First off: Happy Holidays, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Festivus and Happy New Year. Its 2012 where are the flying cars and why don't I have a condo on the moon?
Since we unfortunately didn't get into Holiday Handmade we thought that our November/ December was gonna be pretty relaxed: sip some egg-nog, bake some cookies, sing some yada yada...WRONG! December 15th was the deadline for 6 plush versions of video game characters from Backflip Studios newest game AAAND the deadline for plushie versions of DISH Network's new DVR system: The Hopper. I'm gonna try and do this in chronological order so lets get started:
Denise did most of the video game character plushies and I helped make one. Which is basically a rag doll of sorts. Here it is all in pieces.
Here it is magically sewn together.
Ta-dah! You can see the other characters in our facebook photos.
One day I was at work and the people I work with were all like,
"Hey ricky you make, like, stuffed, like animals. Do you think you could make one from the two DISH "Hopper" logos?"
And I was all,
"Well how do you want me to make them. Like a pillow or with more depth?"
And they were all,
"Make it both ways."
So I did.
Much testing ensued. First I was trying out sizes and how to get the ears and arms right for the pillow. You may have seen this picture briefly on facebook. I had to take it down because of a non-disclosure agreement. Opps!
I built a full prototype to make sure it all worked ok before doing the final.
This is for the 2nd Hopper logo aptly named the "Joey" logo (Joeys are baby kangaroos)
The pillows came together easier than I expected and I'm very happy with the result. The white highlights I glued on with fabric glue. It looked nicer and cleaner than trying to sew them on. Final Hopper logo pillow:
Final Joey logo pillow:
Next was making the logo version with more "depth"; 3 dimensional if you will. This took more testing. Luckily I came across a picture of an old stuffed animal pattern online that planted this seed in my head. The problem was the arms looked like little chicken wings and the head was on backwards.
So I refined it and brought back the ears from the pillows. I sewed the head on separately and sewed the arms into the seams. I actually made foam wrapped wire "bones" for the legs which gave it great support, but didn't work with the final Kangaroo so I took them out.
This is the "3D" Joey pattern 'bout to get sewn up.
The Joey nub that sits in the pocket of the 'roo.
Final "3D" Joey and Hopper Logos. Again I put the white details on with fabric glue. The pillows and these version were give to the client as gifts. They had no idea we were doing this and were pleasantly surprised.
Speaking of pleasantly surprised. This is Natasha and the skull pillow I've been promising her for 20 years. This was the first custom gift of 2012! Play a trumpet if you've got one. Toot! Toooot! Toooot!
Big things in 2012 people! More custom creations! More new designs and hopefully flying cars.
Don't forget you can find us at the I (heart) Denver store at the Denver Pavilions and at Fresh Soap Company up in Breckenridge.
In the immortal words of Chris Rose, "Have Fun!"
