The shirt off my back

Hey guys! We've been really busy lately making dudes--unfortunately, we've been making them all at once, so there are no updates as of right now. Next week there will probably be more finished dudes to show off than I know what to do with, but right now I'm bone dry.

So I thought I would talk to you guys today about something very important: my wardrobe. I'm in need of new shirts, and with a buttload of freezer paper and an artistic boyfriend with a lot of time on his hands ready to draw and cut out pictures, I've been researching some nerdy shirts that I would like to own. There are a couple of great freezer paper tutorials here and here if anyone is interested in making their own. It's pretty easy, and really fun.

I know it's kind of a desperate way to parade your hobbies, but it's always a nice way to start a conversation with someone who is a fan of something you are. For instance, I know that the host at my Chili's likes Star Wars, because he commented on my shirt once. It's nice just to know there are other nerds out there. Onward and upward!
A Planet Express shirt. I'm not a fan of pink, but I love the Planet Express logo and so this one is a must-have. I like shirts that are kind of subtle (i.e. no characters spouting off quotes, or something equally stupid like "I see stupid people" or something like that) and I think this one is nice enough not to make the uninitiated (few though they may be, Futurama reruns are on all the time) confused or stare at my chest.

Blue Sun is a given. I've actually got the freezer paper stencil cut out, I just need to buy a shirt to stencil it on to. Again, it's a nice eye pleasing design that the uninitiated (probably very few, in this case) won't know that's it's a reference to a show.
Classic Zelda shirt. I might feel like a poser in this though, since I've only played Wind Waker. Even worse than that, I have tried to play the other ones (except Twilight Princess, which I might get around to eventually, after I finish Okami for the billionth time) and I don't like them. JUMP LINK, JUMP! Why doesn't Link jump? I'm sorry, I can't play a game where I can't make my avatar jump. I know, it's pathetic. Anyway.
I like this shirt, I would just never wear it because I don't want to draw the comparisons between me and a Wookie. I just wanted to post it because I thought it was cute and clever, and a 6 foot tall guy might be reading this and decide that it would be a good look for him.

Anyway, that's all the ideas I had for now. If anyone owns any shirts in this vein, or sees any other really cute ones, feel free to leave a comment!

Also, we have just started a BIG custom order. It's going to be the original Star Trek cast. I won't say any more than that, but it is going to be ROCKIN. It will probably take me forever and a day to make everyone, but I'm going to do it! You guys will die when you see it (if you are Star Trek fans, that is. If you're not, they'll still be cute!) Stay tuned!

Knights of the Old Republic

Alright, we finished another custom order! Whoo! Anyway, this little guy is Darth Revan from "Knights of the Old Republic". He's the guy (or girl) that you play as during the game. I have never played it, but the boyfriend has, but I always thought it looked fun. Maybe I'll have to dig it up and play it now. Anyway, viola! Here he is:

He looks so evil, with his little hood! He actually has a lot of different layers--the brown part (which has decorative sewing and painting on it), the red thing that hangs down, the gray belt, and then the ring with the straps coming off of it. It's a pretty cool costume, actually.
His cloak can be removed too, there are little claspies (kind of like Superman's cape) that hold it on. His helmet comes off to, and kind of snaps on the front of his face.
Our customer wanted a lighstaff, too, that's why the lightsaber looks a little bigger than normal. He looks kind of cute without his helmet on!

Well, that's it for now. I'm having some trouble deciding what to work on next--I do want to finish Batman, but I also want to do more Star Wars characters. I was thinking about making the Max Rebo Band, but I'm not sure if anyone would even want that. I still really want to do Link and Zelda, though, so I might do them first, I don't know. Ah! It's so frustrating.

Anyway, stay tuned! I know we'll have something cool completed by the end of the week.

Real American Villian

Okay you guys, Cobra Commander is done! He was especially hard to make, because there are so many different versions of him that it was really hard to choose which features we would replicate and which ones we wouldn't. Anyway, here is what we came up with!
He's so cute! But evil, remember, evil. Anyway, I was reading up on Cobra Commander on Wikipedia and the story they have for him is pretty amusing (I never knew anything about G.I. Joe before I made this guy). For instance, did you know that Cobra Commander has a son named Billy? And that he also took over a town called Springfield using a series of pyramid schemes? Ha ha ha, I thought it was hilarious.

Alright, anyway! Here are more pics.


This is a close-up of his arm, and his little gold braid.


I really like his belt for some reason. I think it's super sharp.
Oh noes! He is de-masked, his secret identity is revealed. Oh, it's just some bald dude, never mind.

Anyway, that's all for now! We're not really working on anything else right now, so maybe we'll have time to finish Batman. Or maybe the boyfriend can get started on Iron Man, I don't know. I'll keep you guys updated though!

I doubt the reach of HIS arm!

Because he's so tiny! Get it? Alright, nevermind. Anyway, here he is, (three days later than I promised, I know! I've been so bad!) Eomer, son of Eomund, rider of Rohan!
He he! Isn't he cute? He was pretty complicated, too. His helmet, of course, is amazing, and made out of scupey. He has, like, four layers of felt on---the green part (you can only see it sticking out of the front a little bit) and then the silver scale thing over that, and then the red armor part is two layers of felt. Then, everything is painted, and he has little gauntlets and fake chain mail. Here's his helmet:

It has a little horsey on the front and everything! And of course the horse tail (or whatever it is supposed to be) coming out of the top of the helmet. Look at all of the little details and engravings! It's crazy.

And here's everything all laid out--his helmet, and sword. His sword just tucks into his belt.

Anyway, I was so excited to share him with you guys, I just couldn't wait! We will be putting some better pictures on flickr later today or tomorrow, so keep an eye out for them. Cobra Commander is next, we're planning on having him ready by this weekend.


EDIT: Updated pretty pictures!

An elegant crochet hook for a more civilized age

Any hookers out there? (Hey now! You know the ones I mean. You sure do have a dirty mind!) I was wandering through the bowels of etsy and I found something that is really cool. Take a look at these:


They are crochet hook lightsabers! How awesome is that?! Etsy user Craftynara sells them in her shop for about $10-15. I'm not sure how comfortable they would be to handle, but they look really super cool.

And for you knitters out there:
You guys must be evil, because you have the red lightsabers.

Anyway, Eomer is like 90% done, so hopefully I will be able to post pictures of him later today. Not too much else going on here, we're making a couple of custom orders but that's about it. I'm trying to work on Batman, so if I can get him even semi-finished I will try and take pictures. I'm not sure if I can make him a Bruce Wayne/Batman figure (kind of like how my Superman was able to change into Clark Kent) , but I'm going to try. Batman does have more gadgets, though, so it might be a little difficult.

Okay, enough rambling! Stay tuned, and have a great weekend everybody! Happy Father's day!

Shiny!

Hi everybody, sorry I haven't had any new things to post for a while, we've been kind of busy working on custom orders. Two of those orders are new characters though, so as soon as they're done we'll have some new pictures for you! It's hard work trying to keep our shop full (yeah right, like that's going to happen) and work on our custom orders at the same time and fit time to watch Voyager everyday (just kidding). Anyway, even though they are not exactly new I though I would share more Firefly pics!
Like little Kaylee. We got her the little umbrella at Target; I know, I know, it's not the right color or design, but I think it's the general effect that's more important. I like her little flower on her belt, too. The pink felt underneath is supposed to be her shirt, but I think if I make another Kaylee I will make her whole upper body in the same yarn as her arms, so it's all variegated and colorful.

And here's Simon--I thought he was going to be really boring, but I think he's actually pretty cute. I like his jacket and his little faux-collar underneath his vest. He even has a chain for his pocket watch.
I was going to make him his red doctor's bag, too, and I never got around to it, because I was too excited to have the whole crew done. One day, I promise, I will make it for him, since he doesn't have much in the way of accessories. We were also thinking about making his red glasses from the first episode, but they creep me out for some reason.

Anyway, we should have a new character to show you by the weekend, if everything goes as planned, so stay tuned!

Warrior woman, Zoe Washburne

Alright everybody, next on the individual installment is Zoe Washburne! I'm really happy with how she turned out, I was worried about her overall look but in the end she turned out great. She is the first character I used doll hair for, and it turned out looking really great. It was insane to work with, though. Every time you touched the hair it would double in size, and little pieces would fall out everywhere--it was really hard to work with.
We decided to go with her outfit for the first episode (like we did for most of the characters) and so she has her little green jacket on.
See the little lines on the jacket? Those were painted on to imitate the quilting pattern on the jacket. I think it turned out looking really well, and it saved me the trouble of actually freehand quilting that stuff on.
And of course she has her shotgun. She has two belts, the black one with the gold buckle sits straight on, high up, and her ammo belt is slung down low. She has little three sections of bullets around her lower belt, they're pretty cool actually. And then of course she has a (working!) buckle on that belt too. Her gun can go in it's little holster on her lower belt--it's a pretty big gun, though, so it does kind of drag on the ground.
Aww, aren't they cute? I like Wash's outfit, too, his shirt is so cute! More on him later, for now enjoy these pictures!

I love my captain!

Okay, so some people wanted to see more pictures of Mal, so here he is!

He's so cute! He's probably not one of the most complicated of the crew (you know, physically, not emotionally) but I like him. I like his jacket--he has a torn patch on his left arm that has been patched up from when he was shot in the first episode. You can't really see them that well, but he has two big gold clasps (just felt) on the front, too.

His belt is supposed to be uneven, but it was really hard to make it low-slung, so I'm not sure if that came off very well. His gun is pretty neat, though.
See, it's a little off-kilter. I'm pretty proud of his suspenders, too, even though they were a pain in the butt to make. And for any shippers out there-
Ha! I'll be back with more pics of the rest of the characters soon, so stay tuned!

Jayne Cobb Amigurumi

Okay, everyone wanted to see Jayne the most, so here he is! The hero of Canton in the flesh (well, yarn):

Ta da! He has his hat--of course. We already had the colors, too, because the boy wanted to knit a Jayne hat for himself. That didn't turn out to well. And yes, I crocheted the hat, but only because I cannot knit with double pointed needles to save my life. And the little poof ball on top! I like that part.

And of course, where would Jayne be without his favorite gun? Probably dead somewhere, but that's not the point. Here's Vera, made out of sculpey of course, hooked onto Jayne via a strap around his chest. His belt has little pockets on it, too. And his belt buckle is actually functional! How crazy is that?
He doesn't have much in the way of accessories, but the ones that he does have I think are really great. He even has his little wrist cuff! And grenades, of course. I was worried about how he would turn out, being kind of stubbly with really short hair (which is really hard to imitate in crochet and felt) but I think he is really great looking.

Anyway, Jayne is the first Firefly crew member we have pictures of, but there are eight more to go! Stay tuned.

Firefly!

Alright everyone, the Firefly crew is finally done! I said I would have them posted this weekend, and--okay--I lied. It's very very early Monday morning. But I wanted to show you guys so bad, I had to post them tonight!
Now you still have to tune in later, this picture doesn't show any of the accessories we made--and let me tell you, we made a lot and they are super cool. I'll show individual shots later, but I just wanted to get the whole crew out there. I hope you guys enjoy! More details will be posted later on today.