News

Hello everyone! It's been kind of quiet around here lately, but we've been working really hard over here. Although the quietness may have had something to do with the Indiana Jones marathon day yesterday on USA (why did they show them in reverse order?) even though we JUST WATCHED THEM last week, but I swear we really were working.

We've been working on a couple of custom orders, as well as some requests for older stuff, and no one wants to see that here. I do have a present for you though--some teaser pics! These are WAY harder than the last one.

HA! I bet you can't guess this time! They're not even finished yet! (Don't tell the boy, he would probably be mad that I posted some of his unfinished work). And Captain Mal is ready! But I'm not sure I'm going to post him until the whole crew is done. You guys won't be mad, right? It is going to be such an awesome picture of them all together.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great mother's day. The weather down here turned really nice today (it was 90 yesterday--ick!) and stay tuned for more news!

EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot! I wanted to say that later this week (hopefully) I am going to be introducing a new line into my etsy store called "Geeky Green Home Supplies". And no, I didn't just make that up off the top of my head. :::sweats:::: Anyway, I wanted to introduce some stuff that every home needs to have, with the added benefit of being green (as in save the world green, not Kermit green...although...). Oh yeah, and of course they are going to be totally geeky. Look out for them!

Another custom order

Okay guys, here's a custom order we finished a couple of days ago.
It's Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist! For those of you who don't watch anime, this character works for the military and is the on the "good guy" side of things. He is an alchemist and is known as the "Flame Alchemist" (I think, it's been a really long time since I've watched it). His outfit was actually pretty hard to figure out, it took a while to come together. His little flame on his hand also comes off.
He has his flame gloves on too,
see the little alchemy symbol? He has those on both sides, along with his shoulder patch and his rank insignia. We spent SO LONG looking for the right color felt for him, and even though it's not perfect I love the way it turned out. With the gold braid on, it looks like the perfect blue color. And the silver lines really make everything pop out, and make everything look very professional and crisp. I need to make Ed and Al now!

Boba Fett!

Alright guys, Boba Fett is finally done! He was super hard to make, but he turned out awesome. Just like Boushh and Darth Vader, his helmet comes off. The sculpey expert really outdid himself with this one (sometimes to the point of annoying me) but in the end I think it was all worth it.


His helmet turned out really well; it looks all battle scarred and distressed. Check out his shoulder armor things too--one side has the Mandalorian symbol on it. Also check out his breastplate--his little electronic display reads "1138" on it.

His little armbands have a dart thrower in it too--if you look really closely (or at this super close shot--whatever) you can see teeny tiny little darts in it.
Let me know what you think! I'm very proud of him. I know I said I was working on Firefly people, but I have a list of like a thousand people that I want to make. Sometimes we get carried away over here, but I promise we are still working on it! We bought all of the supplies for the crew, so it shouldn't be long now.

Portal Crafts!

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, we have been working hard on new guys and we saw Iron Man yesterday. It was awesome, by the way. We don't really go to the movies very often (mainly because I hate being around so many people who are annoying) but I'm glad we saw it in theaters.

Anyway, I wanted to share with you guys some Portal themed stuff! If you haven't played Portal, you should, it's amazingly fun and it's sold separately from the Orange Box now, so it's only $20. You can download it here and you don't even have to get out of your pajamas to play it! Okay, yeah, crafts. Everyone has probably seen the plushy weighted companion cube, so I'm not going to post it, I'm just going to post some other stuff I found/made I thought was interesting. Here we go.

1. Of course, I'm putting mine first. Bleh.
Ignore the blue, it was still blocking while I took this picture. I knitted this! I suck at intarsia/fair isle, it's really hard. There are parts of this that are bumpy and stick out really funny, but overall I think it turned out all right. My plan was to make nine of these squares from the game and then make a blanket out of it, but this one square took so long to do that I kind of scrapped the idea. Maybe I'll pick it up again once I finish making dudes.

2.This is from an egg challenge over at Kotaku, and this guy was the winner. Okay, it's not so much a craft, but I still think it is really clever. There are more egg entries (including another Portal one that I really like, plus an Okami one) here if anyone is interested.

3. Okay, I know I said no companion cubes, but this one is a cake! A cake companion cube. I wonder if GlaDOS would approve. Probably not.
4. Okay, I thought this one was really cool. Unfortunately, it looks like it's half finished, or maybe I just can't find any more pictures. This is from Craftster user DinkyTiny who made a little hair clip for her cosplay, which from the tiny sketch posted looks pretty cool.
These are the little spheres that fall off of GlaDOS at the end of the game. This one is the anger sphere, but I can't find any pictures of any of the other ones. It looks like she's going to AKon though, so if anyone is going there make sure to take pictures! I'm not going this year, all I like to do is sit around and make fun of Naruto cosplayers and that's not really worth $30 to me.

5. This one isn't a craft per se, but it's a really interesting article written about GlaDOS and some insights into what the game developers might have been thinking when they made her.
The first picture is from the game, and the second picture is an artist's rendering of a personified GlaDOS. Anyway, I can't explain it very well, but it's a really interesting article and I'm not doing it justice talking jibberish about it. You can read it here.

Okay, that's all the Portal crafts for today! I think we might possibly finish up Boba Fett today, but no promises. He's taking a lot longer than I though, but he's going to be super awesome. Also Roy Mustang from FullMetal Alchemist is almost done, I'll post pictures of both of them once they are finished.

Spice Weasel Pattern!

Alright, my latest invention: spice weasel lip balm cozy! That's right. Now, while I don't necessarily see the use of a lip balm cozy, who can object to a spice weasel lip balm cozy? It gives you an excuse to shout "BAM" really loudly, in any case. Here's the pattern.


Materials:
Spice Weasel colored yarn
A scrap of white/beige yarn
Size 10 pink crochet thread
One keyring
Googly eyes

TAIL:
With white/beige yarn
ch 2
Row 1: 3 sc in 2 ch from hook
Row 2-3: even sc
change to spice weasel color
Row 4-6: even sc

BACK LEGS: Make two
With spice weasel color
ch 2
Row 1: 6 sc in 2 ch from hook
Row 2: (sc in next st, 2 sc in next st) twice, 2 sc
Row 3-5: even sc
BO, leave a long tail to secure to body

FRONT LEGS: Make two
With spice weasel color
ch 2
Row 1: 4 sc in 2 ch from hook
Row 2: (sc in next st, 2 sc in next st), 2 sc
Row 3-6: even sc
BO, leave a long tail to secure to body

MAIN BODY:
With spice weasel color
ch 2
Row 1: (sc in next st, 2 sc in next st) until you have about 17 sts (or as large as it needs to be to fit your chapstick--I used Burt's Bee's as a measurement)

Around Row 4, sew in the tail, it will be easier to sew in now than when the body is complete. Make sure you secure the tail very tightly, because this is where the keyring will go.

Crochet even rows until the body is about 2-2 1/2 inches. BO. Sew in the two back legs and the two front legs.

HEAD:
With the pink crochet thread
ch 2
Row 1: 6 sc in 2 ch from hook
Row 2: (sc in next st, 2 sc in next st) three times
change to spice weasel color
Row 3: even
Row 4: increase until you have the same amount of stitches as the body--in this case, it was 17 sts.

Continue with even rows until the head is about 1-1 1/2 inches long. Attach the head to the body.
I attached it at the top of the head, so that his neck opens to reveal the chapstick. I just whip stitched the two pieces together, spanning an area of about 10 sts on the top of the head.

Now it's time to attach the eyes--this is how I did it.
I cut out two very small pieces of black felt, which I stitched to the head using invisible thread. I then used Gorilla Glue to glue the eyes onto the pieces of felt. You can just use black felt if you want, or you can try and glue googly eyes directly on the yarn, although I'm not sure what the effect would be.

Details:
Cut three small pieces of yarn to use for his little tufts of hair. I poked these through the neck; they just have a knot on one side.

Use a tiny piece of black thread to make the nostrils, secure with a knot inside the head.

Attach the keyring to the tail.

You should be done! I'm sorry if this is kind of confusing, I was trying to be as detailed as possible, but with so many small pieces I know it can get a little messy. If anyone makes one, I hope you post pics!

Another custom order

We've been so busy in the last couple of days! There are still a couple of more custom orders to fill, but I wanted to show everyone the newest amigurumi. His name is Jack Krauser, and he is from the video game Resident Evil 4. Now, I'll just confess right here, I've never played RE4 even though it was supposed to be one of the only good games for the Gamecube (besides Melee, of course). I don't like horror games, or suspense games. I think it stems from a time long ago...let me tell you about it. And then pictures, I swear! Or you could just skip this part.

Dark Forces had just come out for the PC, and I was playing it nonstop. I was relatively young when this came out (maybe 12?) and I would spend all night playing it. One night, when I was playing, I fell into the water and there was a creature in the water that tried to eat me but I couldn't see it when I fell in the water and you couldn't see it from above the water swimming around and it was dark and the water was dark and it was big and I was scared. It scared me so badly that I can't swim in any video games ever and I hate things that pop up out of nowhere and scare me. There. That's my traumatic story.

Oh yeah, here are some pictures. Resident Evil 4. Jack Krauser. Here ya go.
Can you see the scar? He has a little scar over his left eye. It's light, but you can see it better in person.
His belt was super hard to make. Of course, sewing through leather is always going to be tough but this one was a doozy. I am so happy with how his beret turned out, I was really worried that the shaping wouldn't be right but we punched it and pinched it until it came out perfectly. It even has a little pin that is removable. His little grenades unclip too, and his dagger can be taken off his hand. I love versatility! More pics on my flickr as always.

Anyway, stick around. I made a spice weasel and I'm planning on putting the pattern up here later, but I might not get to it until tomorrow. He's super cute! Plus, he's actually functional--not for spice, of course (although I am making one that will be!) but for something else--I'm not going to spoil it.

Lord of the Rings custom orders

I wanted to share with you guys the two custom orders we just finished. They are SO COOL.
It's the Witch King of Angmar! He's so evil, yet so cute at the same time. Okay, maybe more evil than cute. We didn't want to make the sword look corny and like it is on fire, so it is tinged red to make it sort of firey looking.
That's right, he has a mace too. The pictures don't really show it, but his coat is all tattered and ratty looking, and he has little spikes on the back of his arms. He is really super cool, he turned out really awesomely. We were worried about how his face armor was going to turn out, but it is so cool and so spikey. (I'm still a little excited about finishing him, so I'm not very coherent in my thoughts yet).

And our other creation:
King Aragorn! I love the tree of Gondor, so any little guy with the tree on his armor is all right in my book. I think Aragorn turned out really well though. He has a lot of painting done on his coat.

The silver stuff on his arms is supposed to be chain mail (I hope you can tell). I just crocheted it out of silver thread. I like the effect it gives, rather than just using silver yarn. He also has shoulder armor on:
Ah! He turned out super cute. The eye placement is really important when you make amigurumi dudes, and his eyes turned out really well. If you don't place them correctly, you can end up with slightly retarded looking amigurumis.

Anyway, I hope you guys like this latest batch! I'm really happy with how they turned out. I'm working on some more custom orders right now, but I also finished some more dudes to put up in the shop. I'm really excited about the new custom orders too though, I'm not sure with how they'll turn out but I am super excited to work on them.

Hope you guys enjoyed!

PHOTO OP:
Poor Frodo!

Cooking Mama Apron

I just wanted to share with everyone this adorable cute apron that craftster user crafterbation made.
I like the little pocket on the side with blue lace around it, and it says "Don't worry, mama will fix it". Crafterbation says that the apron is constructed using double sided sticky interfacing. I like the idea of using sticky interfacing, it makes the felt look a lot cleaner than if it was stitched.
So smooth! My felt is always pockmarked because of the stitches, I might have to try this method and see if it comes out any cleaner.

Even though I didn't really care for Cooking Mama all that much, I can still appreciate the cuteness behind the sentiment of this apron. I think it's adorable! Once again, something that is useful can also be really cute and nerdy. Although I have to say that I would be very paranoid about getting this apron dirty.

I have been watching Arrested Development all day and making little dudes, so I'll have some awesome pictures to share with everyone tonight!

Legend of Zelda crafts

I've been posting so much stuff that I've been doing lately, that I haven't had time to post other cool stuff that's out there! So today I'm going to post some awesome Zelda related crafts. I'll put out a disclaimer: I'm not the world's hugest Zelda fan. In fact, I only like Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass (although I CANNOT and WILL NOT go through that stupid Temple of the Ocean King one more time! I seriously won't!) even though my boyfriend claims that Ocarina is the best game ever (why won't Link jump? Normal people can jump. I would take a small hop). I really like Wind Waker though, even the really boring sailing parts. And my best character in Brawl is Zelda, if that counts. Anyway, hopefully my non-Zelda obsession won't stop anyone from looking!

First off: This Wind Waker cake.
I can't believe how amazingly detailed it is! Can you see the little Link and Tetra/Zelda up at the top? And I love the little dragon boat down at the bottom. There's more information here if anyone is interested, although there is no mention of who made the cake, just that it is a custom made wedding cake. Can you believe it's a wedding cake? So cool.

For those of you who love game cakes as much as I do, check out this game cake site which is totally geared toward, you guessed it, game cakes. Some are an awful mess, but some are awesome masterpieces. Check it out.

Secondly: This cutting board.
There is nothing I like more than a geeky thing that is also useful. It is for sale on etsy here but at $125.00 I think I'll force my boyfriend to make me one instead. The same seller also has a really cool space invader cutting board too. I don't know if I would ever use it though, it looks too pretty. I love the dark wood used though.

Thirdly: An octorak!
This is from etsy too, you can see more pictures here. I'm not really sure what it is made out of, but I think the seller made it out of a pot! And a lot of sculpey of course. Now that is creative. And the rock is removable.

If anyone has any other Zelda related crafts they want to share, feel free to leave a message! I know there's lots of stuff out there, so share the love!

PS-If I haven't been posting much, it's because I've been wasting my time playing this stupid game. I'm a sucker for typing games, I don't know why.