Adding new things

Okay, I've been busy creating armatures so in the next few days you're going to see some cthulhu
babies, some hex cats, a couple of Chihuahuas and a crawling eye or 2.

If you want a special custom item, you'd better hit my shop this week or I'll never get it done and shipped for the holiday.

I'm really pleased with Bitsy thulu. I like her little silk flowers. I'm working on a baby Nyarlathotep too. Stop on by to see the new magic animals and cthulhu monsters I'll be adding. See you on the "Dark" Side... :)

Happy Solstice! Christmas....etc ! Be happy!

Binding Your Demons-- Bound Fantasies Part 2

Hummm.... What to say about this beauty? In my previous posting about Red Roses and the Ram Goddess, I wrote about finding tying or chaining up figures very freeing.

It was like the more they were bound the better I felt. Well, My Golden Demon here seems to have served the same purpose.

I'm very pleased with how she turned out. I like the contrasts of the different textures of cloth I used. But using silk for her skin, even though it looks good, was a huge time consuming nuisance. The delicate fabric didn't like being cut and sewn on the bias.

I never thought I'd get the pieces of fabric to lay flat enough to be sewn down properly.

After the silk torso fiasco, sandwiching red sheer between 2 pieces of netting and sewing the pieces to the wire wing frames seemed so much simpler than it usually does.

I think my favorite parts of this piece were picking out the fabrics for her dress, sorting the floss for her hair, and choosing the chains. Arranging the chains just so was almost like putting jewelry on her....which is odd in a way.

I love these pieces when I'm done with them and don't really try to analyze them too much. I think that ought to be up the viewer.

Cthulhu Awakens!!! New Cthulhu Figures

H. P. Lovecraft's stories always scared me because of that feeling of oppressive fear and dread that he was so good at creating. My favorite novel is The Mountains of Madness.

I admit his characters often left a great deal to be desired, but the unnerving atmosphere....well it got me every time.

I've been wanting to come up with a new design idea for a monster that is both cute and creepy at the same time. By using huge eyes and soft plush, I think I've made a cute version of Cthulhu, but he's still a little creepy.

I as much as I like my first Cthulhu Playtime figure Nyarlthotep, I'm going to use resin eyes on the rest of the figures. The big 3D eyes are more expressive than the embroidered eye.

I'm playing round with designing Cthulhu's little sister LuLu and a blind albino penguin. My Cthulhu needs some more friends besides Nyarlthotep.

Bringing Back an Original Design for the Holidays

I know I disappointed some people when I changed my HexCat design. So I decided to bring back the original little fuzzy cats that
started my business.
Shadow and her
friends will start
showing up in my etsy shop this week.

I'm working on a pair little kid cthulhu monsters for this week too. I'm hoping to keep adding more unusual creatures for you to give as gifts or to buy for yourself.

If you want something custom designed....you'd best contact me now. I sew everything by hand and need time to finish and mail the creature!

PlayTime Cthulhu Figures

Cthulhu and the other elder-gods like Yuggoth from the H.P. Lovecraft stories are pretty darn creepy. Lovecraft creates an atmosphere of impending doom in his stories that unnerve me every time I read them.
I also use the idea of battling a similar gods in my own stories that involve the Pet Shop of the Old Ones characters- Chat Noir and the Cadre of Conjurers, who trying to stop the evil sorcerers from the Calamitious Black Arts Guild.

I 'm playing around with designing my versions of the elder-gods that would be creepy cute. I'm thinking my character and the Guild would use them as play therapy tools to help injured Conjurers and Mundanes deal with magickal battle trauma.

As a designer, trying to make these monsters cute is an amusing exercise. Giving them child-like proportions, plush skins and huge eyes, should make them quite appealing. My first try was Nyarlthotep- The Stalker among the Stars. To Yuggoth he was the Bringer of Strange Joy. To me, he looks good in velour and purple plush. I tried out an embroidered eye on this first version.

My next monsters will be Cthulhu Junior and Cthulhu Lulu.

SPECIAL UPDATE!

I just finished the first Cthulhu Jr design. I think he turned out great and I'm really pleased with how the combination of plush and vinyl looks. I just got a beautiful turquoise plush that I want to try out on the next cthulhu figure.

First Half Doll Design For My Book

I've been working on my first dollmaking book and I just finished the first example of what you could do with a basic half doll design.

I like to use a half doll to make ghosts, fairies, angels, or demons. Actually, anything that floats, flies or is in the process of appearing or
disappearing.


This first piece is a poor unfortunate ghost who loved not too wisely, but too well. She's in her watery grave, but I'm going to write a dark amusing poem about her ruining "His" fishing trips every season. I've always been an Edward Gorey fan and I had a blast writing the last 2 story poems for Poor Sad Mary and Autumn Leaves.

I like the names Maud, Rachel or Edith for this figure. If you'd like to suggest a name feel free.

Depicting Suffering in Art

The Medieval, Rennaissance and Mannerist painters always fascinated me. Death, pain, and suffering was so much a part of their lives and art. Since most people would be lucky to live to be 30, death was probably very present in most people's minds.

Mantegna's painting of St. Sebastian has always stayed in my mind ever since art school. It's both beautiful and disturbing.

Hieronymus Bosch painted amazing and horrifically beautiful paintings depicting Heaven,Earth and Hell.

Parmigianino foreshadows Jesus' death while creating a painting of him in his Mother's arms.

It surprises me sometimes how people who say they like art that depicts reality are fearful of art that shows the darker side of being alive. I too wish life was all sunshine and roses, but unfortunately it's not.

I had such a negative response from other artists when I wanted to create dolls depicting things like physical disabilities. Even finding out that I was disabled didn't take the curse off of it for some people.

I've gotten around this phobia for the most part by creating mythological or magical creatures. Sometimes I feel like I sold out. But at the same time, many of my creatures and figures are now considered beautiful. So maybe I am making a tiny dent into the rigid ideas some people have about what is beautiful.

My most recent foray into pushing the beauty boundary came about when I read an article about a brave little Terrier named George.

The story reminded me of the art I mention above and I decided to portray George in his last moments. I feel such great bravery and love should be commemorated.

I've been pleased that most of the responses to George have been very positive. http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/05/feisty_jack_rus.html

I'm feeling much braver about creating darker sculptures. Portraying all aspects of being alive like death, fear and pain can be very liberating.