Behold! The great horned white ape of space! (aka Mugato)

This is how I plush Star Trek. I plushed the white space gorilla with a horn, because it's a white space gorilla with a horn. This particular piece is featured in Q Pop's Star Trek art show opening tonight. Go to it.

Plushing Star Trek

The Beam Me Up: Star Trek Art Show opens tomorrow night at Q Pop. Guess who finished his piece with an entire day to spare? It was me. I did it. I also remembered to take pictures of the plush as a work in progress. Look at the pictures while I pat myself on the back. (And when I'm done patting, I'll post pictures of the finished piece.)

Guess what?

WonderCon Indie Toymaker Panel pictures

Here are some pictures for everyone who couldn't attend the panel I spoke on back in March. We talked about making toys.

Photos courtesy of Dean Gobolis.

Commissioned plush pieces that I made on commission

A fan and fellow artist recently commissioned two plush pieces from me. She asked for creatures of my own design that would represent her and a friend of hers. I drew many things on my computer before I hit upon these designs.

The girl star was initially bald, but I added hair at my patron's request. She gave me the go-ahead and I spent the following week sewing the stars and their little clothes. I don't normally add clothing to my plush, because it's a pain to sew. Sewing those little boots. Not my idea of fun.

I totally finished them though. I did it. I took pictures of the finished plush moments before I left to hand deliver them. My camera's battery was dying as I snapped the shots. It was "Clear and Present Danger" starring Harrison Ford levels of intense.

Also! Paper cut out cards! In the images below the cards look a little blurry. That's the pictures themselves. Those cards were made perfectly focused. I don't construct blurry cut out cards. Trust. Me.

Indie Toymaker Panel @ WonderCon on March 16th

Wendy of I Heart Guts invited me to speak on a toymakers panel at WonderCon this year. An invitation which I happily accepted. Come and meet me and my beard in person. We'll all have a good time together.

Update:  Kid Robot is out. DKE Toys is in. And the description of me has been adjusted to acknowledge that I do not use a sewing machine.

An unfortunate plush related incident revealed!

I didn't mention any of the specifics from the Royal/T event in my last post. This is because nothing of note really happened. I actually sold several plush and most of the folks who came by the table seemed to like what I was selling. But there was one occurrence that I have to share. This isn't going to be pleasant for anybody.

About an hour into the event I still hadn't sold anything. Foot traffic had been slight. I was starting to worry. Could this be a repeat of the week prior? Could I beat my previous low sales record and not sell a single plush?  These were my thoughts when an unassuming gentleman stopped by my table. He was immediately taken by the Potato Pirate Captain. I'm guessing this man loved both potatoes and pirates dearly and couldn't believe this thing in front of his face.

He had a good laugh, told me he'd be back, then headed to the other tables. A few people had expressed similar sentiments so I didn't think much of it. One excitable woman was so psyched when she saw my stuff she exclaimed "This is so great! I'll be back! I promise! I have to get my family!" Never saw her again. I hope she's OK. The gentleman, however, made good on his word and returned later.

He came back with his significant other in tow. Some kids were already at the table trying to decide which plush was their favorite. He asked me if I took credit cards. I informed him that I did not. He was bummed. He didn't know if he had enough cash and stepped away from the table.

He proceeded to empty his pockets. His significant other did the same. Children laughed as they read my character card descriptions while this man and his partner counted change a few feet away. After a few moments, he came back timidly clutching a handful of dollars and cents. "Would you be willing to sell the plush for $14.50 instead of $16?" he asked nervously.

I'm already selling my plush for less than I'd like to in some cases. I hadn't made a single sale yet and there are several children pouring over the plush at that very moment. I don't want everyone to think they can haggle with me over my prices. I am not a swap meet. So I told the guy that I couldn't lower the price. I suggested he hit up a nearby ATM and come back later. Unfortunately, he was on his way to some other place and wouldn't be back before the event ended. I froze. Probably apologized a couple of times. He seemed dumbfounded and left despondent. I had broken this man's heart over one dollar and fifty cents.

Money is not my be-all and end-all, but I just couldn't bring myself to lower the price more than I had. It was a matter of principle. Now I must live with what I did. On those cold lonely nights when I stare at the ceiling incapable of sleeping I must remember the pain I caused this poor man's heart.

This here man sold some plush at Royal/T

A few weeks back I embarked on my first selling plush in person event. I sold one plush. A week later I participated in yet another event. This time I sold seven plush. How about that? I needed to use both hands to count the amount of sales I had made.

I had the foresight to not only bring my camera, but also take pictures with it. Here are some of those pictures.

Just glue the face already

Sometimes after sewing a character I find myself hesitant to glue its facial features on. While sewing all of that plush two weeks ago, I waited until the end to glue all of the little faces in place. I'd finish sewing one character and then move onto the next one. By the end of all of the sewing I found myself with a pile of plush characters whose faces were in dire need of gluing.

Why am I so silly about gluing these faces? I cut out the facial features while I cut out the bodies so it's merely a matter of dabbing some felt glue on the little pieces and placing them just so. What compels me to stall the inevitable?

Case in point, are these things.

I finished sewing that pink monster days ago and the little cranberry bodysuit fellow last night, but I've yet to glue the faces on either of them. And I don't know if I will before the event at Royal/T tomorrow morning! The heck why?! I have no idea. Except when I do.

Such as in this instance below.

I finished sewing this blue rabbit before the last event I sold my plush at. But then something went wrong. The face I had doodled for it (not pictured above) just didn't work as well in felt as it did on paper. So I set the rabbit aside, disgusted at the very sight of it.

After the event, I decided to take another crack at the face. I came up with what you see before you. It has a classic heysoupface look to it to be sure. Only one problem. I HATE this rabbit! I hate this rabbit so much that I want to knock it over the table edge that it is so precariously perched upon in the picture above. Instead of that, I have simply decided to not glue the face. Thus forcing this rabbit to live in the in-between world plush must inhabit when some part of them remains unfinished. In your not-yet-glued-on face, rabbit!

Holiday Kawaii Trunk Show @ Royal/T

I'm doing it again! Selling plush in person being the thing that I am doing. This time at a more convenient hour and location.

Roll your way into Culver City tomorrow (12/18) anytime between the hours of 10am and 3pm and you will find my beard and my body behind a table of plush at Royal/T. Need more details? Look no further than the Facebook event page.