So I was about to do my Mandarin homework, when suddenly…
A wild Snorlax blocked my path!
“But lăoshī, my Snorlax slept on my homework!” Unless the teacher asks why you didn’t have a Pokeflute, then you’re kinda screwed.
This was another pattern semi-inspired by Wolfdreamer. Her pattern is cute, but if I’m going to sell my own plushies they should be as much of my own creation as possible. I also didn’t like how the ears were sewn on; Snorlax’ ears were attached. I always remembered them being smoother, rather than detached at the bottom. I’m not sure how else to describe it, so here is the main reference I used for Snorlax:
I also hate sewing stuff on crochet/knit items, so I avoid it wherever possible. The colour I used is based off what I remember Snorlax looking like in the anime.
Some time ago, the adorable Ginger and I were discussing Bree. Bree is his girlfriend, and she’s nice. When I made Ginger a Reptar-shaped chocolate, Bree came along. I didn’t have any chocolates for her, so I took the chocolate from Ginger and gave it to her.
Bree: “Oh, thank you!”
Ginger: “That was mine…. </3”
I don’t think Ginger remembers, since his head’s in the clouds most of the time.
This Snorlax is just a prototype, so it’s super tiny just to get an idea of how to shape it later on. Ryan was being a bully about the lack of ears. WHAT LACK OF EARS? IT’S A PROTOTYPE DAMMIT!
Ahem….Bree, if you’re reading this, do you like it? Don’t worry, I’ll give your “Ginger” a discount. 😀 The plan is to blow this Snorlax up into a nice, cuddly pillow. I’m thinking of making it a similar size to Altair Sackboy.
That ends this week’s post. I guess that means it’s time to get into Fall crafts.
Questions? Concerns? Like Snorlax? Want your own Snorlax? Comment below!
After a crazy first full-blown week back, it’s time to relax with someone else’s pattern. I tested this Chibi pattern for a deviantART user called YunisUnis, who we’ll call Yuni for short. The pattern was for the base of the doll, and I added the Tali touch. I’ve given her a tiny bit of feedback, particularly about spots where I got stuck. It was a good thing this pattern happened when it did. I meant to make a Tali plush for someone long ago, but never finished. I don’t even know where it is anymore! This is as far as I’ve gotten with my personal take on Tali:
I’m one of those compulsive people who gets worried when she’s following a pattern, and the result doesn’t turn out exactly as expected. The rest of my feedback included a couple typos and other things that I’m sure could otherwise be ignored. If you’re going to sell a pattern, you’ve got to make sure it’s clear and easy to follow, right? That’s my only reason for it.
Completed doll base
I have a feeling the hip size was a result of my hook size. I used my usual 5.0 mm (US H) hook, but the pattern called for the smaller 4.0 (US G) hook. I didn’t think it would matter, since the hook size is so negligible. I still like the way it looks, and maybe it just looks different from the sample because the sample doll is wearing a dress.
I cheated on the head by taking out the last “sc in each st around” rows near the end. I found they gave a weird “light bulb” shape, compared to the nice, round head in the sample. I think the intention was to make a neck or connecting end, since sewing on the head made the neck flop. Since Tali has a hood to support her head, it doesn’t matter in this case, but that’s something I’d go back and revise.
Final pattern verdict: Cute! I’d suggest fixing the directions for the legs, but overall very easy to follow along. I also liked the exaggerated hips, which I noticed were perfect for Tali. Maybe next, we can see a “boy” base pattern? 😛
P.s hello “Yuni.” 😛
Confession: I haven’t played Mass Effect, but I did take a little interest in the short gameplay he showed me.
Who’s “he”? Why, Twiggy of course!
Obviously his name isn’t really Twiggy. When I first saw him, he was as skinny as a twig, so I called him Twiggy.
Totoro corrected me, “you mean Lucas?”
I replied, “yeah that’s what I said: Twiggy.”
Twiggy has since put on weight, but the nickname stuck.
I made a side-by-side comparison of Twiggy before and after:
Twiggy, then vs. now
In the first pic, he’s holding my first finished ami, a monkey named Monkey. The other pic is from last year second semester. We were all dressed up for business presentations, which is why he looks so handsome. The chocolate is shaped like the Polish eagle, because Twiggy is Polish. Maybe one day I will teach you how to make these chocolates.
I don’t think I’ll ever get this to Twiggy. Oh well, at least there will finally be something new in the Etsy shop.
For next week, I’m going to make a prototype of a Pokemon, as inspired by the adorable Ginger. No, it’s not Charmander…in fact, I don’t think that Charmander is going to be finished anytime soon.
Questions? Concerns? Have you played Mass Effect? If so, would you recommend it? Comment below!
Here are the major excuses why this week’s post will be postponed until tomorrow (Saturday):
1. I don’t have my laptop this weekend.
2. I didn’t finish the plushie yet.
3. Messed up sleep schedule.
4. It hurts. What hurts? Not today, dear Internet…
“Mess?” I call it, “nest of plushies-to-be.”
Not to worry, next week’s post WILL appear on Friday as scheduled. Until then, I leave this question:
What kind of post would you like to see for Halloween?
I was thinking of a quick cosplay-themed post, though Halloween treat and decoration ideas are options, as well! If this year so far is any indication, the earlier the better when it comes to deciding/making the necessary things. Until then, goodnight world!
Realize there’s a Zora’s chance on Death Mountain that you’ll pass one particular class.
Pray that your attempts to get out of said class will be successful – it’s all you can do right now.
Regain your social life.
Get thank you hugs for bringing your copy of Cards Against Humanity to the board games club.
Reunite with Iron Man, hug him, and never want to let go.
Remember you have pizza night with the girls (oh, and Kitty) in two days.
“Where has the week gone?!” I cry.
This week was supposed to feature Charmander. And then I realized that making Charmander from scratch was a lot easier said than done. The reason Squirtle was so easy is because Squirtle is fairly round and made up of spherical shapes. Charmander, on the other hand, is more asymmetrical, since it’s based off a lizard. Spherical shapes are much easier to form, while oblong shapes like the ones I used for Charmander’s head and body have to be just right in order to look convincing. Much ripping out occurred.
And holy sheep on the farm, the tail. THE. BLOODY. TAIL. If you look carefully at the official art, Charmander’s yellow belly spot extends onto its tail. I like to keep my plushies as true to the original material as possible, so I began trying over and over to get the tail just right. First I thought about making the tail separate from the body and sewing the tummy/tail panel on seperately, and then I thought about trying to attach the tail as one piece to the body…
Yeah, this is one project I’ll put on the back burner until further notice.
Fortunately, I remembered that this week is very important, and therefore I had a backup project!
I’ve mentioned Kitty in a few blogs, and this one is no exception. This bonus is dedicated to him because this weekend shall be his last weekend in Canada. *sad face* We are going to spend an evening having a pizza dinner with some old friends. I made him this as a present:
It’s a wee baby Torchic! Kitty’s not big into plushies, and yet it didn’t feel right sending him off without something to help his world stay plush. He also likes Torchic because, “it’s the cutest [fluffy] chicken. ;w; “And so, this little “baggage buddy” was born. I tied a chain loop on the back, so you could tie it to something. The loop was inspired off the little Winnie the Pooh cell phone charms you can get in gacha machines. Back when Kitty and I first met, I had one of these Winnies tied to my old Motorola Razr flip phone. (Late 2000’s nostalgia – it’s a thing, apparently!) Winnie the Pooh was inside a little beach house, and his face looked like this: :O
Making a tiny plushie into a “bag buddy” charm is a great gift idea!
Ah, Kitty. Seems only yesterday I was 15 years old, and this weirdo came up and hugged me because I said I was cold. For a good amount of time, however, life wasn’t so great between the two of us. In first year University, it got so bad that new friends were warning me to let him go. Which I did for a while. And it feels so much better now… I met new friends and had lots of fun! It’s amazing what can happen when you let go of the things that put you in a bad mood.
I don’t remember what happened to make us friends again, but that time apart was just what we both needed. It’s 8 years later and we’re on much better terms, if I do say so myself. In fact, I think Kitty is my closest guy friend. He listens whenever I have something to say, and I tell him everything.
Even stuff he doesn’t want to know!
Kitty is going far away to study. Thanks to the power of modern technology, he won’t be too far away in case of rant emergencies. Of course, I’ll still miss going over to his place for dinner, or ranting in the same timezone.
….Several hours later……
So I totally thought I scheduled this to post at 5:00. Turns out I didn’t. Whoopsie. It’s okay, because now I can post this picture of Kitty with Torchic:
Kitty and the cutest little chicken. ;w;
If Kitty’s reading this… Take care, slipper face. :3
*Sniff sniff sniff*… Torchic, Tor…. (This is a strange Pokeblock…)
Questions? Concerns? Do you have a close friend you miss right now? Comment below!
I went back to school yesterday. It was a great day, but my evening wasn’t so great.
Squirtle accompanied me to school, along with his WIP brother. I find that when I am nervous, holding a cute toy in my hands is calming.
Squirtle’s first task came when I met a stranger on the bus. Really, he wasn’t a stranger; his name was Joseph. He was starting his first year at the college and wasn’t totally sure what to expect. I showed him the ultra awesome, secret doev lab, where no one but gaim doevs can enter. Okay so it’s not that secret, but I think Joseph enjoyed his mini tour. I hope he will have a good year this year.
I took Squirtle to the fair, which was located in the commons. Squirtle met Mr. Bear, and KK posed on the pink table. I insta’d that ish. Mr. Chair decided to be silly about guessing the identity of our guitar doggy friend:
(Click for full view)
I was initially going to charge East $15 for KK, but I gave him a discount because he gave me some good ideas for Iron Man, which actually worked. What kind of ideas? Sorry internet, we’re not yet at that level in our relationship.
I’ve said it before in the mushroom earring blog: There’s something exciting about strangers liking your crafts. While walking about, people stopped to compliment Squirtle, or the Pokeball earrings. A guy handing out orange bracelents did so, and Squirtle got too excited and gave him a kiss. X3 Later, I found my classmate, Puppy, and his friends waiting to sell some books. He smelled a bit, but Squirtle didn’t seem to mind. Puppy’s friend Cameron said it was cool that I could do stuff like this. To which I replied, “AND YET I’M SINGLE!” It was a joke, obviously. I don’t need to worry about being single when I’m surrounded by awesome people.
Fishes wish their boys were HALF as cute as mine.
I suppose now’s the time for the “bummer” half of the blog. After posting some pictures of Squirtle’s day, a friend of one of the guys said she wanted Squirtle. In fact, she wanted all three original starters. Since this was a personal sale (we could ask our mutual friend to take it to her, saving us from shipping costs) I was willing to charge a little less than usual, bearing in mind that she was in a bit of a financial rut. She wouldn’t agree if the price was $10/each or higher. I tried to negotiate an option to make smaller plushies, which were cheaper and easier to produce. Sadly, she was more interested in this regular size. Instant stress! Sometimes I think that introverts are not built to negotiate.
Of course, Kitty was there to help. I showed him Squirtle, and he instantly said that $10 was way too low and I should sell to somebody else. I was looking forward to making a sale so this didn’t feel right. But then Kitty brought up some interesting food for thought. He relayed the predicament to his girlfriend, who also sells handmade things, and she asked an interesting question: do you want to make a good impression, or do you want to make money?
Sure, you can sell for a low price just to make a good impression, but once you sell for that low price once, you’re stuck with that low price. Future customers will expect that price from you all the time, and you will only end up losing out in the long run.
Here is a question: if you wanted to buy this Squirtle plushie, how much would you be willing to pay?
Size comparison to ceramic Pikachu, approx. 3″
If you say anything less than $5, to you I say: “If you ever fall down a flight of stairs, I will just stand there laughing at you.”
A lot of people don’t understand the costs that go into making plushies, especially crochet plushies like these. A single skein of basic yarn, depending on the brand can cost between $5 – 8 each. I bought the blue and yellow yarns, while the white and burnt orange were leftover from another project. That means I’ve already spent $10 on the yarn alone. Letting this Squirtle go for $5 would be a ripoff. How can I make the world plush if I cannot even make up the cost of the materials?
As you can tell, most of my charges come from the materials. Additional charges come for labour and amount of the materials required. With a few exceptions, the plushies I’ve sold this year are created from my own pattern. When someone asks for a specific plushie, I look up references, sketch it out, and create the pattern accordingly. It takes time and effort to make these patterns. I work on these in my free time, so I don’t charge according to a specific time limit. I DO charge for the labour. Hey, as the Joker said:
So please; help a girl out. I just want to make the world plush in a way that everyone can enjoy.
By the way, $15 would be ideal for a Squirtle like this. That would cover the materials and effort, with a little bit left over as profit. Also this is an estimate for a one-on-one sale, not online.
The person was awesome and agreed that we’d just take pictures of Tay with funny stuff on his head, but I still felt guilty about letting that possible sale fall through. It’s fortunate Kitty, East, and Derpston were online to chat. East sent me this pic, and I felt happy to know that he and his Lady’s world was now plush. Kirby and KK look so cozy with the other plushies! The boys know how it feels to be overwhelmed and unappreciated, so even though multiple conversations stress me out, it felt good to get the feels out. Derpston even gave some inspiration for another plushie, on top of the many I still wish to make. In class, East suggested a Cyndaquil plush.
The K’s of love.
With so much inspiration, I wonder what plushie will be in the next blog! As for the shop, I’m still waiting to see if Mr. Drippy arrived safely, in case I have to refund the person.
Got a plushie idea you want to see? Comment below!
![IMG_20140920_233718174[1]](https://valscrafts.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/img_20140920_2337181741.jpg)
Val's Crafts 