Two Bone-tastic Plushes

Those who know me know that I like creepy cute. I like the juxtaposition of the two ideas that seem like they shouldn't work together. I liked the idea to bring it to Halloween in decorations, once again. The last time I made a creepy, cute Halloween plush was Frank. I still love the little guy. But this time I decided to go with a bone theme.

I drew a couple of different designs for a skeleton  before deciding on this one. I thought that this short design with a large head helped keep the cute along with the creepy. The heart was a last decision when I was cutting out the felt pieces. I felt like it needed some color since the front and back were only black and white. (The back is a black and white dotted fabric.) While watching General Conference I hand-sewed on the bones and heart. Then I used a sewing machine for the rest.

I also decided to make a sugar skull. These are little confections that are seen during Dia de los Muertos. I have always liked their aesthetic. The vibrant colors with dark lines was a cool contrast to me. When I first drew this out I thought I was going to embroider a black line for the teeth. But after rummaging through my embroidery thread I saw that I didn't have enough black for that. So I decided to cut out a whole for the teeth and then use that scrap to make the teeth. Something strange went on when I put them on. There wasn't supposed to be a big gap between the rows of teeth, but somehow it happened. I still like the overall look of the skull, though.

Close-up shot of some of the details.

Polymer Experiments

Finally getting around to posting these here. I just haven't been in the mood lately. Anyway, I decided to goof around with my polymer clay because I just wanted to. Every now and then I miss making stuff out of the clay and I want to be able to showcase what I can make for people, if they're interested. So I chose to do some experimenting.

With all the dragons that I've made, I hadn't done an oriental one. All the others have wings and I also like the look of oriental ones. I like how this one turned out, but it does need some adjusting. I don't think that it quite reads as an oriental dragon yet. They're minor adjustments but I think they'll be worth it.

Some time ago I make a tiny dragon and didn't think much about it until recently. I was looking at it and I thought how much I've grown in sculpting with polymer clay. I decided to try to redo him in a different way. I think that the snoz is a bit big for the little guy, but I'm pretty happy with how he turned out. He needs a few adjustments as well.

More Dragon Eyes.

A rose ring.

A black maneki neko charm.

And with this one I tried to mimic the texture of knitting, but it needs some work.

Disney's Newest Ladies (Plus Dragons)

When I'm in my room I've been looking at the 10 Disney Princesses and Merida that I made last spring, and thought to myself that they looked incomplete. Disney has some new leading ladies coming out in November and I knew that I had to make some that would match the ones that I've already made. I know that I should find the time to make some other Disney ladies, but since I'm excited about this movie I figured starting with them would be the best.

Meet Anna and Elsa of Frozen.

Their backs. Yep, I'm THAT obsessive.

I also got around to finishing up the accidental Harry Potter themed dragons. There are the Maroon & Gold, Green & Silver, Blue & Bronze, and now the Yellow & Black. I suppose you can guess which house the dragons belong to. I thought it would be fun to have a matching set of dragons. ;)

I also decided to experiment a little. I have a few extra glass pebbles and I wanted to do something fun with it. Putting the pebble in the center helped me come up with an idea: a dragon's eye. I thought it would be interesting and different than anything I've made before. After baking I put a silver-wash on the clay and then glazed it to help the scales have more texture.

By the way, if you would like to commission me to make you something you can. I just don't make anything with licensed characters or is explicit. You can contact me here on the blog or on my deviantART.

And Yet More Polymer

After doing some sketches to make some different animals, I just kept experimenting. This is what came out of it.

Epilepsy Awareness Dragon

Miyazaki Melody Bento

Wow. Here's my entry for 's Hayao Miyazaki Bento Contest. The rules were pretty simple. I decided that I couldn't pick one movie that I loved so I did 5 together. There's Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away, Ponyo, and My Neighbor Totoro. Depicted on the top is Jiji trying to get a hold of some Soot Sprites but Calcifer doesn't like that much. Then on the bottom No Face, Ponyo, and Totoro are hanging-out. xD

Foods Used:

On both Bottom and Top:
The underside is rice and lettuce, with some Cherry Tomatoes and Edamame surrounding.

JiJi:
- Carved Baked Potato
- Seaweed
- Swiss
- Spaghetti Noodle

Calcifer:
- Red and Yellow dyed Mashed Potatoes
- Beef Hotdogs

Soot Sprites:
- Rice
- Swiss
- Seaweed
- Swiss dyed Blue

No Face:
- Rice
- Seaweed
- Mashed Potato

Ponyo
- White, Red, and Yellow Mashed Potato
- American Cheese
- Swiss
- Cherry Tomato
- Seaweed
- Beef Hot Dog

Totoro:
- Rice mixed with Black Sesame Seeds
- Rice
- Seaweed
- Swiss
- Spaghetti Noodle

I was seriously surprised by how long this took me. I started around 11:30 and finished about 3-4 hrs. later. It was really enjoyable though! It also ended up being really delicious. You don't think that after all the hard work that I wouldn't eat it? Ha! Wish me luck! <3

Craft Dump

I've been so far behind on posting on the blog about my recent craftiness. This post will probably be HUGE. I'm sorry! D=

This is Frank. I wanted to make a plushie completely out of felt that was Halloween themed, and since I love Frankenstein by Mary Shelley I thought I would make him. I know he's not true to the monster in the book but I guess I took some creative liberties by making him how I wanted him to look.

These next two were gifts for an aunt. Her costume is Steampunk but she doesn't have any accessories that she could wear with it. I decided to make the bracelet first. I wanted to use kanzashi to make something feminine with edgy side. I like the contrast between soft and hard in the materials to the shapes. The wire wrapping and chain making was interesting since I didn't have any pliers. Needless to say my fingers were raw after making it. >.< The ring came after the bracelet. While making the gears for the flowers I had an extra. (All made out of Cold Porcelain clay. Clay I made from scratch!) Then it was painted and had wire hot glued to the back for it to be adjustable.

I held a contest on my deviantART page. The winner had to get an image of my 7,000 page view (along with other information) and then note it to me. The winner actually didn't know what she wanted so I had to nudge her in a direction. At first I mentioned Halloween theme and then she said that was good or something like a panda. So, I made a panda using purple and white instead of the normal color combo. It's about 3.5" tall. It's on its way to Tunisia right now! I hope it makes it safely. *crosses fingers*

While I was making the panda, I made these pumpkin earrings. I thought they would be a nice touch to wear on Halloween and during the Fall season. I almost put Jack-O-Lattern faces on them but I wouldn't wear them any time but Halloween then. I'm actually wearing them right now and they're super light and easy to wear. =)

This was actually made a long time ago. It's a Rabbid from the Raving Rabbid series by Ubisoft. I love these guys. They make me laugh so much. xD I made him in mind of my other felt key chains so they could be put together.

And finally I made this yesterday. This is a Weighted Companion Cube from the game Portal. I love watching the boys play the game and wish I could do it myself. I've been scared to because I know it will be frustrating. Perhaps some day I will try. This also was made to match my other felt key chains so they could be put together on the same key ring.

Peachy Sweets Day Dream Figure

Woah! Something from me that isn't about movies?! Who knew... Okay, seriously I'm finally able to write some stuff other than about movies now. I sent in my portfolio Thursday (not sure I feel about it this time) and I can now do other things.

On deviantART there is a contest called "James and the Giant Peach Day Dream Contest." Now how does this qualify as a day dream? Here's the reasoning I put on deviantART:

For the last couple of weeks I haven't been able to eat foods high in sugar without my stomach turning sour. It's usually temporary and only lasts for a couple hours but it's still uncomfortable. I find myself wishing that I can have sweets again. I guess you can say I day dream being able to eat my fill of sugary delights. So this is my entry; me surrounded by peachy sweets. Maybe this will be me again someday.

You want to know the ironic thing? I'm not even sure if I like peaches. It's been forever since I've actually eaten one. However, I thought that the peach flavored delights would fit best seeming that it's for the James and the Giant Peach.

I also said this on deviantART:

This is about 2" tall and 3" wide. I'm not sure on the estimated time that it took to make this. I know that the girl figure took about 2 hrs. I guess you can estimate yourself using that. ^^; Made from different colors of sculpey and fimo clays, as well as TLS.

I failed to mention that I also used glass beads and sculpey gloss glaze. I hope I do well. Wish me luck!

Lots of Crafts

I need to post these before the masses start showing up at the house later today. I've done these quite recently, it's just that I haven't put them up on the blog yet. Either because I was being lazy or busy with sketchbook and being out of town. So here are the new things.

First off, I made some more kanzashi. One is for a cousin that was getting married last weekend. I decided to make her a kanzashi using her wedding colors: black, white, and hot pink. Then the other kanzashi is made from an old beret that I only wore occasionally because I hated the design. Now I wear it a lot more often. I like how this turned out as a first try of doing shidare (dangling parts) of kanzashi.

Then I made a charm as an art trade with a DeviantART friend, Demi-Plum. This is her avatar that she currently has on her profile. This charm actually has no paint on it at all. That's right. The eyes are all polymer clay.

The next charms were more things for my cousin getting married. They are also in her wedding colors. I decided to make a dragonfruit cane so that I could have uniform slices for the charms. I mostly like how these turned out. The cake park of the big cake is messy; not fond of that.

Then lastly is something for my Granni. She turned 75 yrs. old while I visiting for my cousin's wedding. She loves things that are red, white, and blue. I thought she would enjoy this. She seemed to at least. ;)

DeviantART Trade

Most of the people I know know that I have a deviantART account. I've had the privilege to trade with another deviant on there. When you do an art trade, you make/create an art piece specifically for them and vice versa. Demi-Plum, the other deviant, started a trade where there was a theme to it. The theme she chose for me and her was Illusion. I started to think of magic and the little charm here is what I came up with. Funny thing is that she created a bunny coming out of a top hot for me too. xD

What I did for her and she for me.

The second trade is a Wishlist trade. She wanted an amigurumi while I wanted a charm for her. She hasn't finished hers yet, but I will post it when she does. ;) This bunny went pretty fast. I was afraid how the fluffy hood/vest would look at the end. I thought it would look like the little guy took shears to a sheep. I'm glad it didn't. xD

My bunny and her trade.

It was a lot of fun to create something for her and to receive something back in return. I hope to do more of these in the future. ^^