Tyler Poncho Toys

Monday, August 23, 2010

Officially Labeled Bat Colors

Officially Labeled Bat Colors, originally uploaded by Tyler Poncho Toys.

Check out this photo to see all the bats labeled with their proper colors!
Enter the color you want at tylerponcho.com/bats to order :D

They're all made with new wool felt, which I love, and have decided that all bats will hence forth be made with this material. I named it "butter felt" because it's so creamy...

The eyes are simple black eyes with secure backs, overall simplified the process for more cuteness!

I'm hoping to make a mobile out of the bats, with instructions on how you can make your own rainbow bat mobile, and there will be a bulk discount to buy the amount of bats necessary :D!

They are also available on tylerponcho.etsy.com

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Making of: Easel Ain't Easy

A new commission, Easel Ain't Easy. We made B, and her Conscience Cat. I loved making these toys since they're very different from my usual toys - especially the fabrics.

A daily life comic, you can see them all in succession on Facebook. Album 1, Album 2.
"A mostly daily webcomic, of the autobiographical variety. Follow the exploits of B, her friends and Conscience Cat as they traipse about throwing up speech bubbles and such."

and now...making the toys!

For B, I started with drawings, I combined several elements from different drawings but overall I wanted to keep the feel and look of the comic, so she would be immediately recognizable.

Starting to cut out her shapes using my drawing as reference. After the cut pieces are finalized, I create a patterns for possible recreations to be consistent.

Her adorable little bag, (which she can actually use!) and her cute ear peeking out of her hair.

All her pieces cut out. And she's even got tiny tiny buttons on her coat! (At some point Conscience Cat has gotten himself tangled into a bunch of string...cats, how typical)

Aaw...they have velcro on their hand and paw so they can hold hands.

Sewing her together...torso and head almost finished.

Detail - her expressions in the comic are always great. Smile!

Legs almost finished...Scroll down to see completed photos!

Unfortunately I lost my photos of making Conscience Cat, so I'll just tell you about it.

For his shape, I made alot of drawings interpreting many of his poses. An important thing he had to do was be able to hold B's hand. I combined different elements from her drawings so he could sit up, and reach out his paw. My first try at the sewn cat was a little sad. He just seemed incomplete, he only had embroidered details on an otherwise all plush cat. What we thought was missing was his muzzle, it brings out his face a bit more, and makes him look more complete.

Now they're finished toys!

They love each other!

Holding hands with their velcro.

Height comparison, she stands a little silly on her feets.

From the back...with her comic in her bag!

www.easelainteasy.com

We do custom plushes with full series making capabilities. Contact us with drawings and we'll give you a quote for the concepting, prototypes, pattern-making, and production of a batch of pieces. -- tylerponcho@gmail.com

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

signing up! the Creative Conference of Entrepreneurs

signing up!, originally uploaded by schmancytoys.

Me at the Creative Conference of Entrepreneurs!

I met so many inspiring and amazing people, learned a lot (I spelled entrepreneur correctly!) and they served coffee and amazingly delicious cupcakes from Trophy cupcakes. (Along with lots of other delicious foods.) There were so many talks with panels of great business folk/crafters...check out creativeconferencewest.com to see all the super fantastic and accomplished speakers, and the topics they spoke about. They're planning on having another conference next year!

Of course, it was very interesting to hear Lauren Venell of Sweet Meats talk about getting into manufacturing and distribution of her plush toys. She took a leap from making them herself when she got a lot of nice press, and started the learning process of getting her line streamlined into a profitable venture with minimal work on her part. She now offers her custom plush services to help get your plush manufactured - so you can skip all the mistakes of starting out clueless. I feel slightly less bewildered by manufacturing, but I'll have to save up many bear monies to start doing it.

Being someone who has always been shy, I definitely exceeded my goals for introducing myself and talking to people. With minimal awkwardness (I hope.) Hooray! ...I still need to get my notes organized and get everything all sorted out, use my brains to keep my learnings inside it, make improvements and keep my business going :D!

As soon as I got back I cleaned up my workroom and started selling off the fabrics I don't use. There may be a few things left! I've always kind of neglected by Etsy shop, but over the last month I've put effort into keeping up the listings and promoting them, not to mention finally switching my username to TylerPoncho - which I should've done years ago...but I've raised my sales from 2 a month ago to 27 now! Definitely reached a goal. I sold 17 things just today, and not all were destash items :)

Jon and I LOVED Seattle - there are so many trees! The best part about the trees is that no one cut them down when they sprang up somewhere random, like an alleyway. A three story pine tree behind a building, next to a trash can. And the mountains...and the oceans....It's all so beautiful. Jon got to see a lot more since he had a citypass for the time I was in the Conference. He came back with the cutest zoo map I've ever seen! That Emu just kills me, and the squishy looking smiley face next to "giraffe feeding." I wish I could've fed those giraffes.

I also visited my fellow Plush Team member Becky's solo show Scrumdiddlyumpitous -- it'll be open all month and everyone needs to see it! All new designs and variations on classic Scrumptious Delight, they're all available at Schmancy! (1932 2nd. Ave, Seattle)

Cute Baby Photos: Jackson and Cloudweelius!

Jackson, YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cloudweelius, YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This ridiculously adorable human baby loves his Cloudweelius very much -- he can squish an entire eye into his mouth before Cloudweelius even has a chance for a retaliatory licking!

Cloudweeliusses are made of all soft parts, baby safe, & machine-washable.