Building Character, I guess.

Things are again on the make! Take a look at what has been keeping me indoors 

through this beautiful (erratic) Kansas spring! 

With a few spring and summer art and craft events coming up, I ducked into the screen printing studio for a few days, and produced some new cuddle buds. I was half way through the Yoda design when I realized that he had the rare benefit of being two designs in one. It wasn't the first time I had considered an alternate color, limited edition type of thing, but Yoda famously appears in the original trilogy in two distinct color patterns: green and brown (alive and well), and blue and white (ghostly apparition)! "Viola!" Cried I, as I had heard it in a movie once, and got back to work. The outcome was great, and the scheme worked. Now, to be clear, none of the characters you see here are Yoda (©), but original characters, 'living master' and 'ghost master'. For serious guys... copyrights, and whatnot. 

This spunky little robot is still getting figured out. My regular pattern
doesn't work for characters of the non-humanoid persuasion. 

Look at that! That, friend, is what a week at the sewing machine looks like. 

 

Next came a custom job, for a friend who has a lovely son who LOVES the king: Elvis himselvis!

Reports indicate that he was a hit...
Though, I wasn't that worried, he's ELVIS.
The man does not disappoint. 

Along came the next order, this time for puppets of a mom and dad
for their joint birthday from their two adult children. 

  

 Here are the sketches and the photo provided by the client...

... aaand the finished product! The kids said they loved them, which was backed up
by a lovely and flattering e-mail sent by the pretty lady on the right!

After that I went outside to absorb some beautiful and ominous Kansas weather,
before getting to the next bit.

SPARK! The latest play by Adventure Stage, ended up with some spooky,
cool artwork, after many  sketches, drafts, restarts and edits. Totally worth it,
I love working with them - a wonderful, creative bunch. 

Next came a t-shirt order from a friend, who produces shirts as give-aways for the True False film festival in Missouri. He had the vision, just needed it put down in pencil and ink, and then screened onto about forty shirts. This was the largest product order I had done, so it was 

the wonderful combination of challenging and fun. 

I straight up can't recall if I have previously posted this little mouse trophy, 

but it sold, and I miss it, and need to make one for my house soon. 

Little mouse heads are particularly cute when mounted as a trophy! 

I spent some goofing around time and some serious art time honing my linoleum skills and cutting some nice stamps. For a long time i THOUGHT that I preferred the soft, white easy-cut material, but this stamp done crumbled after fifteen prints, so now I'm going with the pink, 

more-sturdy-but-still-speedy-cut material from speedball. 

The serious prints will, of course, be relegated to real linoleum, so they'll last forever and print strong, bold prints. Below is an example of a more serious print - another skull, yes (I do skulls when I don't have an idea), but the level of detail in the print is markedly higher than the other materials (aside form wood, which is classic, lovely, and a pain in the proverbial backside). 

SPOOKY! Two patches, no title. 

A photoshop job came along, and I took it! The above will be printed as t-shirts for a character series (character pictured above). 

Next came a return to old comforts - The Felt Show poster design! I love a good parody, and I loooves me some Twilight Zone, so this was a delightful and quick job. Paul was happy, 

and put on maybe the best show I've seen him put on. 

My brother got married! I gained a cool new sister-type-of-person! I... Got suckered into a whole bunch of work! JOKE! joke, it was a pleasure and an honor. The stamp is for the popcorn bags (charming) the wood is for the cake topper (finished product pictured below). 

Save your breath: It's a Rifle Paper Co. stylistic rip-off - I've always 

admired their work, and it fit the occasion. 

My brother Mikey asked me to help him build a bar, then became conspicuously unavailable the day of the wedding (joke, again). At a loss, I pulled my dad and brother Charles in, as well as another groomsman or two. In a scant three hours, we made this beauty, and it was HEAVY! 

But sturdy, handsom and rustic, so let's call it a win. 

And now my dad has a bar in his shop, so everyone wins, haha. 

Thanks for reading! Hit me up in the comments if you really, truly love me!