Disney's version of the Lone Ranger came out on July 3rd, but in some freak occurrence, Kitsap County released it a day ahead, which means I got to see it early! I think I've said before that the Lone Ranger is my favorite 'super' hero of all time, so I was of course stoked to see it. I grew up listening to the radio show (thanks to my mom, who also grew up a fan), so I went to the movie with these expectations:

-The William Tell Overture
-Someone asking, "Who was that masked man?" or questioning his mask in some way

What I got was pretty different, but ( there are potential spoilers aheadCollapse )

I might have to make plush versions of Silver and Scout soon. :D

On the rare occasion I sit down to game, I really enjoy the Miiverse aspect of the Nintendo WiiU. I don't always use it, but for some games it really adds a lot. If your console is connected to the internet, you can leave comments for other players to see, and vice versa. Given that the Gamepad has a nice screen on it complete with stylus, it seemed natural to let people also draw pictures about their gaming experiences.

( I had a lot of fun drawing my experiencesCollapse )

There are a ton of posts like mine on the Miiverse, some with drawings so good they make you wonder how the artist achieved it. Long story short, artists play video games, so it was pretty genius of Nintendo to give them an outlet while sharing their experience with other players.

Check out the awesomeness online, now that Nintendo has made it accessible on non-Nintendo consoles: Miiverse

A few weeks back I had the thought that, seeing how I already had a mascot I made for business cards, I really ought to try and draw the other critters I've sewn. It was a bit weird that I ended up sewing so many of them without really drawing anything beyond a basic idea. Seems a bit backward. Anyway, I did some basic doodles on my iPad, but it wasn't until today that the finalized lineart and coloring happened. I really ought to polish these up properly with the drawing tablet, but for now have a colorful banner!

( With the rainbow!Collapse )

A few critters are missing, for one reason or another. Mainly the D&D-inspired critters, should I ever have a booth or something somewhere. Might be a good idea to exclude them… And perhaps in a non-backward fashion, the drawing of the Eastern Dragon is what the final plush will look like…as soon as I sew one. I just realized I forgot to give it a "mustache", but I may be okay with that. Guess I'll have to sew one after all!

Updating this things keeps not happening, so now it is happening! Since my last post, I've been able to reconnect with friend-of-the-same-name and have palled around with her and her little girl a bit. Her little one liked me instantly, which has made spending time together much easier! Nice to be able to pick up a kid when they're on the way toward destruction without them having a fit.

Anyway, I asked her about the craft fair thing, and she agreed with me that it wouldn't be worth the cost just to get a booth and/or gas to get to and from the event. But, we talked about combining forces a few years ago before she moved away, so that might happen later this year for holiday craft fairs. Time will tell. That we were both thinking of exploring stained glass quilting was, frankly, amazing. Must do something about that!

Anyway, Washington had to dig itself out from under some heavy cloud cover, and it constantly comes to visit, but it is SUMMER! And, with the nicer weather, that means hiking! And camping, but for now hiking seems to be winning. The crazy thing about this state is that there is a hiking trail nearly everywhere you go! A perk of being a state that's kept much of its natural beauty. In fact, when I proposed a hike to some of the local friends, my fiance suggested a trail that is literally down the road from my house.

I HAD NO IDEA IT EXISTED.

So, after we scoped it out and walked briefly down the path, this is something that needs to happen! Anderson Landing just has a cozy feel to it, and it is small enough that those of us not yet primed for major hikes ought to do well with it. Should all go well, we'll trek it this Saturday. Pictures to follow, I'm sure, as it is beautiful!

I have to say, I'm not so keen on the event thing on Facebook. I sent out an invite to people almost a week ago, and only two of eight actually responded. There is a third who has yet to reply to my response to his comment, so bleh. Hopefully game night is back on tomorrow, so I'll do things the old-fashioned way and ASK people face-to-face whether they are going or not.

What do you get when you cross a Gryphon and a raven? I don't know, but its all yours, secondlina! I hope you're having a great birthday!

In other news, if anyone pays attention to the news, a bridge on the main highway through Washington State collapsed into the Skagit River last night. As far as anyone can tell, the cause was a semi truck with an oversized load hitting more than a few girders as it crossed the bridge. What's insane is that the semi got all the way across the bridge, as after it passed through, the girders smashed down onto the bridge, which caused it all to collapse into the Skagit River.

But wait, there's more! While the semi truck was safely across the other side, two other vehicles were not so lucky. A guy in his car and another couple in theirs found themselves plummeting into the river below. The guy in the car was okay, aside from being extremely freaked out (he kicked the passenger-side door open he was so panicked to escape his sinking car). The man in the other car suffered a dislocated arm, but when his wife didn't respond to him, he popped his arm back into joint to tend to her. Don't mess with Navy guys! o_O

Because people are awesome, rescue came quickly, and aside from the man's arm, there were no major injuries, and not a single fatality! Considering the river is not safe for swimming in, I'm amazed at all of the people, police and whatnot, who rallied together to keep everyone safe from this sudden disaster.

Also, it freaks me out to know that if this had happened not two hours earlier, there would have been a lot of commuters falling into that river, and I doubt they'd have fared so well.

So, that's all I've been hearing about on the news since 7:35 last night. This is going to have a major impact on my state (so much so the governor pleaded for Canadians to continue to come down to frequent the businesses now cut off from the rest of the state), so I'm hoping they can figure out if the remainder of the bridge is stable and from there get working on building a new bridge.

Sadly, this is not going to make it any easier for me to drive over the bridges in my region...

The time has come, at long last, to make a better dragon plush that what I had previously. I guess the good thing about continuing to sew new creatures is that it expands on my abilities to try new things. The bad thing is that I look back at the originals and I see how basic (and bad!) they are. At least to me. Trust me, it's normal for any artist to look at something they were once proud of, but after gaining new techniques and experience, it embarrasses them!

So, now I have this guy:


Redesigned Dragon Plush Prototype by ~IchibanVictory on deviantART

Of all the prototypes this past week, this one turned out PERFECT, so all I need to do is sew up a few more of differing colors, have a photo op, then post them up on Etsy! Because people still favorite and occasionally purchase the original, I'll let it remain on Etsy. (For now. Mwa ha ha ha ha!)

In any case, my little sister only just became aware of my prototype werewolf plush, so I better get serious about fixing the pattern so I can make one for her. ...just as soon as I sew up an Owlbear. Those guys keep trying to sneak out into the mailbox!

For the moment nothing is happening, as a nephew is over, so I'm minding him to keep the living room and my Mario DVDs intact.

Lucky for you all, it is plushified and simplified, so aside from "flesh" colored fabric, there's not anything to get worked up about:


Sphinx Prototype Plush by ~IchibanVictory on deviantART

I shouldn't be allowed to have fun like this. :D

To continue the May theme of spending most of my paychecks to keep my car running, this morning I spent two hours at an auto glass place to get my much abused windshield replaced. (I blame you, Idaho weather!) I couldn't sleep last night and ended up doodling some ideas for more plush critters, so while I waited I drafted patterns for a more Western-type dragon, a Sphinx, and a Jackalope.

I've been wanting to make a Jackalope for a while now, so of course it got to be the first pattern tested:


Jackalope Prototype Plush by ~IchibanVictory on deviantART

I want to test out the other two, but my creative energies are feeling a bit depleted after the doodle session last night, the drafting session this morning, and now the sewing experiment this afternoon, so they'll have to wait for the moment. Doesn't help that my parents and I are heading to Tacoma tomorrow, and REI is in Tacoma with awesome anniversary sale happenings. My love of camping is taking over my want to sew right now! Summer trying its darndest to come to Western Washington is only fueling the want to camp and look at camping gear. :D

...which brings up the random thought of making and planting these silly Jackalopes around neighboring campsites. (Especially those with kids.) That might have to happen if I get to return to Osoyoos this year!

So I have been playing Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon for the 3DS, and of course I LOVED it because Luigi is the best (Nintendo) character ever, and I loved the polterpup in the game. Seriously, just look at this guy:



Despite lacking ears or even a nose, it is still very much a dog and acts a dog, which is all that really matters when depicting a dog. ^_- I did make a prototype plush a few days ago, courtesy of an old coworker volunteering to adopt the first attempt, and it actually turned out pretty well.

...mostly.

Frankly, while it looked pretty good, its front legs were a bit thinner than I liked, and its hind legs splayed out something awful, so it didn't sit up very well. So, back to the drawing board I went! I decided it was time to up my sewing know-how and attempt something I've never done: Adding a dart to the belly.

Seems pretty simple, but it's somehow been really scary for me to want to attempt things like that, since it means shaping it properly as well so the poor thing doesn't end up with a sharp angle jutting from its gut. Also, I decided to attach the bottom part of the tail to the dart piece after sewing in the dart, which meant not fully drafting a pattern until I already hard parts sewn.

It's been an interesting past few days overall, what with working a lot, but I managed to find time to draft out a new pattern and even sew it. I put on the finishing touches just a few minutes ago and...success!



It can sit! It still turned out a lot rounder that I was thinking, but I think I'm okay with that. It looks cute enough sitting up as if begging, so huzzah! (Now I need to get brave and try this with my own original plush critters. ...baby steps.) I also decided to add some wire to the collar to actually make it look like it does in the game and...I still need to work on that. I need to use a larger stitch so it's easier to slip the wire between layers, but otherwise it looks pretty good!



Here's a better shot of the belly dart and tail. I'm so happy it turned out well! I could probably also sew on the upper tail separately, but I like having the upper body have as few seams as possible.

Next step is to finalize the pattern, which means tweaking the lower mouth piece ever so much! (It was a tad too small, so I had to resort to stretching the fabric to make it fit, so the mouth looks a little wonky.) But, for now, it's off to work so I can afford to replace my car's windshield!

....I'd rather keep playing with my sewing machine...

I've been wanting to redo my Gryphon pattern for a while now, as it seems every time I make a Gryphon, it comes out SUPER FAT. They can't even keep all of their feet on the ground at the same time! They've really got to stop snacking on the horses...

Anyway, the other day a potential customer expressed interest in one, but it was for her little sister, so she wanted it to be able to stand up. In other words, my Gryphons needed to go on a diet! This presented the perfect time to redo the pattern in the hope of slimming down my plump Gryphons, so I ran with it.

As it turned out, the little sister loved the white Gryphon, which up until this point hasn't sold, so I was even able to compare the old with the new:

( I like comparison shotsCollapse )

One of these days, hopefully soon, I need to finally make some Minotaur critters to finally post up on Etsy. No real need to hold off now that I've decided to go without nose rings. I also need to make more of the Chinese-type Dragons, as I had an idea for their faces that I've yet to try. And, possibly changing a few other things. I NEED MORE TIME.

For now, I'm off to work from now through this weekend. A good thing, as I just spent nearly $300 to fix my car's alignment. (Thank goodness Les Schwab has a tire sale going on right now!)