More Plush Pals

Recently I’ve been reading a book called ‘Softies’ by Therese Laskey, a book I discovered in a store in Helsinki. I didn’t buy it at the time as the exchange rate meant that I couldn’t justify the large number of Euros it would have cost me. Luckily, once I was back in England it was easily available for a reasonable amount of pounds. The book is spiral bound, which is handy because it is quite thick and holds an envelope full of patterns attached to the back page. Unlike most of my books, this one isn’t exclusively about making monsters – there are a few conventional creatures in there like bunnies and dogs. There are even things like pincushions and paperweights that can me made out of felt, so there’s plenty of variety in here. The instructions are clear and there are lots of high quality pictures to guide you through each project. Everything in here has layers of humour and charm slapped over it. I’m particularly looking forward to making a ‘Lonely Dollop’ who is a little brown blob of poo – perfect for a stocking filler this Christmas

Softies

 

Curious Creatures

The first book I started reading for monster making inspiration was “Plush-O-Rama” by Linda Kopp. It’s firmly aimed at adults who want to express a bit of creativity and bring to life their own strange and (usually) multi-limbed creatures. It covers the different kinds of stitch you’re likely to need to know and recommends suitable materials for shaping into plush characters. The patterns are simple and straightforward but leave plenty of room for introducing your own modifications. Luckily for me, it doesn’t assume you’ll have a sewing machine, even though it does admit that some tasks will be easier if you do. The range of monsters is diverse and they are all weirdly wacky enough to sit proudly next to my Sock Monsters. A nice touch is the short biographies of the people who have provided the patterns and character designs, which give a bit of insight into the warped, twisted minds that have dreamt them up. I’ve made a shortlist of the monsters that appeal the most to me, but before I go shopping for materials, I’ve got a few other books to read through first…

Curious Creatures

 

Back to the sewing box

Well, after a break of over half a year, it’s time for me to pick up my needle and thread once more and start making things again. Other time consuming projects (i.e. work) have kept me away from manufacturing monsters, but now is the time to dust off my sewing box and get back to business.

The Sock Monsters I made both for myself and for friends are still skulking in corners and peering out of wardrobes, but I’m not planning on making any more at the moment. Instead I want to try making some different kinds of monsters, ones that look very different from each other and the monsters I’ve made in the past.

I’ve got a few new books of patterns and I’m going to have to do a bit of shopping first before I can begin. I’ve already got the tools of the trade, needles, pins, thread etc. but so that my monsters have greater variety I need to get new materials to build them with.

Very exciting stuff!

 

All The Small Things

Last night I began making a new Sock Monster, he’s going to be a gift for a very talented chap in Cardiff who’s sending me one of his fabulous doodles as a sort of swap. Normally my Sock Monsters are made with rather large socks, as I’ve got rather large feet, but this one is much smaller. He’s going to be less than half the size of the usual Sockymon – more of a Sockymini. This time I’ve used children’s socks for his body. When I cut out his pattern I exaggerated his neck and head a bit because I wanted his proportions to stand out better, as he’s on a smaller scale than I’m used to. The limbs are cut out and stitched together, they just need attaching to the main body. Once done, it’s just a case of turning him out, stuffing him then giving him some features. Shaping his lips might be tricky with a heel this size, but I won’t know until I try making them.

 

Good Achievement

Last weekend, The Sock Mistress and I took a brief sabbatical in order to recharge our batteries after the post-Xmas comedown. We stayed in a guest house we know and love, not very far from where the Bell brothers used to do their writing.

Continuing with the literary theme, one of my personal addictions (amongst many) is bookshops, but not ones like Borders or Waterstones, who pad out their shelves according to whatever Richard and Judy recommend. There are two particular kinds that I like, the first is discount bookshops, because they are cheap and because they sell the books that normal people don’t buy For these two reasons I can usually pick up something that’s a bit different without spending a lot of money. I can happily waste a lot of time browsing bargain bins for that kind of stuff.

I also like second hand book shops, though these can be a great deal more expensive than they perhaps should be, The tend to be full of the books that people feel are worth holding onto, so they retain their monetary value. These are the kind of book shops we found ourselves in last weekend and we managed to walk away with enough books to fill two shopping bags, so it was a decent sized haul.

The book that I was most please with was “Sketching in Pencil,” by Guy R. Williams from 1963. It’s a good beginners guide to drawing, covering all the fundamentals like perspective, shading, pencil types etc. The reason this particular copy made me so happy was the dedication on the inside of the book as it had been awarded to a Ms. Lynne Thomas, of Form IIIC, for good achievement. I don’t know if this is the sort of thing schools do any more as rewarding success might encourage a sense of competition in impressionable minds…

The ‘acting’ Head Mistress and the Chairman of the Governors have both signed the book, which is a nice touch. I guess I’ve got a slightly romanticised image in my head of someone receiving the gift of being able to draw which strikes me as a really nice thing. I’m not sure if Ms. Thomas did learn much from the book, but I’m hoping that I will.

 

Sock Opera

As my laptop runs on Linux, Internet Explorer isn’t an option for me so I’ve found myself using Opera to browse the web and to blog. I admit, it is a chore to manage bookmarks and it occasionally crashes for no reason at all. However, I do enjoy being able to synchronise my favourite links across all my computers and my phone, which runs Opera Mini. Although this post has nothing much to do with socks or monsters, I did need to post something in order to test this WordPress plug-in for Opera

 

Season’s Greetings

Xmas Socks

Season’s greetings from all the Sockymon. Especially Burton, who is feeling particularly festive.  Amazingly, I didn’t actually receive any socks for Christmas this year… which would have gone on to be Sockymon  in 6 months time.  Oh well, there are plenty more socks lying around the place already that are just waiting for reanimation

 

Let it snow… then snow some more

Snow Meets Sock Monster

As we near Christmas, it’s nice to see that the weather here is being a little festive.  None of the Sockymon have had a Christmas before so they’ve been enjoying the snow and generally mucking about.  As they’re about 30% wool the cold doesn’t seem to bother them, but it does make them a little damp.  No different to us humans then really…

 

Awash with success

Wash the bath

Well, here is the first of the new breed of Sockymon!  His name is Wash and he has a starry patterned sock for a body.  He also has blank, staring eyes and a rather enlarged forehead… I think it gives him a kind of alien look, maybe a bit like the grey ones with almond eyes that seem to have replaced the little green men that terrorised cinema-goers in the 50s.  One characteristic of the new sock monsters I’ve made is that I’m not using old socks anymore,  My socks just aren’t interesting enough, but I’ve been scouring the pound shops and got some nice socks in garish colour schemes.  Also, my socks are a bit too big so I’ve been buying children’s socks (mostly for girls) which give the monsters more even proportions.  It feels odd buying kid’s socks when you know they’re not actually for a little girl… well, it made me feel odd.

 

Return of the Sockymon

After a short holiday from monster making, I’ve finally picked up my pins and needles once more.  4 new Sockymon are just waiting to have their photos taken, then I can show off their bright smiling faces… well, they don’t smile as such… it’s more of a pout