2011 wrap up; 2012 hi-yah!

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!"

Sweet William Market

Sweet William Market was this past Saturday and it was a beautiful day. Held in Stapleton, It seems we really lucked out with the weather. The previous markets fell on some swelteringly hot days.

The day was a bit slow but we met some good people and the creatures were played with by packs of rabidly fun children on numerous occasions. Good times. Now on to the pictures.

Here is a great shot of Denise modeling in our new tent set up. Notice the keen handmade "WTS" banner thwarting the suns rays behind her. Although you can not tell in this picture, the table display, to the left, sports some fancy baskets "overflowing" with Sumis and LockJaws. Plus the "WTS Tower" is look particularly smashing. The "piece de resistance" is the brand new "WTS Cubby-Comb", (I just made that name up..right now)! Let's go in for a closer look.

Ah, The "WTS Cubby-Comb". Where to begin? Well, its made from only the finest cardboard concrete tubing mold and lovingly spray painted with only the finest colors. Everything is held together with shiny wing nuts, washers and bolts. A lot of people were asking us about it and that is no lie. The "Cubby-Comb" needs a little fine tuning but its function and appeal are straight A's. WTS might become cardboard cabinet makers yet!
Come see us next weekend: October 1st, at the Horseshoe Handmade Market to gaze upon the new "WTS Cubby-Comb" and to say Hi. Its the last Horseshoe of the season so come on out!

Sweet Williams Market - September 24th: 9am - 2pm

Sweet Williams market is this weekend! You should totally come out, 'cause its gonna be totally awesome! We've been telling everyone at Sweet Williams all about you guys so you gotta make it out. There's gonna be food and music and WTS CREATURES! (cue guitar solo)

Project Hello 2011 recap

June 25th 2011 will go down in history as one of the most fun times in Denver EVER! Project Hello at Redline gallery was such a great time! The gallery was the perfect place to have such a fantastic event. And there was so much to see and do! Project Hello out did itself this year, can't wait till next year!

So for those of you who missed it, this is a little recap somethin' somethin' of all that went down.

represent represent!

So as you may or may not know, Denise and I made our largest creature to date for this event. We enlarged dear old Finch here to over 7x his regular size! For our part of the "introduction" theme of Project Hello, we introduced people to giant Finch and took their pictures with him. The pictures were printed and given to the people as a gift so they could never forget Finch, WTS or Project Hello.

There were a lot of great creatives who turned out some awesome "interactivities." Fun for the whole family (note family in picture)

There were poets and story tellers with words to listen to...

...things to color with new friends, Block printed shirts made right in front of you...

...comic books being drawn as you watched and group art projects(behind dude)...

..as well as live music. And thats only half of it!

I apologize for not being able to truly justify how fun Project Hello was in the above photos. That being said here are some of our most favorite images that we took. (click to enlarge)

Denise and I printed well over 70 pictures, which, for the most, were taken home by some very happy customers. We look forward to Project Hello next year and hopefully we'll be a part of it again. Now that we have a knack for the giant plushie we'll have to figure out how we can out do ourselves.

Have Fun!

- Denise and Ricardo

Beep!

Everyone I'd like to introduce you to Beep. There is much discussion on what he/ she truly is but there is no denying how awesome Beep is.

There is also no denying that Beep has two heads and some short noodlie legs.

Beep was made for our friend Scott because without him WTS Creature wouldn't be here today.

This is Scott and Beep together at last. Happy birthday Scott.

Right now Beep is one of my favorite creatures! I'm so happy how it turned out that there will definitely be more. Beep might have cousin's or siblings with names like "Boop" and "Brrrring". The sky is the limit!! I don't know but i'm stoked on it. Hooray for Beep!!

Protype

We're messing with some new and exciting ideas here at WTS Creatures.
This is an idea that I've had on my mind for a while: luchador pillows!
Introducing "Star Del Face"! I made his head especially large because when it sews up it basically shrinks.
This one has a mustache and crazy beady eyes. To me he turned out more French than Spanish and his head is kinda wonky. I don't mind the wonk but there's a time and a place. Regardless, so far so good.
Making perfectly round pillows is a bit tricky. I'm gonna go some more tweaks and tests before we push this out into the market. Expect more crazy luchador pillows like this. Have fun!
luv Ricardo

late entries and the new year

Its a brand new year and the holidays are finally over. (sigh)

Here are some highlights from the last days of 2010.

My cousin Este and Nicholas with Sumi on Christmas.

My mom with a custom pillow I made with the likenesses of my brothers and I. Notice the smile of happiness which comes with every WTS design ;)

Tomte Craft has a new location at 41st and Tennyson. Before the holidays they had a potluck gift swap with other great crafters. We swapped some glasses from Vital Industries and a handbag from Tutela. It was a great turn out with good food and friendly faces. Tomte Craft has yet to settle in its new home but everything should be tip-top at the beginning of February.

So that's more or less how WTS Creatures did Christmas in 2010. We were truly fortunate to have such great family and friends to share the spirit and cheer of the season with.

As for 2011, we've resolved to bring the world all sorts of new and exciting WTS creatures as well as keep on creating everyone's favorite creatures from 2010. There will be more craft fairs, more creatures and more fun in 2011 ... Stay posted and share in the fun and excitement that is WTS Creatures.

4th of July

On the morning of the 4th of July WTS Creatures participated in the City Park Esplanade Fresh Market. The market is every sunday but the crafty portion of it is only ever 1st Sunday of the Month. Count on us being there for August and September.
The morning started out a bit chilly and overcast but ended up quite pleasant. Fortunately the rains didn't come till the evening.
The lovely Denise Teele standing by ready to answer any questions and sign autographs from eager customers.

We've built up out little friends in new and exciting colors and fabric that will soon appear on your etsy page.
This is our new an improved Strongman, definitely a crowd favorite. He is wearing a clean pair of tighty-whiteys and has a new style of mustache. I really like the way this guy turned out so you'll be seeing more of those wonderful underpants.
Unfortunately the market was only from 9 - 1pm so we didn't get a lot of time to meet as many people as we would have liked. Regardless it was a pleasant day and we got to meet more of our crafty peers from the Denver area. Check out Xoxi(So-She) Craft she makes awesome proper plush dolls, octopi and bags. Also get into the fantastic knit stylings of Knitschmidt she's magic with the knitting needles.

Next Big Thing.

This is the next project we're working towards. Check it out and tell your friends.

-Denise and Ricardo

OMG! WTS is on tha scene!

Welcome to the first blog post for WTS Creatures! Amazing isn't it? I know...right?..Who knew?

Its Wednesday night and we've been crafting all week. WTS Creatures is getting ready for Denver's "Crafty Ballyhoo."

We are super excited to hangout with other inspired crafters all day Saturday. Word on the street is there's a crazy cake making contest, a cake walk and a latte' pouring contest! Plus swag bags and crafty how-tos. Did we mention its free? Its going to be INSANITY PEPPERS!!! (thats a good thing)

You can expect the bestest, most cutestest, cuddle-friendly, baby-lovin, fun-huggin', party-pluggin', rug-cuttin' creatures on display for y'all. As well as some of the hip to the hippity hip hop you don't stop stationary woodblock printed handmade envelopedy boogedy beat.

Hope to see you there!!

Denise & Ricardo