Toy prototyping and production is my specialty as a freelancer, but due to the heavily protected IPs (intellectual properties) I work on, it’s not often that i can share images of what i do online. I thought Bartholomew Punchyface was the perfect opportunity to show you the process of creating a plush from sketches and ideas on paper, through patterning  to a finished product.

Scott and Luke approached me as the factory was having problems getting the characters form right as their design had some complicated elements and a huge range of textures and finishes.

Working closely with Scott and Luke’s sketches I brought their Bart Bear character to plushy life!

May I present to you Bartholomew Bear. Designed by Luke Chueh and Scott Tolleson, prototyped by Holly at A Little Stranger and produced by 3dRetro.

Case Study: The Making of Bart Bear

Luke and Scott’s Sketches: Face details

Luke and Scott’s Sketches: Ear details

Luke and Scott’s Sketches: Back and wedgie specifics

First Draft: I test all my patterns in scrap fleece or felt before beginning work with the real fabrics, to make sure everything fits together correctly. Eyes/sweater details etc are all paper print outs tacked on with pins to check the scale.

Second Draft: We revised the shape of his head to make it rounder, and added more puffy arms.

Patterning the hairline: It was important that the hairline sat correctly all the way around his head to stop it looking hat-like.

Making all the felt applique details that make up the face

First version of Bart’s head that we deemed to be too complicated in the end – wee simplified by removing the graze on his cheek.

The finished prototype plush, ready to go to the factory for manufacture.

A manufactured Bartholomew Punchyface, fresh from the factory!

They are available right now in the Planet Domu Shop.

TCON is the official mascot of ToyCon UK, and I was lucky enough to be the one who sculpted him.  Working closely with the designers at The Hang Gang we wanted to make sure we captured the movement and dynamic nature of the logo!

Toy prototyping and production is how I spend much of my time as a freelancer, but due to the heavily protected IPs (intellectual properties) I’m working on, it’s not often that i can share images of what i do online. I thought TCON was the perfect opportunity to show you the process from sketches and ideas on paper, through to the sculpting and master making and eventually a finished product.

TCON is the embodiment of the ToyCon UK mascot, he’s designed by The Hang Gang was sculpted by me (A Little Stranger) and was produced for ToyCon UK by Unbox Industries.

TCON is available in his OG green colourway and a white DIY, both of which can be found in the ToyConUK store.

Very early stages of roughing out Tcon. He was sculpted in Sculpey, the black areas inside the mouth are the armature that i padded out with scrap polymer clay.

Working out how his eyes and eyebrows are going to look

Roughing in the teeth on a block of Sculpey to check all the dimensions are correct

Head complete, i made Tcons teeth separately from Sculpey and attached before baking the entire piece together.

Setting the teeth in with a little more Sculpey to fill the gap between the teeth and the top of the mouth. You can see his little tongue here, too.

It was important to use to convey the movement of the ToyConUK logo, so i wanted to make sure Tcon could stand easily on one leg. As the body and legs were two distinct entities i decided to sculpt the body, bake it, then add the arms and legs. This allowed me to make sure i was positioning them for perfect balance.

Arms and Legs attached, the last piece to go on was his spine which i sculpted separately, baked, and attached before the final baking.

After sanding smooth and applying a few layers of filler primer, Tcon is ready for molding. This is to allow me to make a resin version of him that will withstand a substantial clean up, he needs to be perfectly smooth before he goes to tooling. The white lines coming form his hands are styrene strip, molded with the figure to form air risers in the mold.

The cleaned up resin casting, ready to go to the factory for manufacture!

Picking out colours at the factory

The finished vinyl Tcon!

Meet Usagi, a brand new character from A Little Stranger. Usagi is a Space Bunny from the moon who floated down to earth, following the stars, to learn as much as he can about our beautiful planet. Usagi tells his tales through illustrations, shared through social media.

Peace Seeker began life as a Planet Domu War Tourist. Starting off with the blank 4″ resin, The Peace Seeker’s head and the rider on his back are resin casts of an original sculpt I did just for this piece. The piece has been finished with acrylic paint and many layers of matte and gloss protective lacquer, and a signature fluffy fur body hand-sewn from various textured, hand trimmed fur fabrics.

This piece is totally one of a kind, to be exhibited on the Planet Domu booth at ToyCon UK. Peace Seeker is £350, and can be purchased directly from Planet Domu.

Peace Seeker is part of a series of 9 custom War Tourists by UK artists: Jon-Paul Kaiser / Mister Lister / A Little Stranger / Stu Witter / runDMB / MapMap / Uncle Absinthe / Pete Fowler / Mimic. They will be exhibited first on the Planet Domu booth at ToyCon UK.

Handle Like Eggs directed by Bianca Ansems on Vimeo. Click to watch the film.

I was recently part of the puppet and model making team that produced this stop frame animation animation, Handle Like Eggs. Handle Like Eggs follows the story of Bell, a young egg who has her heart (and shell) broken in London. I don’t want to spoil the ending by saying anymore, you’ll have to watch for yourself. I am particularly fond of the yellow car i made for the film, keep your eyes peeled for it!

Look Me In the Eye. 14 x 18″ Acrylic on Canvas.

Look me in the Eye is limited to just 5 signed and numbered prints. Highest quality giclee print on 100% Cotton Rag, pH neutral, Acid Free art paper. Printed using archival inks. Visit the Shop.

Standing alone and unafraid, with a graceful confidence that shines bright in a dark world. 12 x 16″ acrylic on canvas.

Standing Alone is limited to just 5 signed and numbered prints. Highest quality giclee print on 100% Cotton Rag, pH neutral, Acid Free art paper. Printed using archival inks. Visit the Shop.

With all the excitement of Vinyl Cavey, Tcon vinyl and taking time out between jobs to concentrate on painting and sculpting it felt like ages since I had produced a complex plush just for me, and the A Little Stranger booth at ToyCon UK just wouldn’t be complete without some plush! So I’d like to to introduce you to my plush interpretation of TCON the Toyconosaurus. Taking my inspiration from the the Vinyl TCON, I have created 3 of these high end plush for the event. He stands at 11″ tall and has jointed hips which allow him to stand unassisted as well as jointed posable arms so you can have fun creating your own displays.

Each plush comes with a signed tag including his edition number, you can pick one up at the A Little Stranger booth at ToyCon UK.

Continuing my experimentation with painting on canvas. Self portrait. 16 x 20″ acrylic on canvas. ‘Self Protection’ is a self portrait focussing on the symbolism of Hamsa for power, strength and protection.

Limited to just 5 signed and numbered prints. Highest quality giclee print on 100% Cotton Rag, pH neutral, Acid Free art paper. Printed using archival inks. Visit the Shop.