plushaboom!

3 drink cozies now available in my shop! Featuring Catwoman, a...

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 23:25:07 -0600

Catwoman drink cozy

Red cyclops drink cozy

Green monster mouth cozy

Modeling a 12 oz and a pint.

3 drink cozies now available in my shop! Featuring Catwoman, a cyclops, and a lip-smacking monster maw. Made of fleece for insulation. These are mad fun, so expect more designs in weeks to come.

Drink up, y’all!

IT’S PROTOTYPE SUNDAY! Character cozies will go up in my...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 23:11:57 -0600

IT’S PROTOTYPE SUNDAY!

Character cozies will go up in my shop this week! I’ve been working on drafts for a while, but due to my “figure it out as you go” sewing ethos, I tend to make them too narrow or too wide for your average beer bottle/can…like this one. Catwoman will fit a pint snugly, but might leave your fingers sweaty with condensation (not tall enough). So this kitty will stay in my kitchen.

Stay tuned!

Do you sell any of your plushies?

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:44:46 -0600

I do! I also accept commission requests. Check out my store at plushaboom.etsy.com.

Willow is my favorite playable character in Don’t Starve,...

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:35:00 -0600

Willow is my favorite playable character in Don’t Starve, a new indie survival game by Klei Entertainment (available in beta on Chrome & Steam). I’ve already maxed out on XP and have unlocked all the other players, but I still think Willow is your best shot at making it through the night. She lights spontaneous fires in the dark! She’ll torch an entire forest and toot “YES! BURN!” while watching it go down (for those who don’t know: DS substitutes wind instruments & subtitles for voice acting—the effect is HIGHLY ADORABLE)! Every other character is susceptible to ambush when left in the dark. This is no good when your HP is dangerously low after a spider battle and you’ve lost your protective Logsuit. Not to mention the precious resources you use up on the other players, who constantly need fresh Torches made. AND she’s got the best hair (Wilson comes in close second). I do love the Librarian for her brain (she enters the world with more knowledge of how to make gadgets), but when it comes to stayin’ alive, I say Willow’s the way to go!

Initially I made her head in 3D, but mucked it up when I tried using this remnant-bin fake fur for her hair, which shed like crazy and was rather inflexible. I also wasn’t 100% pleased with the head pattern itself: Don’t Starve is hand-drawn and mostly 2D, but everything has three views—front, back & side—so I was trying to be faithful to those dimensions. I didn’t feel it looked successful, so in the interests of gettin’ her done, I started over with a two-piece head. I also made her arms too thick, so I intend to revisit my 3D pattern-making skills and make a bigger, better Willow someday soon: I want to give her articulated, wired fingers so she can hold props (axes, matches, ice picks) just like in the game!

Really, I’d love a shelf full of these vacant-eyed puppies. Wendy (the Bereaved) shares Willow’s hollow peepers and has hilarious one-liners like “All things must die” (in response to chopped trees) and “I will take you to the other side!” (her battle cry), so I just might make her next. Wes the Mime is also cute, but woefully inept as a player (he dishes less damage and takes even more). Yet my favorite character design of all belongs to the mysterious Maxwell (the elusive narrator/overseer/we’re not really sure yet, like I said—game’s in beta), so he’s on my Must-Sew List.

Willow’s body, head & boots are made of anti-pill fleece; her hair of something like velour; her skirt from a ripped pair of leggings. Face painted with Tulip fabric paint. Pigtails wired with pipe cleaners for support. Machine & hand sewn with the help of Fabri-Tac glue.

& if you haven’t played Don’t Starve yet…get the demo now, yo!

Guess: Whose head am I wearing right now?

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 23:41:04 -0600

Guess: Whose head am I wearing right now?

The usual carnage - featuring Willow, who I haven’t yet properly...

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 00:38:00 -0600

The usual carnage - featuring Willow, who I haven’t yet properly photographed. (Feel like she needs s’more lines under her eyes first.)

Willow the Firestarter is a playable character from the game Don’t Starve (available in beta on Chrome & Steam), to which I am currently utterly addicted. It’s hand-drawn, adorable, & full of mysteries. Your basic objective is to survive in this wilderness full of bonkers creatures. An Insanity gauge feature was just introduced. It’s all a bit hard to explain in brief…so you should just play it!

Now that I know Sherlock has reached the Big Apple, I can show...

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 22:26:48 -0600

Now that I know Sherlock has reached the Big Apple, I can show him off to the rest of y’all!

Standing at about 13” tall, he is button-jointed for posing. Sherlock can only stand with the support of a friend, but insisted that he had none - I assured him, he’d be shipped to a good one! For the purposes of our photoshoot, my skull bank sufficed.

This was also my first time gluing individual ‘hairs’ to a doll’s head. Admittedly, I used to frown upon glue use in plush-making: ever the skeptic, I assumed it wouldn’t hold and thought it looked messy. I recognized my thread-purism as pure stubbornness, however, when I finally tried this method: it feels more sculptural, and you can cut out curls to fit the head as you go along. I researched felt glues online before purchasing Fabri-Tac, but don’t think it’s the best out there: it doesn’t dry transparent, and has the viscosity of cheese on a slice o’ hot pizza as you try to pull the nozzle away from what you just applied. This made finishing details a little messy, so, I’m back on the hunt for a better glue. Any suggestions?

Materials used: Hair = wool/rayon felt, head = microsuede, coat = polyester felt, body = blizzard fleece, scarf = anti-pill fleece, stuffing = polyester fiberfill. Face painted with acrylic.

SHERLOCK! Get back in your 221Box!! You’re going to New...

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 13:23:00 -0600

SHERLOCK! Get back in your 221Box!! You’re going to New York today! I want no in-flight mischief from you.

Here is a tiny plush Lumpy Space Princess in her Christmas...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 22:03:00 -0600

Here is a tiny plush Lumpy Space Princess in her Christmas sweater, ready to hang from a Yuletide tree!

This design is modeled after LSP’s outfit from the “Holly Jolly Secrets Pt. 2” episode of Adventure Time.

LSP is made of acrylic & recycled plastic felt, and is stuffed with polyfil. She measures 4.5” tall, roughly 2” wide, and has a 2.5” loop of ribbon on top, to accommodate even your biggest branches. 100% hand-sewn with love!

Sold!

Here’s a commission that I turned out wayyy...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 21:57:15 -0600

Here’s a commission that I turned out wayyy late…Plushaboom fell a little behind in November, what with my trip to North Carolina and brief illness! I also learned the value of a hard thimble while hand-embroidering Gir’s details; I’ve been bandaging up my fingers like Michael Jackson since!

Gir’s body & limbs are made of anti-pill fleece, while his details are felt & hand-embroidered. His ears are sewn over pipe cleaners for a bit of poseability! He is 10.5” long, and roughly 5” wide.

Shipped LSP off to Australia today! Her parents sure are gonna...

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 17:24:43 -0600

Shipped LSP off to Australia today! Her parents sure are gonna miss her, but I know she’s going to a good home.

Don’t be jealous of my lumps! I was commissioned by the...

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 15:54:00 -0600

Don’t be jealous of my lumps!

I was commissioned by the lovely Australian (that’s right, Plushaboom’s gone INTERNATIONAL up in this piece) who adopted Lumpy Finn to make an LSP to keep him company!

LSP measures 10” tall, 8” across, and about 3.5” thick. She is 100% sewn by hand out of acrylic/polyester felt, and is stuffed with polyfil. LSP also has a 9” loop of clear plastic wire coming out of her head, so you can hang her like an ornament.

Still jealous? No worries: I’ve still got plenty of violet felt, so I plan to make more LSPs [in smaller & cheaper variations]! I’d love to make her wearing that red dress from “The Creeps” (season 3, episode 12), and in her tacky Christmas sweater from “Holly Jolly Secrets Part II.”

Plush Ricardio is so full of love, he’ll rip out your...

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:19:00 -0500

Plush Ricardio is so full of love, he’ll rip out your heart just to make out with it!

100% handsewn out of recycled acrylic felt and stuffed with polyfil. Ricardio measures approx. 13.5” long (top of head to bottom of foot), 9” wide and 3” thick.

My first attempt at giving a plush armature did not quite go off…I only used one pipe cleaner in each arm, which is not strong enough to give much poseability, and then forgot to put them in the legs as well. Oops! I also left his butt detail to the last minute, so I drew it on with a black Sharpie.

He’s for sale in my Etsy shop!

Oh, YEAH! Being lumpy is the BEST.Inspired by the first episode...

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 14:54:00 -0500

Oh, YEAH! Being lumpy is the BEST.
Inspired by the first episode of Adventure Time, in which Finn the Human is bitten by Lumpy Space dwellers, here he is in plush form!

Finn is made of acrylic felt and stuffed with polyester fiber fill. He measures 8” tall (from the tip of his ears to his lumpy toes), approximately 6.5” wide and 4” thick, and is 100% sewn by my “smoothie” hands. Sewn into the top of his head is a 9” loop of clear plastic wire, so that Finn may hover lumpily in whatever space you choose. Beware his bite — unless you want to travel to Lumpy Space for the antidote!

Sold!

Aside: Photographing Finn’s colors true-to-life was impossible with my HTC Rezound camera-phone alone. I had to spend a couple of hours tweaking them in Photoshop, hence the uneven palette across these photos. I hope to soon build my own light tent so I can take more pro-lookin’ product shots! If you have any tips or helpful info on that, I’d love to hear it: just drop a line in my ask box!

In August, I made a tiny (roughly 6”) Walter White plush...

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 09:52:00 -0500

In August, I made a tiny (roughly 6”) Walter White plush for a Breaking Bad-fanatic friend’s birthday. He clutches a floppy gun in one hand, and a wad o’ cash in the other!

Made of acrylic felt, stuffed with polyfil, and painted with acrylic paints.

It seems I’ve taken a 5-month-long hiatus from this blog...

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 09:48:00 -0500

It seems I’ve taken a 5-month-long hiatus from this blog to get settled in Chicago! I haven’t stopped sewing, though: I was recently commissioned to make another stuffed Daria, this time a little smaller (she stands at 15.5”). You can check out more photos on Etsy.

Materials used: acrylic felt (made from recycled plastic), wool-rayon felt, fleece, polyfil.

whocrafts: angiyr: Guess what arrived today? THE AWESOME...

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:45:08 -0500

whocrafts:

angiyr:

Guess what arrived today? THE AWESOME PRIZES FROM THE WHOCRAFTS GIVEAWAY! I’M SO HAPPY Q///Q!

Firstly, 10th Doctor Plush by Juliana (etsy/tumblr). It’s ADORABLE EEEEEE! Together, our eyebrows surpass the sexiness of even Andrew Scott’s eyebrows.

2nd-ly, Dalek hat by Noli (etsy/tumblr). It’s AMAZING. THE EYE STEM STICKS OUT WHEN YOU WEAR IT AHHHHHHH!

3rd-ly, Ten/Eleven badges by Olivia (etsy). I’m going to put them on EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY BAGS and see how many whovians I can attract at uni! Teehee! ~~Also trying to figure out whether it’s possible to wear the bowtie one as a bowtie…~~

And finally, a HUGE thanks to Liz at whocrafts for organising the giveaway THANKYOU! ^///^

Awesome!!!

Aww, I’m so glad the prizewinner is happy with my Doctor doll!

Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) is probably my favorite Companion...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 11:42:00 -0500

Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman) is probably my favorite Companion to date. I hated to see her continually shafted by the Doctor! I mean, seriously—beauty, brains, a shiny medical career ahead of her?? Boggles my mind that the Doctor would stay hung up on Rose. (I’m sure the fangirls will stone me for that one!)

Martha stands at roughly 15” tall, and is approx. 2” wide. She is made of acrylic felt & fleece, and is stuffed with polyfil and scrap fabric. Her face is painted with acrylics. She cannot stand up on her own. 100% hand-sewn and hand-painted, she took me about 2 weeks of on-and-off work to make.

Martha Jones & Doctor Who are property of the BBC (I guess I should do disclaimers now?).

For sale on my Etsy!

Aaand here’s a prototype I made before the last Tenner,...

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 22:10:00 -0500

Aaand here’s a prototype I made before the last Tenner, this one shorter at 10.5” tall.

His pinstripes were a pain in the arse to hand-sew, so he’s a little more expensive than the commissioned one was.

Now available on Etsy for you to take home!

Here’s a 10th Doctor plushie I was just commissioned to...

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 19:10:00 -0500

Here’s a 10th Doctor plushie I was just commissioned to do. Felt, polyfil, and acrylic paint on the face & pinstripes. He stands at roughly 12” tall.

10 will be flying to his new home on Monday!

ETA: Now with naturally-lit photos!