My Etsy Treasury Made Front Page!

My very first Etsy treasury
made front page this morning! Whoo hoo!

And by happy accident, I featured three MN artists—Buttonpom, Jennie the Potter, and Tiny Decor.

Thanks, Etsy!

My First Treasury

Today I built my first Etsy treasury. Check it out:

 
This was a really fun way to showcase some of the fun items I covet, but can't currently afford

It was so hard to limit the number of items, though! I can see how creating these could become extremely addictive.

Zombie Beginnings

I was looking over past posts today and noticed that I had somehow failed to blog about my favorite creation to date: zombie frog.

Zombie frog was the first truly twisted (but still cute) plushie I ever created. I had dabbled in strange before, but nothing that had gore, not to mention removable body parts! I started out with the same pattern I used for my regular frogs, which was hand-drawn by me. I decided to use wool felt instead of my usual cotton, as I knew the details I wanted to add would be easier to accomplish if I could needle-felt them in later.

I started with the face. Before sewing the two sides together, I used wool roving to needle-felt his details. I cut a small hole for each eye, and a long slit for his mouth. I needle-felted little cup-like shapes, then pushed them through the holes I created, using the felting needle to felt the shapes into the wool face. I kept shaping with my needle until I liked the result. Next, I needle-felted two eyeballs, giving one of them an optic nerve
so it could dangle from its socket, then I needle-felted each eye into
its socket.

Then, I sewed the two right sides of the head together and added stuffing.

I wanted one of zombie frog’s legs and his head to be removable, and
for him to be able to hold either his head or his leg in one of his
hands. So before I sewed his head closed, I glued a super strong craft
magnet into the bottom. I also glued a magnet inside the body where the
leg would attach, another inside the body where the head would attach,
one inside his right arm, and one inside his left leg. I then stuffed
both arms and legs, sewed all but his left leg into his body, then
stuffed the body and sewed the opening closed. The final touch was to
add some gore. Again, I did this by needle-felting roving into the
areas that I wanted to look bloody.

Creating this guy opened up a whole new world of crafting for me, and was pretty much the start of Plushroom Soup. Look for more zombie goodness this month; I am currently making a zombie octopus and a zombie pegasus. What other zombie critters would you like to see?

Tiniest of Shop Updates

I just added this sweet guy to my Etsy shop:

You may notice that he looks a little different. I ran out of the fur I had been using for these guys. I've been looking high and low for the same fur again, but so far to no avail. Which is too bad, because I was rather partial to the fur I had been using. This is cute too, but it lacks a certain something that have made all my yetis so far sadly sweet. I'll keep looking, but for now I have no choice but to use alternatives. I have a crazy pure-white fur that I'm sewing up next, and should be ready to show you by Sunday night.

Uh-oh.

First, it was MySpace. Then it was Facebook, deviantART, Indiepublic, and Ravelry. And now? Now I've just joined Twitter (you can now follow me there if you're so inclined). Is this what it takes to own your own business these days?

Don't get me wrong, all this social media is tons of fun. But it feels like a second job to my second job, and I fear I won't be able to keep up. If you have tips about how to stay on top of it all, I'd love to hear them!

Stalked!

Today I received a nice note from Violet of "the online crafter's museum" Etsy Stalker, letting me know my alpaca pattern has been featured on the site. Woot! Etsy can be an intimidating place to explore, so I like that a site like this exists to highlight all the lovelies hidden within. Go check it out if you're not familiar; Beatrice and Violet feature real gems from every category imaginable and post interesting interviews. They host giveaways too!

Kelpie

I finished my last piece for the Studiopolis group color show Blue:

It's a kelpie I've named Merric, which is Gaelic for "ruler of the sea." Kelpies are sea monsters from Celtic folklore. Known to appear on land as beautiful horses, kelpies lure people, especially children, onto their backs. Having lured a rider, the kelpie's skin becomes adhesive and escape is impossible. The kelpie returns to the sea and drowns and devours its rider, eating all but the heart or liver.

My kelpie looks much more benevolent than its folkloric counterpart. I had hoped he would look slightly more fearsome, but I'm still pleased with him nonetheless. Plus, I got to try some new techniques. I had wanted to give his tail and fin a fishlike look; I considered painting on scales, but ran out of time, so I opted instead for spraying on a coat of clear, pearlescent acrylic. I like the effect it gives, like he's still wet from the sea.

Adding the wooden stand is a first for me too (thanks to the uber-talented Robyn Fabsits for the inspiration there). I painted a plain pine plaque, drilled a hole in the center, and glued in a dowel I had painted to match. The dowel is inserted through a small hole cut in the kelpie's belly. I think this is something I will start doing more often, especially for gallery pieces. It allows me greater control over the pose of the finished piece, plus it looks more artistic and professional.

Now that the Blue pieces are finally finished, I can return to my regularly scheduled programming. I'm working on a bunch of stuff for the shop, and have some other fun surprises to share this month as well. Stay tuned!