On the 4th Day of Christmas...

... this blogger gave to thee...

... four FX plushies...

... three midnight magnets...

... two tricks and treats...

....a tale of lovely lore.

Okay, so, the post I'd originally started for Day 3 became a bit of a monster. Not in a bad way, it just got a bit bigger than I intended and so I decided to move Day 3's post to Day 4. No problem, an easy swap, and then it snowballed, and I've now had to move it all the way up to Day 8...  needless to say I got carried away, but didn't see it until I was even further behind than intended and without any clue about what I was going to write about for Day 4.

Luckily I remembered there was something my big sister showed me a couple of weeks ago, that I'd instantly fallen in love with and had originally (in my head at least) planned on putting in this post. And it all comes down to a plushie of one of my favourite birds, the Kākāpō...

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Australian creature FX Artist Sarah Blakey a.k.a. NazFX Studios, creates these beautiful plushie Borb - orb like birds - out of faux fur and minky fabric, and lovingly hand paints and colours the rotund birds using an airbrush to create the kākāpō pudgy green and golden brown feathers.

There's just something about these critically endangered flightless land parrots, which are endemic to one predator free island in New Zealand, that I can't resist.

As of 2021 there are only 201 of these birds in the world, all confined to that one island, including Sirocco, the kākāpō in the gif, the government appointed spokesbird for their conservation, and likely the model for this delightful plushie.

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(Moth || 52" wingtip to wingtip moth || quilting batting, fleece, faux fur, ostrich feathers, wire, golden brand acrylic paint (airbrushed) & Lumiere gold metallic acrylic)

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(Luna Moth || 60" wingtip to wingtip || quilting batting, fleece, faux fur, ostrich feathers, wire, golden brand acrylic paints - airbrushed)

These textile sculptures aren't small, the moths each have a wing span of over half a metre and from start to finish Blakey's designs can take from five to seven days to complete for a simple project, but for bigger, more complex designs this can increase to two to three weeks.

"It's a sad truth but not many people are willing to pay the $5000+ it would take 

for me to earn a living wage making something insanely complex over several months.

[...] The every day person thinks handmade plush should be priced on par with mass

produced, store bought plush, whereas I price more as individual art pieces." 

(Artist Q&A with Naz-FX Studios, The Plushie Post, 23 Oct 2021)

Meaning that while Blakey may not produce a high quantity of work, the quality is incredibly high and as part of her business, she documents hers process to produce video tutorials and patterns, which she sells through Patreon and Gumroad, which is her main income. She's even produced a Beginners Guide to Plushie Making, for any budding plushie makers to download, this is something she doesn't charge for, which is incredibly generous, as it is a great source information and hint on how to start making your own designs.

(And let's not forget... "it cost that much cause it takes me fucking hours (fucking hours). It costs that much cause I don't have superpowers (superpowers) You need to pay for my skills 'cause exposure doesn't pay the bills. It costs that much 'cause it takes me fucking hours...")

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And while many of the creatures created by NazFX Studios skew towards the cutesy toy style plushie side of the industry, including characters from films, games (including a five foot tall Crash Bandicoot) and glittery axolotl salamanders, Blakey also produces hyper-realistic animals such as leopard geckos and the incredibly accurate fauxidermy lion head above. This more realistic style is also applied to full head masks, these include a bald eagle and Philippine eagle, with moving beaks and fully feathered, and a cat, which she did her first experimenting with mechanisms allowing her creatures to blink.

Both cartoonish and realistic, these plushies show the diversity in the art form, which I had never really thought about. To me if you said the work plushie I would have instantly thought about the anthropomorphised, stylised and overly kawaii soft toys, whereas the more realistic I'd have classed as textile or fibre art, which was probably unfair labelling on my part.

Whether a design is simplified or realistic, if you've taken time to design and make it by hand, it's art, it's your art, and your time is worth celebrating. 

So if plushy making is something you're interesting in trying, on any realism level, go check out more of NazFX Studios designs and look into her tutorials, all links, as always, are below.

Happy New Year! Part five is in still in the oven, it won't be long...

Link || NazFX_Studios (Sarah Blakely) || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || DeviantArt || YouTube || Patreon || Gumroad || ArtStation || 

Link || NazFX Studios Beginners Guide To Plushie Making

Link || Artist Q and A with NazFX Studios via The Plushie Post 

Link || Kākāpō || New Zealand Department of Conservation || Wikipedia (Kākāpō) || Wikipedia (Sirocco)

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Listening: I Love Myself Today- Bif Naked

On the 2nd Day of Christmas...

... this blogger gave to thee...

... two iterations ...

... and a tale for tugging heart strings.

To lead on from Lost & Found and soft sculpture characters, during the run up to Christmas I offered to make my little sister something. Or remake her something.

The night before my sisters thirtieth birthday, I sat up all night sewing, mostly because I'm insane but primarily because she'd mentioned wanting something a few days earlier and in my head I'd pretty much worked out how I could do it. So, instead of sleeping, I panic made her a felt No-Face from Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away (2001), sitting knitting as he does in the film.

My sister loves Studio Ghibli and she'd seen soft sculpture figurines like this online and shown them to me. Sometimes you show someone something and it's just because you think they'll like it or find it interesting, sometimes it's a subtle hint. This I took as a not so subtle hint. 

Throughout the day of her birthday, I stole five minutes here or there to finish sewing his face, to stuff him with cotton wool balls (because I'd run out of wadding, or couldn't find it, I honestly can't recall) and do a tiny piece of knitting. Now, normally my sisters and I have a deal on birthdays that we have to decorate each others cakes and try and out do one another... that year, seeing it was an milestone birthday, I made her No-Face as a cake topper which I wouldn't dare place on the cake. Instead I hid it behind my back and handed it over with her cake.

Needless to say, she flipped out! So no sleep was worth it and I was proud of what I'd made.

More recently she used a photo of her bookshelves and No-Face sitting there as the avatar for her messenger and email, and her friend David saw it and, as a huge fan of Studio Ghibli, also flipped out! Mostly, I believe, because she hadn't shown him earlier.

And so I made my sister an offer, and a plan was hatched for her and I to make the second iteration of No-Face, new and improved, for David's Christmas present.

I redesigned the pattern into fewer pieces, which I taught my sister how to do a blanket and Henson (ladder) stitch (a stitch she found really satisfying to do) so she could help me sew him together, before using actual toy stuffing to fill him. I hand stitched his face instead of using pieces of felt, which had driven me bonkers the first time around and made him look a little stoned as every stitch compressed and slightly distorted the shape I'd cut out. Then to finish him off, not only did I make him proper knitting needle (I even sanded the bamboo skewers smooth so they didn't catch!) but I tiny knitted the beginnings of a jumper and Swiss darned Jiji, the cat from Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), onto the front of it. 

Admittedly with the Swiss darning, I was being extra, and little sister was both overjoyed and jealous because her No-Face knitting was seriously basic. But I couldn't resist! I got the idea in my head and couldn't not do it, even if I was working up until the last Christmas post.

After the final touches were made, No-Face was very quickly (and slightly blurrily) photographed, boxed up and shipped out to Lerwick, and on Christmas Day a message came in from David which simple said:

"After hyperventilating, I thought I'd just about be 

okay until I noticed what No-Face was knitting...

I'm dead. Totally fucking dead :D" 

- David

I think he liked it. (And doesn't mind that I included his message to my sister, it was just such a lovely reaction and I'm really happy he likes it.)

So there they are, two iterations of a knitting No-Face, and with some definite improvements made. David's version certainly had a glow up, but I like how my sisters version looks like a younger, softer No-Face, for now at least. The only thing I wish I'd done this time around, was buy some plastic pellets to add some weight to the base and allow him to stand up a little more easily, the original, being stuffed with cotton wool,  actually was heavier than the newer version. Luckily my sister has requested a glow up for her No-Face, including new knitting and needles, a new face and actual stuffing, not cotton wool, so maybe some pellets will be in its future too...

... along with an open mouthed No-Face, a Totoro and a Kuchi Kopi (from Bob's Burgers) if I have time.

Demanding little bugger, lucky I like her and making these sorts of things makes both of us happy.

Plus reaction like hers and David's definitely make it worth it.

Merry Christmas! Part three soon…

Link || Studio Ghibli || Website || Wikipedia

Link || Spirited Away (2001) || IMDb || Wikipedia || Rotten Tomatoes

Link || Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) || IMDb || Wikipedia || Rotten Tomatoes

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Listening: Underneath The Christmas Lights - Sia

On the 3rd Day of Christmas...

... this blogger gave to thee...

... three tubby little cubbies...

... two fancy pens...

... and a lego man made of a tree.

This year I've been experimenting with hand making soft toys. It was partly out of curiosity to see if I was capable of making a teddy by hand, and partly because of Pinterest and all the beautiful creations it kept showing me. So for day three, here are three of my favourites I've found over the past few months.

This sad little tweedy chap is by Michigan based, self-taught fibre artist. Regina Groleau of Oh, Albatross and is part of The Dear Ones Collection, which includes bears, bunnies, elephants and foxes. This is such a simple design for a little bear, other than the choice of using a large patterned tweed fabric, he could be considered quite plain, but it's his sad, down-turned expression that I particularly love. You want to give him a cuddle, which is an important factor for a teddy.

Teddy two, is a Mini bear named Femi by Manomine, aka London based designer Mia Schmidt, and again, a relatively simple bear, made entirely by hand using felt and mohair, but two things make these bears truly special. One, their expertly crafted clothing, dresses and duffle coats, knitted winter wear and lovingly tailored tweed trousers, each individual to each different bear and kindly offered as customisable in colour and style by Schmidt to her customers.

However, the second lovely addition on some of the Manomine bears, is that they come in presentation boxes, including bedding, alternative outfits, little hangers which then hang within the box when stood on its end, and items such as toys, cakes, books, trees, pets, party hats and masks which again change depending on the bear. Which, though costly, is a lovely way to see such a sweet little toy.

They also in terms of their outfits, bear a fond likeness to the handmade toys of Sue Quinn, whose mice and hedgehogs - though I don't remember it - were a part of the Boyd family toy collection. 

 Just An Oldinary Wolf by Belgian designer Maria Chou ("Mary Poppet" in English) is another toy with beautifully tailored clothing, which is again why it appeals to me. He is quite the dapper dresser in his waistcoat, cravat and tweed coat. With these attentions to details it wouldn't be a surprised that Chou was originally trained as a fashion designer before following her love of toys to create wolves, foxes, cats and deer, all equally well dressed.

I can only hope that making close for bears is easier than making shirts and dresses for my Wizard of Oz sheep, because I would like to dress them if I do continue to make my contribution to the soft toy world.

The question is, if I do end up making and selling soft toys, would I have to inflict a family tradition on them all? Ever since I was a kid, if a soft toy came into our house, my dad had to drop kick them across the room before they were considered part of the family. Which sounds insane, but it even happened this Christmas, to the little sheep toy my gran gave me and the teddy she gave my sister... I have mentioned before we're a weird family. But, at least I could legitimately say all my toys were drop kick safe.

There's an odd little snap shot into my childhood for you.

Merry Christmas! Part four tomorrow...

Link || The Dear Ones Collection by Oh, Albatross (Image via Pinterest)
Link || Oh, Albatross on Etsy
Link || Manomine (Image via Pinterest)
Link || Manomine Blog
Link || MariaChou on Etsy
Link || Just An Oldinary Wolf by MariaChou on Etsy

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Listening: Snowfall - Ingrid Michaelson

le petit théâtre

Last year Christian Dior began touring an exhibition inspired by Théâtre de la Mode, a 1945–1946 touring exhibit of fashion mannequins. Like this exhibition, Dior created 1/3 the size, perfectly hand crafted reproductions of some of their most iconic designs named, Le Petit Théâtre.

Each design was created with as much care an attention as the original couture gowns, each sequin and bead hand sewn. And produced in Dior Couture’s Atelier de Fleurs Lemarie in Paris (flowers and feathers workshop, each flower is hand cut using brass cutters and shaped to perfection to form pint sized gowns, suits and dresses such as the Miss Dior Dress from 1949. Dior even released videos of the process, as part of the exhibition teaser campaign. And just think, if this is how much effort goes into one small gown, imagine the time on it's full scale original? It's no wonder these gowns cost what they do.

But the whole thing makes my heart happy. It's amazing. All that intricacy and attention to detail on something so small. I would kill to make something this beautiful.

Link | Christian Dior Le Petit Théâtre

Link | Le Petit Théâtre Dior - Haute Couture in miniature via The Fashion Doll Chronicals 

Link | THÉÂTRE DE LA MODE via Maryhill Museum of Art
Link | Mesmerizing video of a mini Dior couture dress being made via Elle
Link | Ok, Now We Understand Why Christian Dior Couture is So Expensive via Marie Clare

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Listening: Can't Deny My Love - Brandon Flowers

nikki mcwilliams: pass the biscuits

I've been intending on blogging about Nikki McWilliams and her wonderful biscuit cushions for a while. In fact, I had intended to write about it the day after the UK General Election, in a fit of patriotism, but I also thought that writing about a very series of very Scottish-centric snack based cushions (Tunnocks Tea Cakes and Caramel Wafers being quintessentially Scottish) from a Scottish designer might prove divisive given the result. But I'm going to do it now because I love them.

Nikki McWilliams, is a graduate of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee, as am I and in fact, we graduated on exactly the same day in June, as the class of 2008. Originally a fine artist, Nikki began making her iconic biscuit cushions, once leaving university, combining her interest in textiles and making functional art out with the confines of a gallery, and her fascination with the ritual of the tea break.

The Tea Break at DJCAD, being an important ritual, at least in the jewellery department, particularly on a Friday. Friday for jewellers in fourth year was cake day, and each week one of us would bake biscuits, cakes or any overly sweet treat we could, and we would all settle down in the studio, taking half an hour away from the workshop to eat cake, drink tea (or coffee) and have a natter. It was our way of having some down time as a group during an incredible important, stressful and manic few months of our final year.

If the Fine Art department was anything like Jewellers, I can pretty much guarantee that the tea break was as important to them as it was to us and Nikki's biscuit offerings would have been more than welcome in the jewellers studio, and are definitely less fattening and coma inducing than some of the home made treats that we baked for one another.

Each cushion is made start to finish in the UK and Nikki has been steadily adding to her collection of Malted Milks, Party Rings and Teacakes, since 2009. Selling they through her Etsy store, her website and retailers around the UK, and her designs have popped up in magazines, television and blogs alike, and no wonder, because they are simple, beautifully made and utterly squish-ably whilst having a cup of tea.

It makes me kind of sad that I didn't cross paths with her while we were at college. But it's pretty great to see someone I went to university with doing so well and only marginally jealously inducing.


Link | Nikki McWilliams Website
Link | Nikki McWilliams Blog
Link | Nikki McWilliams on Etsy
Link | Nikki McWilliams on Pinterest
Link | Nikki McWilliams on Flickr

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Listening: Ball and Biscuit - The White Stripes

Pinfest: "Haberdashery: In The Details"

Follow Emily Boyd's board Haberdashery: In The Details on Pinterest.

I have become a secret Pinner.

Bar a couple of attempted clear outs, pretty much everything I've added to my boards for the past year or two, has been to either a secret board, or to my likes list*.

So, I'm trying to go through it all. Meaning, that when I have the thought, "oh I know just the image!" for a particular project, window display, blog post or terrifyingly frequent insert into a conversation, I can actually find it!

I'm not going to apologise for the things I pin, just so you know. I'm an image hoarder, I love pictures, I love photos, I love visual things and so rather than having folders of magazine cuts outs and computer print outs, I have Pinterest. And while there's quite often a psychopathic randomness to my pinning, I'm going to try and do it all board by board in a mass pinning.

First board up for a madman like pinfest... Haberdashery: In the Details**

Which is my board for all those beautiful haute couture, hand sewn, tambour stitched, broderie decorated beautifullness covered in beads, smothered in sequins and absolutely gorgeous...

... I love this board at the moment. Perhaps because I'm going through a sewing kick, or more likely because of the over abundance of sparkly. If you like, have a look, if not, I don't mind. More sparkles for me.

* I stopped pinning due to self conciousness, which sounds insane, but when you go from no one you know being on a site to everyone you know being on and either pinning baby stuff or their own work... well, everything I pinned seemed to just show the lack of anything or anyone in my life. My brain works in mysterious ways and I'm just going to say fuck it and pin what I want.

** Do you say "the Devil is in the detail" or "God is in the detail"? 
I've had this debate on Pinterest before and the actual difference is, if the Devil is in the details, it's referring to the mysterious hidden elements in something that makes it special. If God is in the details, it is done thoroughly and the details are just as important as the whole. The latter phrase is where the former is derived, however, which do you use? Especially when in regards to this sort of intricate work? Just a little question for a Sunday afternoon...

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Listening: Come Home Baby - The Charlatans

On the 1st Day of Christmas ...

... this blogger gave to thee ...

... a corner shop made out of felt.

I have used a lot of felt this year. I got a little obsessed by the stuff. It's lovely and soft and pliable, it comes in a rainbow of bright colours and it doesn't fray, so no need for hemming (woohoo!). It is a wonderfully easy material to work with and never other than - in my opinion - a joy... or at least the pile of colour organised felt sheets I have in my room is, But the amount I've used pales in comparison to the wonderfully wacky work of Lucy Sparrow.

The textiles designer created an art installation within a corner shop in which all the items are made out of hand stitched felt, including the till.

Based in a derelict corner shop in Bethnal Green, London, Sparrow was helped by Kickstarter donations, to recreate all our favourite branded products to fill the shelves and cabinets of The Corner Shop. And while her goal was to raise two thousand pounds towards the art project, in the end Sparrow raise over ten, through goodwill gestures (though you could receive a key chain, postcard or cupboard essential depending on the donation), allowing her to create this installation.

Sparrow spent eighteen months handstitched over four hundred products to fill the shelves of The Corner Shop. Any item you would find in a local British corner shop resides there, packets of crisps, biscuits and cat litter.

 

Cans of soup, pasta and drinks. Bottles of milk, sweeties and toiletries. All recognisable brands recreated to bring back the integral hub of a community which are disappearing from the UK, since the rise of the supermarket.

As part of this project, Sparrow wanted to involve the community, organising sewing workshops for children and people with neurological disabilities to help engage those who may have felt excluded from the art world in the joy and crafting.

The Corner Shop, closed at the end of August 2014 but, if you fancy a fluffy chocolate flake, an absorbent copy of Cosmo or a can of foamy Coke, then Sparrow's shop is the place to go. The remaining stock is still being sold through her website below.

Or use it as inspiration. Felt is a great and easy medium to craft with, it's pliable, tactile and colourful. Who doesn't like that?

Link | The Corner Shop Online

Link | Lucy Sparrow: Sew Your Soul Website
Link | The Cornershop | The Fluffy Shop Experience

Link | The Felt Cornershop by Lucy Sparrow via Dezeen

Link | Sew fantastic! via The Guardian
Link | First You Think [...] via Watson

Now, it's Christmas day... honestly how long did you make it with your family before your fingers were itching to get back online? Don't worry. I won't judge. Sometimes you need a little time to yourself on Christmas day.

Merry Christmas! Part two tomorrow...

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Listening: Merry Christmas Everybody - Slade

If happy little felt birds fly...

 

...beyond the rainbow,

why, oh why, can't I?

I've been adding to the window, sewing up little felt birds for the post twelve days edit. I even went as far as to design the pattern for myself, as I couldn't find one I liked online/was too cheap (cheap) to buy one.

So I've made robins, gold finches, cardinals, bluebirds and lots of randomly coloured birds, which are already in, but mum has decided she would like to try and embroider on a few of their teeny, tiny wings.

Easier said than done when they're only a couple of centimetres square.

 

 

What do you think?

I'm proud of them, like I said, I couldn't find a shape I was happy with, they were either too pointy or too ball like, but what I wanted was fat robin shape, all belly. Bit like me. So it's luck more than anything else that they actually fitted together!

I like this part of my job, sitting with a pile of craft supplies, a cup of coffee and a bag of wadding.

Between these and the Great British Sewing Bee, I've got this urge to try and make a teddy bear. Possibly that will be a little too advanced for me at this stage. But it's an idea that's stuck in my head now, which means I should probably have a go even if I end up with some sort of deformed creature.

Perhaps, however, if I managed it, we could do another teddy bears window. Just an idea.

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Listening: Somewhere Over The Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

On the 10th Day of Christmas...

...this blogger gave to thee...

 ...ten bugs and beasties...

...nine feathered sculptures...

...eight reels of telly...

...seven shoes to choose from...

...six party dresses...

...five gold rings!..

...four fancy fish...

...three granulations...

...two bits of wood...

...and a calendar made of tea.

Todays' offering seems appropriate after spending most of the morning trying to design a pattern and afternoon hand stitching little felt birds to add to the window at work, as once the twelve days are over, I must remove all the Christmas bauble and take lights. And the festive season officially ends.

Thankfully, the majority of the window this year will be staying (I will post pictures once I've taken some better ones), including my silver birches and the sheep in their winter wear. I'm planning on using the tree as the base for the year. Make life a little easier.

Cute as my little birds are, the pale in comparison to the textile sculptures produced by the wonderful Mister Finch, another wonderful and incredibly talented British artist, who I feel shock, awe and jealous whenever I see his work.

Textile Hare in Embrace

 

Pieces for Anthropologie

 Inspired by nature - as so many artists I admire are - Mister Finch, who as no formal training in textile arts, just has an overwhelming love and desire to create hares and owls, moths and spiders, toadstools and caterpillars out of recycled fabric, carpeting and fake furs. His love of sewing came out of years of experimenting with other mediums and finding a love for it which is exuded from his work.

 Textile Moths

 Moths are supersized, the bodies shrouded in fur while their winds made of embroidered fabrics which mimic the beautiful texture you see on their winds when placed under a microscope.

 Engraved Beetle

Beetles, with their bodies and wing casings made of vintage silver spoon bowls, are engraved with poetry, quotes and saying: "What was said to the rose to make it open was said here in my chest." 

 Textile Bees made from Fax Fur

Bumblebees, who many thought should be incapable of flight because of their oversized bodies, Finch makes even larger. Covering them in fax fur and creating a been you would want to pet.

 Glass Stopper Spider

Spiders oversized abdomens are made of vintage glassware, but are no less delicate than their fear inducing relatives.

 Embroidered Moth

But even giant plate sized moths - an insect I don't particularly like in their tiny form, especially as they dive bomb you at night, and chew your good clothes - are staggeringly beautiful.

 
 Textile Bird Collection

Mister Finch is also unafraid to explore the life-cycle within his work, both of his subject and his materials. In museums, such as The National History Museum in Tring,  there are thousands of birds, preserved, catalogued, tagged and placed in lined drawers, housing a collection which accounts for ninety five percent of known species. So Finch has created his own ornithological collection, made of scrap fabric from discarded aprons, hotel curtains with their velvet surface worn away and threadbare wedding dresses, documenting their history in the birds form.

 Moth Making...

The fabrics have a history. And the birds and moths, take on their character, weather beaten and exhausted, but now given new life.

Soft Sculpture Snails 

Even garden pests are somehow made adorably acceptable.

"I've been making things all my life in some way.....its all I know and all I want to do." (Mister Finch)

That's the way I feel. I was seven when I knew I wanted to go to art school. When I was growing up, my big sister would have her head in a book, my little sister loved listening to music and me, I made things out of cardboard and paper, bits of fabric and thread...and layer after layer of glue. And that was before metal came into the picture. But maybe it's still not my medium, even though I love it.

As I write I'm even sitting on my bed, surrounded by sheets of felt, bits of thread and wadding, and despite the fact that it's nearly two, I'm still contemplating trying to stitch up another bird before I go to sleep.

I feel better when I make things. When my hands are busy and something appears from nothing, I'm happy.

"...it's all I know and all I want to do."

Link | Mister Finch Website
Link | Mister Finch Blog
Link | Mister Finch Tumblr

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! Part eleven tomorrow...
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Listening: Small Hands - Keaton Henson