I will admit this is by far one of the coolest plush I have ever made. I am incredibly happy with how this turned out. I loved reading Dr. Seuss when I was little and loved the animation of the original The Lorax animation. I regret that I have not seen the new version of the film yet. Having a 17 month old makes going to the movies very difficult. Even ones she would probably like!
Let me give you a little back story on what, rather who, this swan is for. I am artist that participates in a local art group called Kick Start My Art. Every month of so they put art shows on at The Bricks in Ybor, FL. I try to participate when my schedule allows, they have different themes every few months. (Check the gallery to see the work I put in shows.) A few months ago they sent out an email that a local charity was looking for artists for their summer camp. The theme for the summer camp is Dr. Seuss”The Places We’ll Go!” The organization is the Children’s Cancer Center. Instantly I knew I wanted to do something for this group.
I met with one of the amazing women who works there and will be leading two different groups during their summer camp. I will be leading children in making their own ‘Whoville’ plush dolls. They will be crazy colors, yarn hair, silly clothes, and the kids will be able to draw on their own faces. This will let them get a plush doll for them to take home and remember their time at summer camp.
As we were talking she mentioned that they planned to decorate their space as much as they can with Dr. Seuss themed art. She mentioned she hoped to hang things from the ceiling. As we were talking I thought how cool would it be if a Swomee-Swan was hanging from the ceiling! I knew this would be a plush challenge. The weight alone of it hanging and the long neck of the original Dr. Seuss design would be tricky. I normally work ‘flat’ in my plush and having a true ’3D’ plush would be a great challenge.
I had my husband model a basic version of the swan which I then unwrapped and printed out to scale to build templates from. I knew I wanted this to be big! The final swan is over 3 feet long! Once I had the templates making the swan was not that difficult. But getting the swan to stay in its proper shape and swoop of a neck would be. I ended up using some general purpose wire to build a ‘spine’ for the swan. It works great. One long piece runs from the tip of the head to the tail. Another pieces runs down both wings to keep them hanging up and not falling flat. I also added little fun details like the collar and eye lashes. This is my first sculptural plush and I just hope the kids will adore it as much as I do.
While making this plush I kept thinking back to who it is for. While we were brainstorming and talking at the Cancer Center, the woman told me they try to make every camp and every holiday as big as it can be because you never know when it will a child’s last particular holiday. That just hit me in the chest. I could not imagine if something ever happened to my little Zoe that I would need a place like this. This is an amazing organization of some extrememly amazing people and strong parents. My husband asked me ‘when I teach the kids how to make their own dolls, how will I not come home crying?’ I told him ‘Who said I won’t be?’
