Oh dear!

It's been quite awhile since I've posted anything. Still just plugging away at animation and stop motion as well. I'm enjoying the latter since I really do love working with physical objects. Although the possibilities of combining the two is exciting. This week I'll be posting some more of the final squid from the Squid a Month Club. I'm now down to only 2 clubs which seems weird after having an average of 5 going on each month for years. I will miss the great idea lists that people sent me. This one is based on the request of "sock monsters".

Squid a Month Club (March Lego Lover)

Squid a Month Club (March Goth)

He made a hat box for his girlfriend who was sent off 2 years ago.

Squid a Month Club (March Animal Trainer)

Based on an actual cat and an actual activity. Apparently the cat possesses ample amounts of quiet dignity.

Squid a Month Club (November Vampire)

Squid a Month Club (November Pilot School)

Today he got his wings.

Happy Halloween!

We're hoping our new neighborhood is full of trick or treaters tonight. There is much candy to pass out.

This seemed like the perfect day to post one of the squid from the latest Squid a Month Club:

Squid A Month Club (October Cosmos)

And another Squid a Month Club squid. The description for this was "second career astronaut" and was the conclusion of this squid story.

Tina Kova is back from space and ready to share the marvels of the universe. All of her photographs are being posted via NASA's twitter feed but she has a whole new way to showcase her experience. She is at the opening exhibit of her space embroideries and is having a delightful time going into the specifics of space walking and needlepoint.

Squid A Month Club (October Anatomy)

One of the Squid a Months for October. The description I had to go on was "anatomy"

Erin has been preparing for her latest school report all week. She just put the finishing touches on her skeleton suit and is now practicing her report in front of the mirror. She's pretty confident on explaining blood flow without her notes but she still needs to work on being able to identify all of the veins in her illustration.

Squid A Month Club (September Robot)

One of the squid from the club, the lovely lady had requested "squid robot".

Sailor Squid (and working with stabilizer)

This was another squid for last month's Squid a Month Club.  It was the final squid of a one year run for a girl in Colorado.  Her mom has been ordering them since 2008 and I have adored her lists. These lists always have the staple interests such as Dungeon and Dragons, video games and cats (me and this girl would get along splendidly).  Every year though it's fun to see what new interests she has.  Her mom just re-ordered and there's now a new element of medical science.  I also learned that she took some in for show and tell once.  I think I melted briefly when I read that email.
So, I had been holding off on the tattoo description on this list for the year since I wasn't really sure what to do.  I knew the tentacles of a standard squid would be too small to really do anything so I decided on the Limited Edition style squid.  I couldn't draw directly onto the felt with the accuracy I needed so I dug through my supplies cabinet.  I have a shelf that has odds and ends that I like to keep "just in case".  This has proved fruitful.  In college I needed some plastic for a Fibers project. I bought half a yard of that plastic that people use to cover picnic tables.  I never thought I would need it again but I hung onto it.  Once I started making squid I snip some off occasionally to make the safety goggles for science squid and also a welder's mask for another custom piece.  So hey, sometimes it pays to be a pack rat. 
Anyhoo, I dug through my embroidery supplies until I found some stabilizer.  I can't even remember what I bought this for but at some point I purchases some of the insanely thick stabilizer  but have never opened the packaged.  I figured this would be perfect. I was kind of winging this so in case anyone else out there isn't sure how to use this stuff here's a little how-to.
I started off drawing my designs on a template of the squid since they needed to be exact.  There really wasn't any room for error on the arm tattoos.

After that I took some strips of stabilizer and placed them on top of the drawing to trace the designs.
And then I got to work.

Once I was done I cut away any extra stabilizer that I could get to and grabbed some water and a paint brush to dissolve the rest. Normally you're supposed to soak but I found it better to dab and brush on the water since I was working with felt.  I accidentally used one of my non-squid markers with this so my outline also washed away and I had to redraw it.  Also it stained some of my white embroidery floss so I had to cut that out and sew it again.  That was a pain.

After all of this I just waited for everything to dry.

The squid is a tad stiffer than it would normally be with the stabilizer but I kind of liked that side effect.  It made the tattoos stand out more. 

 

This guy didn't seem quite finished after I sewed him up so I added a little something extra.

As soon as I finished with this guy I wanted to do more.  As of last month I have.  The latest one was inspired by my reading of Fruits of Victory and a sideshow carnival theme of this lovely show. 

(update: here are the finished squid from the carnival show)

Squid A Month Club (August Astronaut)

On the list of this particular club member was the description of "last astronaut".  

Tina Kova is elated to be the first squid in space although her excitement is tempered by sadness. She's on the last NASA flight and is determined to make the most of it. She's gotten clearance to use her own camera creation while on a space walk. While repairing DEXTRE she will take a break to photograph all of the wonder around her. She'll also take a break to bask in the knowledge that she has gone where no cephalopod has gone before.

Squid a Month Club (July)

One of the squid for the latest Squid a Month Club.

Table Top game lover.

The 12-sided die was one I put off for about 6 months because I was a little concerned with how to make something so small.  I only had to do one practice die before I got one that I liked.  I cut out all of the pieces, hand-embroidered that numbers and then went to sewing.  I also discovered that machine sewing was the way to go.  I really enjoyed making these so I'm certain I'll be making some more of these before the holidays.

squid a month club (April)

Here's a few of the squids sent out last month.  You can see a good sample of the collection over here.

Comic book lover who is also a lover of snow leopards

and also squid (of course).

A Marfa, Texas wedding

A Nintendo fan. 

 

 

I have yet to find a controller that doesn't have teeth marks on it.  Glad to see that was a pretty common reaction to BS level design and cartridges that wouldn't work even if you did blow into them.