the sloppy sewer: September 2012

Sunday, September 30, 2012

dallas fall toy show 2012

is it me or could the toy industry have come up with like a sign that makes our business look like FUN? at the luggage carousel, dallas airport.

entryway to to the dallas market center as people trickle in for final preparations for the show, oct. 2-4.

outside our booth. i told the sales force that i'd creep in and we could try that magician trick with the swords. no takers. the offer stands.

men at work

jim pressman, brett eiseman, jean-paul teskey

jeff sanes off to the left and gregg mintz foreground

brian mcquillan seated and jeff sanes in back

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

most unusual tool i use in crafting?

up until recently my answer would be one that's common to dollmakers and some other crafters: medical forceps for turning arms, legs and other parts right-side out. but now my favorite tool is my honda.

in the past couple of months i've become crazy in love with bottlecaps that have been weathered or distressed in other ways. in santa fe i found bottlecaps that were like treasures really. i snatched up a few there, in parking lots, along a highway. these days, i'm buying some from ebay and rusting them myself (more on that soon) and rolling my car over them. this weekend i reversed and forwarded over a bunch of them. it must have looked like i was just learning how to drive.

but i love the results.... pretty, right? real pretty!

i made this doll for spookypooky in craftster's art doll swap. she has a very deep love of disney and will probably be working there in the future. i used a pattern that she also likes and changed it to be this girlmouse.

and her necklace is a bottlecap on a piece of twine. i just think that this really adds the touch. i have 200 soda caps coming very soon--i thought maybe i should have some non-alc on hand. plus it's more to play with.

Monday, September 17, 2012

NYU

the arch in washington square park

aurora and i toured new york university today. I'm excited that she ended up being really excited about the school.

as cool as it seemed decades ago when i went, it's crazy incredible now. we had a great day.

aurora by the fountain

A great view from the student center

You can easily see the Empire State Building too

windows were open right out to the street where we had lunch

aurora stepped outside to make a phone call and i started to people watch...

this man had dozens of pigeons around him and on him.

they were waiting to sit on his head

and we walked across the park and a bit around the village to get to the train.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Plush Cat Mummy

i was looking on my desktop and found photos of a project that i made a few years ago as part of NFAC--the Nibblefest Art Contest. Every month NFAC has a theme and you can work it however you want. Many people paint and many also make ATCs. The theme for this was "Egyptian".

I got a few bids and somebody got it for a really good deal--but that's how Nibblefest goes. Everybody's art starts on Ebay within the same time frame and at just .99. A lot of art gets bid up quite nicely as people have come to know that on the 20th of every month, a search of "NFAC" will bring up some great art.

You can find out everything you need to know here on their blog.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

big bang theory craftings

my final craftings of summer 2012 was for a surprise swap that Leslie and i hosted. my partner's favorite themes were alaska (her home state) and the tv show big bang theory. i crafted the above tote bag using a bleaching method described in this brief tute. it was not easy to do on quilter's cotton as it bled all over the first bunch of times. tshirts i would think are a lot easier for this method.

the atoms fabric is from DC comics green lantern line and worked really well with the big bang theme.

the big bang vesion of rock, paper, scissors adds two other possibilities to the game--lizard and spock. i found images on the net and made her a set of magnets with them.