Nadia

This is Nadia.  Oh sure, she looks sweet and innocent now, but if you haven't had the experience of watching a chocobo own your posterior playing an FPS with her feet, then you ain't seen nothin'.  She likes adventures, too.  RPGs.  Hack and slash, on certain days.  Platformers are a favorite.  She'll help you through horror games and wait with you until that one game you've been desperately waiting for finally gets released.  But she's not snobbish about digging into the classics, either.  Look out for your snacks, though.  They may just "disappear".

Nadia is part of my contribution to Desert Bus for Hope; specifically, their always amazing charity auction. If you're interested in getting her for yourself or checking out the rest of the handmade geekery up for auction, please check in with Desert Bus for Hope on November 17.  If at all possible, there will be previews available the week before.

Giant chocobos tend to take about 10 full days of work from start to finish, though admittedly I never started counting with her.  Can you blame me?  She's incredibly soft and huggable, made of super snuggly acrylic yarn and polyfil, with big beautiful aqua glass eyes--so she's not for the young'uns.  She sits at a full 16.5 inches to the very top of her crest, is 9 inches from chest to tail, and every so slightly over 8 inches at her widest point.  Every single knot made in her creation is a surgeon's knot that's been further reinforced with just a touch of fabric paint medium; a perfectly clear and utterly undetectable way to assure she remains in tip-top shape for those gaming sessions.  Or, you know, hugs.

By the way, if you’re interested in contributing to the Desert Bus Craft-Along, there’s still time before the must-be-physically-at-headquarters deadline, October 12!  You can get all the details in this video.  Then e-mail Tally, the magnificent Desert Bus for Hope Craft-Along Coordinator, with your proposal!  (And please be patient, as she’s probably ridiculously busy.)

Speaking as someone who knows a thing or two about “video game therapy”, this cause is kind of important to me.  And it’s fun to watch these poor people be paid to torture themselves with the most boring video game of all time, isn’t it?  Major plus, in my opinion.

("Nadia" means "hope", by the way.  It seemed appropriate.  ...But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly influenced by Nadia G.  She's my hero.)

Pyrria

Despite appearances, Pyrria is actually quite shy.  She opens up and becomes the life of the party when she's comfortable, but until then she is more than content to explore on her own or find a nice little quiet spot to roost and sing to herself.

Pyre birds are often mistaken for phoenixes by (hopefully) well-meaning but generally easily-distracted or just plain inattentive mages, magicians and alchemists.  They're more closely related to dragons than they are to phoenixes, legs designed for running at high speeds and leaping.  That's not to say they don't fly, of course; they rely more on self-made heated air (in part thanks to the heartstone) to stay afloat than their wings.  There was some, shall we say, "unpleasantness" a while back regarding humans and their inability to keep their hands off sparklies that they proclaimed as their own, hence why pyre birds are rarely seen these days.

Things that I had planned: using "flower" beads for the wings and tail, trying a polymer clay beak, and giving her roadrunner feet.  (Roadrunners are cool, be quiet.)  Things I did not plan: EVERYTHING ELSE.  That said, I'm really quite happy with how she turned out.  My days of chocobo making paying off, eh?

The "heartstone" is a great big lovely goldstone cabochon, and her eyes are green aventurine.  There are many, many beads, both glass and acrylic.  And by some strange miracle, I've only managed to include six Swarovski crystals.  Six!  But I did manage to use ALL of the gold-colored wire I had.  Every last inch.  And quite a lot of silver, too, though that's part of the internal structure.  I had planned to give her a hinged/moveable jaw, but ultimately decided that the initial design would probably wear out far too fast and it was a little too late for a redesign, so... it's set this time.  We'll see if there's a "next time" at some point.  ...I don't want to think about that right now.

Side note: she's also very good with dogs.

(Sold)

Sebian

Sebian has a deep curiosity about the world.  A "hunger", if you like.  In fact, he's really very interested in food.  Cooking, as well.  Or rather, he likes to do the sampling instead of the cooking.  Such is rather common of a young bead wing dragon, since they've got an awful lot of growing to do.

Yeah, "bead wing".  What else am I gonna call him?  The only plans I really had for this one when I started were 1.) the yarn color, and 2.) that he was going to be wyvern-styled.  Everything else was kind of just... what happened.  I'd planned to do the wings completely differently, too.  I really, literally, cannot explain what happened--but I'm not complaining.  Even if the wings did take me four days.

Wings.  Four days.  More beads that I will try to count on a thin, easily flexible and "bouncy" wire base.  All very shiny.  I feel it is important to note here that anyone considering caring for this young dragon will need to be exceedingly gentle with the wings.  Yes, the "feathers" were designed for easy movement and poseability, but that means they're very easy to bend.  Gentleness is necessary.

In order to remain stable, Sebian has a reinforced wire spine and double-reinforced legs.  That worked out very well, I must say.  Some poses still take a little work to strike the right balance between legs and arms, but he'll definitely hold there without problems.

And yes, he is fully poseable, fully flexible, and fully scratch-under-the-chin-able.

(For Sale)

Crapsuit Tiger and Bunny Plushies

And finally, the last pair of tiger and bunny plushies I had planned out: the crapsuit versions.  How could I resist?  At least they both look happy about it.

(For Sale)

Ouro!Bunny and Black Tiger Plushies (Final)

Improved!  The thickness of the black yarn compared to the bright pink or yellow really threw me at first, but I think I've managed to make it work.  They've still got some, er, "bulk" to them, but it's much more balanced now.  Not to mention Black Tiger no longer looks terribly, terribly sad.  Improvement, I say.

(Sold.)

Ouro!Bunny and Black Tiger Plushie Demos

So... of course I have a thing for the "dark side".  Heh.  Fan-inspired or otherwise.  And of course I had to make an Ouroboros!bunny doll and a black tiger doll.

The thing is.  The black yarn has a lot of different properties than the other colors, despite having been in the same line and bought at the same time.  So these boys are demos.  The end result will wind up being larger than the original tiger and bunny crocheted plushies, but they need a little bit of work to get them to look like they've got the same dimensions.  Not such a big deal, really.  I don't mind keeping them to myself.

(Especially the black tiger plush.  The expression was neutral before I stuffed him, I swear.  I did not mean to make him look sad, you've got to believe me.)

Tiger and Bunny Crocheted Plushies

Quite some time ago, I stumbled upon yarn that was on sale.  An amazing sale.  And right there next to each other were those amazingly blindingly bright colors.  It was a sign.  The sale sign.  Also the pink and yellow.

So yeah, I'd been wanting to do small crocheted plushies in sort of a... "rustic"-type style?  Whatever this is.  They are squishy.  Like Tiger & Bunny.

(Sold.)

With Her Blessings

I had a very clear image in my head as I put this necklace together; it seems something of a piece of ritual jewelry that a priestess would wear, keeping her constantly reminded of the circle of life, as it were.  Life and death, joy and sorrow, ugliness and beauty; sides opposite but necessary, and always truly connected.

The centerpiece is red obsidian, looking to me like it represents a drop of blood in blank whiteness--but we're going for a theme here, see?  It's set in hand-hammered and formed rose copper.  Surrounding that are green snake/snakeskin agate beads, wooden beads hand-painted with flowers, and finally one of my favorite old finds, hand-carved wooden skull beads (with quartz beads supporting them).  All of this hangs on a cord made of six strands of high-quality cotton embroidery floss, crocheted together for strength and stability.  And a nice, rough look, I think.  That also gives the necklace a comfy bit of stretch.

I've actually been waiting to put these beads together for... a while.  Nice to see it all worked out so well.

(Sold.)