Twice a year a national magazine comes out that is just filled with plush inspiration. It has been a goal of mine for years to get into this publication. I have tried before and was sadly rejected. But that was in my brand new infancy stage of my business. This past year has been the strongest year yet for me and on a whim I submitted a piece to the magazine. I found out in December that I was accepted and today I received my early copy. Can I just say how amazing this makes me feel as a plush artist! I love my work, I know my buyers love my work, but to be recognized like this is an honor. I truly appreciate being selected.
I flipped through the magazine, of course searching for my own page. I found that I was listed in the Editor’s Note, huge surprise there! Then I found out I was on page 14 of 144! I know there are many reasons for page layout decisions from the number of pages an article takes, to color, etc. But page 14! Wow.
I flipped through the rest of the book and realized the majority are new artists that haven’t been in the magazine before. In past issues I see names repeated over and over from other issues and always felt they needed someone new. This issue looks fantastic! Lots of new artists and some well known plush artists with their amazing work. I am truly inspired! Now back to the Tardis project.
If you are in the Palm Beach area, this Friday a brand new show opens over at Bear and Bird! Be sure to check it out! Captain America and Wonder Woman are making an appearance, as well as numerous hair clips!
In just under six weeks it will be time for the next big show, MetroCon! I am getting very excited for the show and trying to build up stock once again. I have forty ice cream cones of eight different flavors currently in production. I have some more ideas for a new group of quilted logo pillows. I have ideas for plush items. I have this super awesome idea that hubby helped develop. We ordered special parts for it that should arrive by the weekend. So many ideas and not enough time for it! I would like to create some more wall art pieces too but don’t think I will have the time.
My work, The Art Institute of Tampa will also be at MetroCon. We will have a booth with a green screen for all the cosplay people to take pictures at. We are also creating portrait sketch cards of us, the instructors with ‘stats’ on the back. You can see my sketch card below. Very excited for the show and need more than six weeks!
This is a little late and I apologize. I’ve been so busy with shows and work and life this is the first chance I have had to reflect upon MegaCon!
Last fall many of my students and colleagues at AI Tampa wondered if I was going to sell at Mega this year. I kept saying ‘No, I’m not a Con girl. I don’t think my work would fit there. I could never make enough’ Then I started thinking, why wouldn’t I fit there? Should I take a risk and do a Con? Especially a big risk such as MegaCon? I started looking up past con vendors, pictures from the exhibitor floor, and thought some more. In the end I knew it would be a lot of work and a big risk, but how else could I get my name out there so fast and to a larger group of people? I typically sell to just Craft Shows and ETSY and finding a following there is difficult. Maybe this was my chance to break out! Answer: Yes it was.
Packed to the Brim!
The Before Space
All Set Up!
Super Fans!
Yes, I am Awesome!
Zoe Making a Run For It!
I started designing a new line to fit with the Con crowd. My own look and style, but something I would want to buy at a Con. Something that was not necessarily anime, but comic related. I like cute and fun. You never see cute and fun comic heroes. You never see cute and fun hair stuff that’s not kawaii. And mainly, you never find cute plush that isn’t made in China/Korea/YouPickYourForeignCountryHere. Thinking along those lines I developed a new plush line and started making hair accessories I would want. I found similar ones in the UK and felt I could make my own here. I have this fancy smchancy sewing machine, let’s put it to use!
And boy did I. I was in such productive modes for December and January I often had two machines going at once. I would set my embroidery machine up to make the hair accessories and on the opposite side of my loft sewing super hero monsters on my back up machine. For about 6 months I had these pillow forms wondering what to do with them. About three weeks before the Con my brillant idea came. Super Hero Logo Quilted Pillows! (And I was brilliant by the way. I made seven and came home with two.)
Typically I can set my booth up in under an hour for a regular craft show. But with the amount of product I was bringing when I had the option to come in the day before I jumped at it! Jay dropped me off with all my stuff and took Zoe shopping. I tried to create a booth that was inviting and fun. We were given a 10′ x 10′ space. So many people had their table pushed up to the front. Come on people, use that space wisely! I placed my table back four feet to let them come in and have more room to show my plush work. I really think this helped. We used Jay’s Mario canvases as a conversation starter to help pull people in. (Those three canvases are still available if anyone is interested!)
On Day 1 I got there a few hours early to lay all my small pieces out and to check out the competition. Looking around I saw a few other plush artists but no one had anything like me work. I was nervous and excited about the day to come. Would my work be liked? Would I do well? Well, before the show opened my neighbor came over and bought my two largest monster canvases that I brought for decoration. I brought them to fill my space, I honestly didn’t believe they would sell. And they were the first to go! I brought 6 canvases and came home with two. I am serious when I say I had these 6 for over a year and a half. And to be gone that fast? Wow to me. Doors open, the madness begins. I was selling like crazy and selling items I honestly didn’t think would go. My super heroes were doing well but the pillows sold fast and my normal plush that I do all the time nerly sold out. My awesome hair accessories barely sold at all. My coffee cozies were a great item and did very well. My goal for Day #1 was to make back the fee of the space. I was short $10 of that goal. All in all an awesome day 1. If I compare my earnings to a regular craft show – I killed it.
Head on Day 2, the longest of the three days. We knew this day, the Saturday of the show would be the craziest. And it definitely was. Barely any breathing room! Sale after sale after sale. I honestly can’t believe how well I was selling. The audience I always try to sell for was there. Everything was selling on Day 2. I really wanted to go and look around but discovered that would have to wait until Sunday. My goal for Day #2 was to make the booth fee again. I passed it by a lot. Again, killed it!
Day 3 – We are ready to go and hope to have nothing to bring back. I have to keep rearranging my spaces because they are starting to look bare. I start directing people to my website because at this point three of the six super heroes have sold out. Please note I came with five of each! I had a little break when it was thinning out to go look around. I made a trade and bought one item from other artists. One problem I always have with craft shows and cons is I don’t want to buy something I know if I had the time I could do myself. You really need to impress me to get me to buy from you. Saying that I traded with Chris Hamer and bought from Keith Rein. Really nice, talented guys. And I splurged and bought a Freddy Moore Girl figurine. I had been dreaming of her for over a year. Day 3 goal was to make the booth fee again. I was short $10. Again, I killed it! And I couldn’t believe it.
MegaCon was an absolutely wonderful time. We are definitely doing it again next year. Come check us out in Independent Press, booth # to be determined at a later date. It will be under Handmade3D but my boss, who had never seen my personal work in person until MegaCon, says I should change my business name to “Ellen Awesome.”
Last Friday’s Art After Dark was a great event, and it even got me into the local TBT – Tampa Bay Times! Thanks TBT! I really appreciate you posting my shop link, let’s hope it leads to sales!
More good news, I have been accepted to the Atomic Holiday Bazaar in December! It’s a long way away, but so far my first scheduled show. So excited! I went last year to shop and saw amazing artists and a huge turnout. I will only be doing a table to help keep cost down so I must concoct more vertical displays. I think I will work on more wall art too, they are so cheery! Check out Atomic’s blog for more info!
Hi there! In a few weeks I will be exhibiting at the Tampa Museum of Art, Art After Dark :Cause an Effect show. This is a pillow I made for the event! I will be donating a portion of my proceeds to Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. I have never made such a large pillow before! It’s 26″ x 26″. The back is a white fleece.
After I brought the pillow back inside I thought my rocking chair looked funny in the backyard so I started having fun taking pictures for a bit. It’s spring! the bird are back, the lizards are back, and I even saw the blasted black snake – eek! This is my favorite corner of the backyard. The fence is falling over, in the summer their are vines all over it, and it has a good view of the neighbor’s tree. Wiley was helping me take pictures as well. He wanted me to see what was on the other side of the fence. I didn’t see anything, but two houses over someone does own some loud birds!
This past week my mom and I went to the Tampa Bay Sewing & Quilting Expo. It was a blast and I learned a lot of new techniques and made some great projects. Oh, and let me add almost all of these projects are now on my UFO list. Three hours for a class is just not enough!
My first class was with Karen Pharr, entitled “Zany Zinnias.” This class opened my eyes to new forms of quilting. I always see quilts with straight lines, blocks, strips, etc. Zany Zinnias let us create more of an artistic quilt. We used applique to create the zinnias. The original format we were following had the zinnias floating in space. I decided to add stems so they appeared to be growing. This piece still has a lot of work to go, including finished the flowers and then quilting and binding. It was a great start to the class weekend!My second class was “Purrfect Fun with Kitty Claudine.” I have always wanted to try a “Melly & Me” pattern but never got around to ordering one. This class included the pattern and materials to make the cat. Again three hours is not enough, but she will be finished eventually! Reading through the pattern gave me some ideas on how to complete and finish my pattern. For example in the pattern the designer had you hand stitch on the ears at the end. For me, the less hand stitching I have to do, the better! I added the ears in when we sewed the bodies together. The class was taught by Colleen Casey, who runs the Some Art Fabric internet store. Great person and great fabrics! I shopped at her booth at the expo, but more on that later.
This year my mom and I decided to add night classes to our list. We tried to get in as many classes as possible! My first night class was with Allen Smith from Keep Me In Stitches. He was a great guy, whose store donated the use of Janome sewing, embroidery, and felting machines for the expo and classes. In his class we use three different machines to create this felted purse.
I enjoyed the class so much I got an early birthday present from my mom! A brand new felting machine! But sorry Allen, were Pfaff girls. We are loyal customers of Tess’s at Scrap and Sew. The machine is just so pretty, the Janome version doesn’t have a butterfly! I foresee felted monsters in the future!
Day 2 – woke up exhausted but so excited for more classes! My first class was with Nelly Vileikis to create her “Small Whirligig” pattern. The pattern we used was a miniature of her larger pattern. The pattern was pretty simple to make, and again without enough class time I wasn’t able to add the ‘whirligig’ part. At each point is a pocket, and imagine these pockets slightly stitched over to create more of a curve. That way the pinwheels will appear to be in motion. While doing this pattern I had a great idea result from its making! Each point triangle is folded over to create a pocket. Monsters can have pockets!
In the afternoon I had my least favorite class of the weekend. The class was well taught and many of the other students enjoyed it, but it wasn’t what I expected at all. The class was called “Mixed Media Meets Machine Embroidery.” To me I expected playing with different types of fabrics and adding embroidery designs. I didn’t expect a pillow out of it. Going back on the site I see an image that looks exactly like what I created, so shame on me I guess! The class was fun and I will more than likely give it to my husband’s grandmother for Christmas. I did learn you could curl fleece, how cool is that! And besides, unbeknown to me, my faith in the instructor Pam Damour will be completely fulfilled in a class on Saturday.
For my second night class, mom and I not knowingly, signed up for the same class! That of course made it extra fun. The class was “Mixed Media Journal Quilt” with Kim Montagnese. This class was a lot of fun, we started the quilts with stamping a saying we had brought with us. My mom did a cat saying and I chose a quote from the Cheshire Cat! WE also used iron on transfers from vintage photographs. I found this moon girl and thought she just looked extremely out there! The angry eye on the moon was a pure happy accident occurring after I transferred the image. Next will be quilting, a fun binding and fun holder. Mom plans on adding some cat toys to her holder. What would a mad person have, a mad hat perhaps?
On to the final day, day 3. At this point I can’t wait to be able to sleep past 6:30 am (morning classes start at 8:30) but also sad that it’s the final day.
The first class was with Debby Kratovil teaching “Coffee Filter Fans.” This was a bring your own machine class, and luckily mom had a class with her right after mine where she needed to bring it too. This was my first attempt at paper piecing. Her technique using coffee filters broke down into such easy steps, I found it very easy to accomplish! I was a little sad to add the points to the fans, never have I had such good points before! She gave us a pattern to use with these to create a ‘Drunkard’s Path’ quilt, but I see crazy lollipops instead!
My last class of the expo was by far my favorite, and again as I mentioned, refueled my faith in Pam Damour. This class was called “Thread Painting” and was exactly what I had hoped for. I have always wanted to try thread painting but never experimented with free motion before. The class started a little hectic due to confusing/conflicting schedules, no fault to Pam. But once we got started I was hooked! She gave us options of flours to paint onto fabric. There was an assortment, one of which was daises in a vase. As soon as I saw it, my brain screamed “Vangogh!!” Since I knew I wasn’t yet comfortable with free motion, I could make my base painting layer much looser to fit with my thread style. The painting as rather fun, we used
Fantastix applicators that I have never used before instead of straight brushes. I used a yellow, blue, and red to create the base fabric print. Then after drying we went to sewing machines and did free motion on top of the painting. I started with the vase first to get in to the motion, since I knew it was the most controlled line I wanted. Then I kept switching thread colors and went to town! I have one layer left of a bright orange to add a bit more highlight. Again this being a class with Pam, her use of the fabric was to then create a pillow. But me, no way! I’m framing this baby. This is too cool to be a pillow I’ll never use. I just adored this class and want to do more like this!
So after all the classes, it was time to shop at the vendor’s in the expo. What fun! I got a lot of precut fabric from Some Art Fabric’s booth, a dog Christmas jelly roll quilt kit from The Gypsy Quilter. I got Amy Butler’s Liverpool pattern, fabric to make it, a book on needle felting, and a most surprised find “Quilting with the Muppets!” Who knew!!
All in all it was a fantastic three days and I must thank, thank, thank my mom for helping it happen! After this rough last year, with out her support I would not have been able to go or gasp, shop! Love you mom!
This spring my first show will be a Munny vinyl toy show at the Skatepark of Tampa on Feb. 27th. When I signed up for this event I was very excited about creating a munny based on fabric. I had all intentions of having my munny for sale at the show. That is no longer accurate. After I created this munny, she is now my munny.
I knew I wanted to create a munny girl. I wanted to use my signature eyes, which I knew I could probably draw on her. But then I thought my work is known for fabric, so why not make the eyes of the same felt I use on my plush dolls. From there I thought why not make a little dress for her. Then I found this awesome fabric that could be a bandanna. Knowing how small this outfit would be, I first made a practice piece from muslin to get the overall shape and size down.Once I had the template, it was time for fabric! I played with a few options, but found this stripe fabric remnant I had left over from a plush. I thought the stripes worked well for a skirt. On the pieces went and then time for the base. My original idea was for her to stand on a spool of thread holding a needle, which connected to the spool. I played with some spools I had, building a couple up, but it didn’t look right. I bought the wooden spool off of etsy and filled it with batting and then the chosen thread color. I added her needle and button earrings. She doesn’t have a name yet, but oh is she crafty!
Schwabbie is a pillow monster I made in the summer, with long floppy arms and sweet green ears. Schwabbie went for sale online with no luck, and traveled with me to some craft shows to see many smiles. But he got his biggest smile this week!
A few weeks ago I had plush work accepted to a Christmas show at the Tampa Artist Emporium, a local indie gallery. I dropped off some holiday inspired plushies as well as ornaments. The week after, for Thanksgiving, my parents flew in so I took them to the gallery to see my work. While there the owner remembered my work and asked me to bring in more plushies, some un-holiday inspired and more weird designs. I decided to take my big pillow monsters since at craft shows they gain attention, but didn’t ever sell.
This week Jay and I went to the gallery to drop off Schwabbie and some friends of his. Shelby, the gallery owner, loved him and his friends. They were setting up for an event this Friday, the Winter Wonderland, and one of the volunteers that was helping setup saw Schwabbie and fell in love! She put him aside immediately and bought him for her niece. So after all this time Schwabbie found a home! And I may have found a new niche to sell! :) If you’re in the area, the Winter Wonderland event is this Friday evening, but the show is going on all month.
I told a friend this story and he suggested that I post some of my progress work of my plushies. So as a treat, I have below some skecthes I came up with when I originally created Schwabbie. In the sketches you can also see Huggie the Hippie, who sold online a long time ago!
It was a hit! A success! Smashing! I exceeded my own expectations. I originally signed up for this event knowing it was at an elementary school function. I had a few reservations about it, but thought it would be geared towards my prime audience. And boy was I right! The event started at 10 am, and I literally sold my first plush at 10:01 am! There was a steady stream of viewers and sales the entire day. Thank you everyone that helped make it a success! Here are some pictures from today’s festival: See that frog and bird there? Sold! You can also see the tip of the bear’s ear. He was the first sold!This time I tried a different price point and tactic for the little PJ’s and boy did it work! Overall I sold 19 plush items! That included 3 turkeys! Fantastic day and hope the luck continues! Most of the new guys will be in the shop soon.
