's also wearing green boots with red laces with this combination. So that should be a loooooot of fun.

Technically this is a relatively simple adaptation of the classic pattern so hopefully it should be quick.

The only unfortunate part is it does mean it will slow down completing my alphabet. I'm now up to letter T, which leaves six main letters to do, plus the three extras. Although I haven't completed the fronts of two of the extras yet.

Wish me luck. It should be definitely a blast from the past!