Plush You! LA pieces- unveiled.

I got the idea for Trisha and Travis Rabbit by brainstorming ideas for fun things to do in the summer- and what could be more fun than going rollerblading with a good friend and ending up with ice cream cones? ;)



Travis and Trisha are taking their ice cream cones to eat at the Plush You! LA art show at Munky King Gallery in Los Angeles, which opens August 26th. If you happen to be in LA, check out the show if you can. There are works from 65 different artists from around the globe, and a ton of great work for sale.

I had fun making these two- although I didn't really think about how I was going to make the wheels on the rollerblades... I ended up hand-sewing them into their boots, which took longer than I thought it would. I also hand-stitched the ice cream cones into their hands. I had been itching to use these fabrics for quite some time, and the right idea didn't come along until I came up with these guys. Travis and Trisha stand approximately 18 inches tall, which makes them some of the tallest plush that I've made in awhile.


As you can see, Trisha likes to savor her Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream, while Travis wolfs down his favorite flavor- Pistachio- and manages to make a mess in the process.



To see more photos of Travis and Trisha, head on over to my flickr page.

2 great Cities, 2 great shows

Looking for something to do this weekend? If you live in (or near) Seattle or San Francisco, you could check out either of these two great art shows and you wouldn't be disappointed, let me tell you.

Let's start with Seattle. Head on over to Schmancy Toys and enjoy the Scrumdiddlyumptious show, featuring the amazing work of my good friend and AMAZING fellow plush artist, Scrumptious Delight. She is a genius with fabric, and here are just a few of the wonderful pieces you can see at the show. I am seriously coveting the Gumball machine!





You can now buy these pieces online at the Schmancy Toys shop, if you are interested. You'd better beat me to the Gumball Machine! :D

**********************************

On to the great city of San Francisco! Now showing at Giant Robot, "Hot Pink Fuzz" is a three woman show featuring the fantastic art of Snaggs, Miss Muju, and monyomonyo.

Cereal boxes by Snaggs:


Giant and Small Mujus by Miss Muju:


Mask by monyomonyo:



artwork for this show is now online at the Giant Robot website.

I don't want to give any more of the art away, and it's really hard not to- but trust me when I tell you that both of these shows are really worth seeing in person if you can swing it. The work from each artist really sucks you in and makes you take the time to REALLY look and try to figure out how they did what they did. I was at the opening of "Hot Pink Fuzz" last weekend and got to meet Snaggs, who was the artist that brought that show together. She's extremely nice and super-talented, and the work that these 3 artists have made for this show is really inspiring. So get on up and drag your bones down to see these talented artist's works- it's absolutely worth it.

If you can't make it to either of the shows, you can check out photos of each show on Snagg's and Scrumptious Delight's flickr pages.

Welcome to the next stop on the Plush Team Annual Virtual Book Tour!

Hello there! Leeanna of Plush Goodness here. Welcome to my little corner of the internet. :D Let's talk about the PT Annual, shall we? It was really fun to see this book come together, and even more exciting to get my own copy in person, let me tell you. I keep mine out in my living room where everyone can see it, and it makes a great talking point whenever I have guests in the house- they love flipping through the annual and telling me which of the artists or plush pieces are their favorites- and it's usually different for each person, which is terrific.


These guys seem to have picked their favorite pages, but they are slightly biased, don't you think? ;)

For my spread in the PT Annual I wanted to include some of my favorite pieces of plush that I've done. Credit has to go to Zazu Faure, aka zfla- fellow plushteam member and the force behind the Annual, for narrowing down the many photos I sent her into the ones you see here:


For those of you who are interested in knowing more about my creative process, I will now attempt to explain the method behind the madness. ;)

Since I have an animation background, the plush process always starts with me sketching until I find an image that I giggle or smile at, and then that's the one that I decide to translate into plush form. Some of them come right away, like the King and Queen of Hearts, with others it takes more drawing. Here are a few of the sketches I made for some of the pieces above:















As you can see, it took many sketches until I found the right one for my vision of Goldi Locks.

From there the fun really begins- choosing fabrics! I am an un-apologetic fabricaholic, so my stash just keeps getting bigger every year. In the beginning I had to run to the fabric store all the time, now I can usually find stuff in my fabric stash at home so I can get creating right away.
Next I do larger drawings of the sketch for the plush I am making, and then make my pattern off of that. I am self-taught in both sewing plush and pattern making, and can't read a real sewing pattern to save my life. I'm not sure anyone could understand my patterns but me...
The next step is cutting and starting to sew. Here are a few photos of some of the WIPS (Work-in-Progess) for the plush of Karolin that I took during the process of making her:


starting with the body...


then adding on the head and facial details...


adding in the braids...


sewing her together and turning her right-side out...


eh voila! Just like magic, you've seen how the plushcature of Karolin got made. :D

Well, there you have it- my creative process in a nut shell. I hope that you enjoyed this stop on the Virtual book tour, the next stop is Inga of DogDaemona on the 19th of August- follow along each stop of the Tour, then do the quiz on the Plush Team blog at the end for a chance to win the giveaway!


If you are interested in getting your own copy of the Plush Team Annual, head on over to the Plush Team's etsy shop to find it and other assorted plush awesomeness, which includes some wonderful back-to-school items, and the ever popular plush from the Team's "Tiny Tuesdays" which has plush for under $10.00, so how can you go wrong?

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

A Kindred Spirit

A few months ago I was commissioned to create an Anne of Green Gables plush, but I couldn't fit it into my schedule until this past week. Thankfully the customer was fine with waiting, which I appreciated since once the idea was in my head I really wanted to make my own version of this iconic character. :)



For my own Anne, I spent some time and re-watched the excellent mini-series starring Megan Follows, to make sure that I created accurate period clothing for Anne. I went through my fabric stash until I found a combo that felt right, and went to work. I knew that I wanted to use part of this old faux-leather jacket that I had for her shoes, which was fun and added a different texture. I made the hat and the carpet bag, since Anne arrives at the train station in the beginning of the book with an old straw hat and a beat-up carpet bag for a suitcase.


I had a lot of fun with this one, since Anne of Green Gables is near and dear to my heart. I grew up reading the novels, which for those of you not in the know are the product of the amazing imagination of L.M. Montgomery, who brought Anne vividly to life in a wonderful series of books based at the turn of the 20th century in Prince Edward Island, Canada. If you haven't read any of the books, I highly recommend them.



To see more photos, head on over to my flickr page.

Plush Team Virtual book Tour

Hello all! Just wanted to let you know that the Virtual book Tour for the PT Annual has started today over on Felicia of Fluffy Flowers' blog. Over the next few weeks, various members of the Plush Team will be sharing their insights on how they chose what plush to include in the annual, or how they made a particular piece of plush that was included in the annual. It's a great way to get inside the creative minds of the Team, so I encourage you to follow along as the parade of blogs rolls on, it'll be fun!
Just look for the "Virtual book Tour" badge on the participating Team members' blogs. As you can see, I will be participating in the tour, so make sure that you follow along the blogs- there will be a quiz and a chance to win a bag of PT goodies in a giveaway at the very end of the tour if you do- and who doesn't love free plush goodies?
So, head on over to Fluffy Flowers and start the book tour fun today! :D

oh- and you can always buy your very own copy of the Plush Team Annual and follow along page by page, just go to the PT etsy shop and get yours today. :)

A quickie!

So, I am feverishly working on about 6 different projects at the moment, but I thought that I'd share a quick teaser of my 2 pieces for the Plush You! LA show that opens at Munky King Gallery in Los Angeles on August 26th. There will be oodles of amazing plush from so many great artists at the show, so if you live in the LA area, it will be worth taking the time to check it out. Now, back to the sewing machine!
That last sentence reminds me of the early live-action Batman TV series for some reason... back to the bat-cave, Robin! ;D