I have been spending TONS of time in my studio. It’s fantastic. During the last week or so I have made a few heads. I don’t feel quite ready to make bodies for them yet. For the time being I am getting a kick out of working on my embroidery skills and developing different personalities for my toys.
For what seems like the longest time I have been trying to design a leg that starts at the sole of the foot. Adding joints and attaching these legs would be much easier than working with top down legs where you would have to try and turn the leg inside out to get the joint in the correct place; which is nearly impossible to do. But it has been giving me absolute fits. What ever I did I couldn’t get the decreases to look right. I felt really detrimed to make it work, though. So I thought it was time to give it another go. After about 10 hours of boring myself to death doing a few rnds and pulling more out I think I’ve got it. 
I was finally about to get a nice rounded foot big enough to add shoes to without having the crochet spiral so badly that it made the foot look crooked.
After struggling for awhile the solution came to me and it was pretty simple. (Which seems to happen more often than not. I’ll be going along making things more and more elaborate then after taking a break I realize that I could do things in a simpler, cleaner, more effective way.) Anyway the key turned out to be single crochets…when I crochet a leg from the top down I use hdc increases to make the front of the foot bigger. But crocheting from the bottom up means that I have to decrease from the front of the foot to the smaller leg. And hdc decreases look messy and spiral out of control. So instead I used the sc invdec which is tight and neat. I lost a little of the shape I prefer in the top down legs, but I think it is more than a good trade. Plus I have been experimenting with a bit of needle sculpting so I can tweek the shape that way if I want later.
I also did some experimenting with texture. After I finished and stuffed the head I emboidered all over with straight stitches. Which left me with tons of ends to weave in. Next time I think I see about using a textured crochet stitch in stead. I am just afraid keeping the stitch count right will be a real pain. 
So I’ve been to Mortal Plush and back again. The opening was fun. It was fantastic to meet other artists and see their work in person. All in all the party was a great time. (Except for the lack of quality beer 
) I would share pix if I could, but they are stuck on my camera at the moment, bummer. Here is a pic I grabbed from Tobiah’s flickr photostream (you can see more photos there). She was the main organizer of the show.
I’m the short one in the front wearing the yellow top (which I made, see I told you I would show you some of the clothes I made).
There was an amazing amount of foot traffic. If I had to hazard a guess I would say that there were about 300 hundred people through the gallery that night. I wonder just a tiny bit about how many people who wandered in were actually interested in the art work, though, because the location of the gallery made a strong contrast to the work inside. I mean, the gallery has a clear focus on urban art, graffiti, piercings, tattoos, stuff like that. But the area it was located was an upscale, tourist-y, board walk around the Potomac sort of place. I’m wondering if they got a break on the rent…
Despite the strange locale I sold a piece, Hurray! My favorite fox, Dejection, went to Katie Paul who had some really neat stuff in the show as well. I especially liked her pigeon; it was muted grays and purples with machines embroidered feather ruffs around its neck.
Since getting back in my studio this week I have been working on the fox pattern to add to my etsy shop. Before it is ready I need to put up a few tutorials on how to make eyes and stuff like that, otherwise the pattern would be insanely long.
Oh, and I have another show lined up too! I am going to be sending 3 pieces, that is my goal anyway, to Plush You. I was in the show before, it was the first year I think. Kristen is great to work with. I am really looking forward to it. Wish I could go see that show too, but I think my art-travel budget is done for the year 
Think back to before my absence over the last month during which I have been a total slacker, well not entirely, but I have been ignoring my studio. Anyway, I blogged a lot about my little foxes and my plans to enter them in the Mortal Plush show. Well, I got in! Hurray I am excited to be going to the opening this Saturday. I live in Chicago and the show is in D.C. so I will just be making a quick trip over the weekend. I am really looking forward to seeing the other work in the show and connecting with people. Although that is sort of awkward at art openings. I mean, you want to talk about your work and discuss others’ work with them. But what are you supposed to do, stand right next to your pieces? That seems kind of lame. I wish they gave out “Hello my name is…” badges. Should be fun, though and I promise to take lots of pics and share with you when I get back.
BTW, I have not forgotten to show you my finished clothes. I just need to corral my husband into taking photos for me. Plus I am a little shy to let everyone see my short, plump stature. But I will try my best to get over it.
