Banner Sponsors
For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
Strange is great! Can't wait to see it (of course, I'm all for non-traditional everything).
I try to minimize my use of specialty tools because I'm rather minimalist (as you can be and still sew), but like a lot of the other folks here, my fingers are just not strong enough to stuff entirely by hand. I use whatever is handy to jam the fiberfill into my creatures' little limbs, including paint brush handles and scissors which work great but you risk poking straight through the bear if you aren't careful... ha.
Speaking of design, I realized to day just how loosely I approach it. I felt like making a monster, and my friend has been after me to make some "cheepy" pancake dolls to sell on my new Etsy store for folks who don't want to throw down for a mohair or alpaca bear/rabbit/cat, so I figured that would be less taxing then redesigning my 1960's inspired deer pattern. Anyway, I started out needle felting a face, but, as usual when I needle felt I got bored an hour in and resorted to paint, flat felt and some needle sculpting. They I started hacking out some body shapes in fur and felt... well, what can I say good thing I don't intend to make this a series because I didn't bother to cut pattern pieces at all. The whole thing is free form. Maybe I'll just declare all my plush to be one offs like I do with my sculpting. Ha!
Oddly enough even now when I have an idea it can still be just the pattern. I guess I'm designing from the "inside out". LOL!
The nice thing about designing this way is that I'm always surprised and I'm always excited to see my own finished product because a lot of the time I don't have a clue about what it will look like until I'm finished.
This is how I started designing my bears also -- I cut shapes and then wait-and-see what turns out. Have to admit that seems to work a little better for you them me as your designs are incredible. I never would have guessed you were going the "happy accidents" route on anything. Wow!! Nice to know everyone seems to use a range of design methods, not just one. I guess there is no wrong way to make a bear so long as the end results are interesting.
I take a pattern from drawing or photos. I am a bit hit and miss really. When I designed my cats I wanted something that had the essence of a cat yet still looked like a Three O'Clock cat...so not realistic at all really. I didn't just want a bear with pointy ears though ..so I set about making a kittenish piece. I have made 3 now and they all get changed ..and I am still unhappy with the body..it needs much work in my opinion. I was the same when I designed a rabbit...it had to be rabbity..but not real. I did a squirrel once whose head ended up in the dog basket because the squirrel design was just soooo hard..it drove me insane. The way I think of it ..in a simplistic way is that , ( and I am not drawing comparisons in levels of talent here by the way) if you look at Beatrix Potters line drawings, they are so simple and yet she captured the 'feel' of each creature..without the complexity. I make that a challenge each time but whether I succeed is for others to judge.
Here are my attempts at cats , rabbits etc...I am working on other stuff at the moment because I'm in the doldrums at the moment designwise.
Oof, nothing like trying to be innovative when the designs just aren't coming through! Your bears are quite expressive and your cat has that look while being quite cat-like. Nice work! I must say, I love that bunny though...
It's great hearing how everyone goes about designing their plush.
Great topic! Usually I draw a side picture of the bear I want and go from there to create the pattern pieces. Then I experiment with the gusset to get the head shape I want. With my last bear (the realistic panda) though, I did a very similar thing to what Karen did with her head sculpture... only I didn't have any real pandas to measure. :lol:
Oh, that's a good idea! Geez, I never thought of drawing the head and then matching up pattern pieces... and I have no excuse, since I basically draw for a living. I saw your panda, it's fantastic.
Hello,
Ok, I'm one of those detailed designers. I, too, worked for toy companies at the beginning of my soft sculpture adventure. After I learned as much as I could about manufacturing from the companies I worked for, I started my own studio determined to create pieces that could never be duplicated by manufacturers. I had nothing against the wonderful companies I had worked with, I just needed to try my wings and expand my design ideas. I knew I wanted to create realistic animals. It helped that I had about 5 years of clay sculpture experience (mostly naked humans but I got the idea ;-). When I decided to design my cat I knew it would be difficult. Artists through history have had trouble showing realistic cats. I decided to take measurements of my real cats and incorporate these into a cat head sculpture. IT was a struggle, it took me almost a year to get it right and I had been used to designs taking about 2-4 weeks. Now when I have a difficult design problem I go back to measurements and clay sculpture. I use what is called draping to design the patterns. Here's an example using my cat sculpture.
Your cats are fantastic! And yes, the draping technique is exactly what I was about to try. I've used it for costuming but not as much for my plush. I don't think my cat would put up with being measured... yours must be really mellow. Thank you for sharing your technique! Now I'm really excited to get on with it.
This is a really interesting question for me... because I've worked in the toy industry as well as doing home creation of bears and other creatures. Now usually, being kinda lazy, I just start cutting felt into shapes and pinning them until I get the look I'm after. But I know for more complex sewing, in the industry, often a clay dummy is made - the piece lines marked out and then fabric or paper laid over and cut to shape resulting in a sewing pattern of sorts. Anyway, I was thinking of launching into that this week for a more complex design I have in mind but thought I'd ask some of you other creative folks how you go about figuring a new design. I really don't know many people who do their own designs in plush and always wondered how others approach this anyway. Do you fly by the seat of your pants? Do you meticulously measure each bit? Anyone care to weigh in?
(Oh, I'm not trying to make anyone give up their secrets, this is just a general how-do-you, not detailed by any means).
I use artist quality chalk pastels some times and rub them into the felt or mohair until none comes off on my hands -- it can take a while to get the depth of color I am shooting for. My main concern with using makeup is that it often has other elements in it like wax that can deteriorate over time or make the fabrics greasy.
I used pastels to color the wool felt tongue of an open mouth bear recently and then set it with a little of the same soft beeswax I use on my bear noses. The results were quite pleasing. And using the pastel on fur does give it a nice airbrush look. Not sure how it would work on synthetic as I've not tried that.
So in other words, I think you are on the right track with the makeup, but might want to use something designed to last longer. Sometimes the pigments in makeup fade over time unless they are the very pricey, fancy brands with strong colors like MAC and Makeup Forever.
(I'm new here, so I hope I'm not stepping on toes by offering advice already, but I just went through something like this myself recently)
