Remember my custom Lunatrik Mini Tea, Monster Brew? Here’s some snaps (and a little video) of him on display amongst the other wonderful customs at Pictoplasma. Over 70 custom Mini Tea’s were on display, and the different ideas everyone had come up with for their custom was staggering. The custom cuppa’s are now on their way to the next stop of the Tea Tour, in Vienna. More about the Tea Tour on Lunartik.com. Enjoy!
Update: My pieces for the show are available to buy online here 
I have some work on display at the Meth and Hot Dogs 2 show at the end of the month. These plush Bunnypillars are an idea i’ve been wanting to try out ever since i did my Bunnypillars painting a while back. Each Bunnypillar plush has a handcast, handpainted resin face set onto a plush body. Each Bunnypillar has then been potted in a real plant pot, and finished with faux ‘mud’. Each one is handmade with love in the A Little Stranger studio and features a woven A Little Stranger tag.
The Bunnypillars (available individually for $40 each) and the last two remaining large copies of the prints (11.5″ x 16.5″) will be available to buy at the show.
Meth & Hot Dogs 2 is a celebration of character art in all its forms. The exhibit will bring together a group of artists whose illustrations, plush, custom toys, sculptures and paintings show an appreciation for the demented, cute and strange. M&HD2 opens April 30th at Lift Designer Toys & Gallery in Royal Oak, MI. Check out the complete list of participating artists!
Meth & Hot Dogs 2, Saturday, April 30th | 7-10pm LiFT Designer Toys & Gallery, 228 W. 4th St. Royal Oak, MI, USA
We treated ourselves to a long weekend away last week for the bi-annual Pictoplasma character design, art and animation festival in Berlin. I must’ve taken 237459643875463 pictures, and had a real struggle to pare them down to what you see here – the festival was fantastic! It was my first time going to Pictoplasma and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, and if you’ve never been i would definitely recommend it. It gave me the same kind of vibe as being back at uni, all day there were lectures and film screenings, then at night parties and DJ’s playing. Rosa Luxembourg Platz was transformed into a Character Walk, following a map you can walk around the city discovering little galleries with beautiful exhibitions on by established and upcoming artists. The festival came at a time when i’m feeling pretty burnt out from work and the long weekend of arty friendy lovliness was much needed, I came home feeling totally inspired.
I had my tarot cards read (Which was, um, fun but slightly scary!) drank green beer, danced with a Yeti on stage, fell in love with Mochimochi knitted adorableness, watched the funniest film i’ve ever seen, went to an art exhibition/gig in a squat, had a great time with my friends and made some new ones
MochiMochi Land. I took so many pictures of this exhibition, Anna had suspended knitted planets from the ceiling so you were walking around a kawaii solar system. Depressingly (but not unsurprisingly) all her pieces were already sold when we got there. Anna’s knitting talent makes me sick with envy. Just kidding, i’m her new biggest fan! 
Bee Kingdom.Blown glass sculptures. I’ve been saying for years that I’d love to do glass blowing, and maybe one day I’ll get on the case of having some classes. These glass sculptures were just gorgeous and captured the light so beautifully.
Video: A small frightened robot hiding in a cardboard box by Tordal, and Beatbot by Beatbots. Both of which were completely adorable, i love robots! The Beatbot i had seen online before and didnt imagine he would be so big in real life, the way he moved made him seem really alive. The Beatbot could be controlled by sound, or by a wii remote which was pretty fun to have a go on and made the little guy spin around, wheeeeeee!
Character Totem (InkyGoodness). An art collective that celebrates and brings to the spotlight emerging talent in the creative scene. Each artists decorated a blank totem, and they all went on display together in Berlin. Another exhibition where i took a bazillion photos.
Doppeldenk. I applied for the Pictoplasma residency this year and was a bit gutted that i didn’t get it, and now i see who they picked i can see why – Doppeldenk’s exhibit smashed it. You walked in to a room of UV posters light by a blacklight, the second room had these giant painting (i want one in my house so bad!) and at the end was a life size statue of a bright green alien eating a light up rainbow.
Her Idea. Beautiful artwork by Rilla Alexander. I really loved the sleeping bear sculpture made out of scrunched up paper. Plus, she’s adorable. Rilla has herself a new fan!
Canis Mortuus Familiaris by Jeremy Dower. Hands down the creepiest exhibition we saw. He gave a really interesting lecture where he described the idea behind the work as ‘what happens to a character once they die?’. The images are of characters who are in a transition state as the pass into non-existence. Most surprisingly he explained his work is not done using 3D software, these are digitally illustrated pieces. Amazing.
3 Moments in the Life of Kaluk by Ben and Julia. Insane french artists. I loved their lecture and thought their video pieces were wonderful. If i’m totally honest i didn’t dig their exhibit nearly as much as their video’s.
Matt JOnes’ Plastic Surgery workshop. Matt took two classes over the weekend, teaching silicone mould making and resin classes. We turned up at the end to have a nosey (and round up everyone for the pub!) and caught Jonesy doing this pretty epic Jesus impression 
Pictures of Matts Mini Tea exhibition soon!
Mark Jenkins. Mark places clothed human dummies in unexpected places, photographing peoples reactions. These looked so real, there were no exhibition signs up, of course, so i did a proper double-take before realizing this was the exhibition. Good job Mark, you got me!
Woodcut printing workshop.
“Holly”
Sex Kino, heeeeay
Tummy Time!
Luc and Jonjo while we were out and about on the Character Walk
Corbett Feeding time
This pretty much sums up Berlin; colourful graff and bikes everywhere!
Kitty, Me, Bunny
The Missing Link Show. On the last night there was a huge show in the big second exhibition hall, featuring music, yeti’s, a VDJ, and more yetis’. I was a bit unimpressed at the first half of the show, but the second half blew my socks off. Disco dancing Yetis (who came up into the crowd) and the audience got invited up onstage to dance, run around and play games. Pure joyous fun, it was like being a little kid again. I was so excited about running up on stage i didn’t take my camera, but I’ve been promised a video of me in the dance competition, and of all of us cuddling the yeti’s
Hey Tahir!
After the missing link party a gang of us headed to an art exhibition/gig/market in a squat. Every inch of the place was covered in graffiti, with a band playing outside around a bonfire, a floor or art, then go up a couple more stories and there were bands playing. Completely surreal and really really fun. You just don’t get shit like this in England
A few more picture on the Cavey blog; Check out what Cavey got up to in Berlin.
I am really happy to share these pictures of my custom for Lunartik’s Mini Tea Tour 2011, meet Monster Brew. Matt gave me a blank Mini Tea vinyl last year, and after a long time pondering what to do with the adorable little fella i found a little scrap of this gorgeous vintage brown fur in my fabric stash and Monster Brew was born! I took all the Mini Tea components apart, and he really is mini – Monster Brew is only 13cm tall including his arm in the air! I painted his eyes black, sanded the seam-lines off the head, put the head back together and gave it a coat of matt lacquer.
Monster Brew’s furry body was stitched by hand (he was too small to get on the sewing machine!) and designed to fit over the little wire armature i made, fitting the Mini Tea arms to the ends of the wire armature arms, letting the fur stop short to expose the hands. I then trimmed the fur to varying lengths to give him a disheveled “oof i’ve just woken up” look. The ‘tea’ in the cup was made from brown, white and yellow sculpey mixed into transparent fimo until it looked like a good strong cuppa, then sculpted, baked and polished to a shine.
I’m really pleased with how the little guy turned out, and can’t wait to catch up with him in Berlin. Find out more about the Mini Tea Tour, and see the wonderful artists involved on Lunartik’s site.
Lunartik’s Mini Tea Tour featuring 70+ custom works of art, created from Matt JOnes’ platform toy, Lunartik in a Cup of Tea. These artistic interpretations have been brewed to perfection by a fine selection of World Artists. The Mini Tea Tour debuts at the 43° Gallery in Berlin, then moves on to Vienna to the Sixxa store for spring, then off to the USA and to Dragatomi for summer, and lastly we see this year’s tour come to rest in Forbidden Planet’s Mega Store in London for the Christmas season. At each location, Matt JOnes will be on hand to sign toys and chat. Mini Tea website
The Heavy Metal Qee project is being curated by Daniel Perry, using the 8″ qee as a base platform 17 designers (with more coming on board as the project progresses) are realising in 3D their interpretation of a Heavy Metal Qee. You can follow the progress of the Heavy Metal Qee Project, check out the artists involved and finished pieces so far on http://www.heavymetalqee.com/ or the HMQ facebook page.
I was asked aboard the Heavy Metal Qee project pretty early on, so i got first pick on the blank qee’s; I plumped for an 8″white Toyer Qee partly cause they’re the most ‘metal’ and partly cause anything with a skull appeals to my inner goth. I wanted to to my interpretation of the over-the-top monsters notorised by Iron Maiden, Lordi, Gwa, Manowar etc. I sculpted his face form scratch using white fimo, and gold glass eyes for realism and depth. I then kept the rest of the custom in monochrome black and white so the eyes would really pop.
I made a faux-fur cover for the head, complete with a black mohawk, giant bat ears and glossy black PVC horns, and a set of grey felt wings with an inner wire armature that allows them to be posed easily. I painted the body with acrylic paint and sealed it with matt UV protect lacquer before adding a furry chest to the front. He was a really fun custom to work on, thanks Dan for having me as one of the artists
Theres a competition on over at heavymetalqee.com to win an awesome HMQ purple engraved pen, previously only available to artists and promoters. All you have to do is think of a suitably rockin’ name for my custom and leave a comment there to win.
I welcome commissions on a variety of different toy platforms. Please get in touch! hollystanway (at) gmail.com
Forest Sprite is my custom mini qee for the NYC ♥QEE show, February 14th at Yoyamart, New York. He started life as a blank bear 5″ Qee, I added glass eyes, sculpted his face in sculpey and made a fur ‘skin’ that covers his entire head. His body is painted with acrylic paint and sealed with a matt UV protective lacquer, and his little yellow friends are made from pom poms and beads.
I enjoyed working on this Qee more than any I had before and i already have plans for my next 5″ Qee (i want the bunny!) I think Toy2r have got it spot on with this new platform size; its the perfect size for customizing, big enough to get a lot of detail in but without not so big that it becomes overwhelming.
What happens when you combine Hidden Crumb‘s love for sweet treats and A Little Stranger’s need to create cute plush? Cupcake Pals! Cupcake Pals are a new range of finely crafted cupcake throw pillows. Adorn your bed, your sofa, your office… Wherever you find a Cupcake Pal you’re guaranteed to find a smile.
Meet Oscar, the first collaboration between Hidden Crumbs and A Little Stranger. Limited to only 10 pieces, Oscar is made from the highest quality materials and lovingly handmade by Holly in the A Little Stranger Studio.
Measures a whopping, cuddly-soft 15 Inches x 15 Inches (38cm by 38cm)
Only £39.99 in the Hidden Crumbs shop. There are only a couple left of these little cuties, get them while they last!
I was comissioned to produce the launch products for hiddencrumbs.com a new venture where a collection of bakers, chocolatiers, sweet treat enthusiasts and general all round creative people working to produce delicous looking and tasting gifts. Their Christmas collection includes Cupcake Pals – giant handmade cupcake pillows, awesome sweet Jewelery from Blue City Jewelery, tasty sweets and a very special Cavey release. Read the interview here.
This is my piece for The Omi Show, December 11th 2010 at Munky King, 7308 Melrose Ave, LA, CA 90046.
Inspired by those documentaries about all the creepy creature that live way deep down under the sea, the tentacles and muzzle give off an eerie glow when the lights go out, and coupled with the white fur he glows bright cyan and yellow under UV light. From The Deep started life as a blank white monkey Omi, and i used glow-in-the-dark polymer clay, faux fur, acrylic paint and glass eyes to create him as you see him now. The mount-board is solid wood, varnished to a high gloss finish. He comes with a picture hook for hanging on a wall, and a kickstand so he can be displayed on a flat surface or shelf.
Sale on all prints in the A Little Stranger Shop. All sizes from mini prints to A3 posters, up to 50% off until January 30th, visit the shop.
The day of the Sketchbot 2 show at Munky King LA is finally upon us! If like me you’ve been checking out the sneak previews over the last few weeks on Steves blog today is your chance to see all the great customs in the vinyl-y flesh! Sketchbot 2 7:00pm – 10:00pm Munky King, 7308 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA.
The Navigator started life as a blank Sketchbot vinyl toy, i cut off his head (eep!) and painted his body with acrylic paint before sealing with lacquer. To really make the paint job pop i used a metallic flake in the pink-coloured parts before giving him a thick full gloss coat all over. The Navigator himself is a tiny plush in his own right, i sculpted his face from sculpey, painted with acrylic paint and pastels and sealed with matte lacquer. His body, including his ears, has a tiny metal armature inside to let him keep his pose. All finished off with a heart shaped nose and teeny eyepatch.
Edit: Now available for purchase in the Munky King Online Store.
I had a little free time last week and decided to work a little more on my submission for The Gnome Project by Happy Panda Toys. I submitted my initial design for it in August and wanted to flesh it out a bit, partly because i didn’t think my initial sketch and sculpt put across how i imagined the character in my head, and partly to refresh myself on sculpting a whole figure as i only seem to sculpt faces lately. This little bear is sculpted from sculpey, is currently being smoothed and sanded ready for casting, and is awaiting a plush hat and a fishing rod. More pictures soon ^__^
The Gnome project will be Happy Panda Toys first blindboxed mini series, featuring 3″ gnomes. Unlike other blindboxed toys such as Dunny or Qee there will not be one platform across the series, rather a totally different sculpt for each artist, and even ratios across the series. The artists haven’t been confirmed yet, so if you like my design and would like to see it put into production let the guys at Happy Panda know
Initial Drawing
Initial, very rough, sculpt.
I just finished up a custom plush last week, and now i’ve got my camera back i can share some pictures here. Her name is Melek, the client wanted a gift for their goddaughter and requested a plush that embraces my take on an angel. I thought this was an interesting brief for a custom and really liked the idea of making an angel but putting my own twist on it. Usually my work focuses around animals of some kind, so of course i still managed to make her look quite bunnyish
The first image that popped into my mind when i think of an angel is that of big wings and a halo and i was sure very early on that this wasn’t the aesthetic i was going for. So i spent some time thinking about what is an angel. I am not spiritual at all, my view of an angel is a guardian offering protection and guidance. My initial sketches revolved around owl-like bird creatures, capturing an elegance, grace, and sagacious. After bouncing some ideas around with the client we settled on a more mammal-like creature, the idea being that she was a familiar of sorts, keeping a watchful eye on things.
I started by sculpting her face from scratch using sculpey, no moulds were used or taken during the entire process. The client liked a previous plush i had created that had a little girls face and requested something similar. I decided to use slightly translucent sculpey to mimic skin and give depth of skin tone, and used glass eyes for realism. Following the angel theme, for the face sculpt I wanted to create child-like innocence and capture a thoughtful, tranquil expression. After i was happy with her face i added the hair in a translucent white polymer clay. Once the whole face was baked and sanded smooth i painted it using thin layers of acrylic paint, matted it off with UV protective lacquer and glossed the lips and eyelids.
The colour palette for the whole piece was kept muted and pale, with the body being completed in various textures and types of faux fur fabric. The main body from a ever so slightly off-white fur with a varying pile, a pure white long fur section on the tummy, and white bobbly fleece under the arms, she has weighted feet and paws and can stand unassisted. I then graduated the fur in various places to stop her looking like a big fluff ball. Finally I chose the name Melek, which is Turkish for angel.
A sneak peek of my custom, The Navigator, for the upcoming Sketchbot 2 Custom Show at Munky King, LA. Theres not much else to say about this little bunny for now, it’s all hush hush until the morning of the show – full reveal on November 19th. The Navigator will be onsale at the show, If you’re interested in buying The Navigator please get in touch with Steve who is putting together a private preview list as we speak…
Hello there! I’ve been without my computer/camera/printer/everything (eep!) for a few weeks but i’ve been beavering away behind the scenes on new customs, some plush, sprucing up my studio (hello new shelves, deskspace and all round organisation!) all on top of my actual work. But i’ve still found time to get my Halloween costume ready and i’m super excited for the spookiest weekend of the year. And now I have my camera back, i can even take picture whee!! I’ve also started up a facebook page for my custom work, i’d be well happy if you’d ‘like‘ it. Happy Halloween
A cross-post from www.heycavey.com:
A quick reminder to get your bids in for the special Renmen Caveys up on eBay, bidding finishes tomorrow! (15 Oct, 201012:02:11 BST) The Renmen Caveys are special because they’re limited to only two pieces but more importantly because 100% of the sale price goes to the Unicef Haiti appeal. Renmen means ‘love’ in Haitian and inspired by this the Renmen Caveys feature a heart design and are a mirror image of one another, ahhhhh
I got a lovely surprise package in the post a couple of weeks ago from the equally lovely Eric of Thunderpanda.com. Inside was 3 mini Lemis (squee!) a tee, magnets, badges, a bottle opener and a really nice multi-purpose bag (which i believe comes with all the tshirts on his site) Biggest of ups to you Eric, you really made my day!
The Lemis have had lots of fun tearing round the house with the Caveys and getting up to all kinds of mischeif, they’re very cute and fun to take photos of. I’ve had the blue one in my bag the last week and everyone who meets him says how cute he is. A Cavey/Thunderpanda collab is on the cards, watch this space! www.thunderpanda.com
I’ve just added some new plush art to my shop, a series of 5 unique toys for Halloween ive called Zombie Bunnies. Each Zombie Bunny has a hand cast resin face painted with acrylics and sealed with layers of protective matte laquer. The bodies are made from various high quality faux furs in tones of black and white and are weighted to stand unassisted. Each one has then been given a liberal splashing of glossy acrylic ‘blood’, zombie bunnies may be cute but they’re still zombies!
There are three 10″ zombie bunnies at £40 a piece, and two 7″ ones at £37. Once they’re gone they’re gone. Click here to visit the shop.
After giving you a little teaser last week i’m really excited to show you proper pictures of my latest custom, The Space Dragon. Space Dragon started life as a brand new 8″ Munny and was customised with glow-in-the-dark polymer clay, hama beads, acrylic paint, taxidermy eyes, faux fur and sealed with many layers of UV protective matte varnish. The Space Dragon looks great in daylight but really comes alive at night or under a UV light (or blacklight) when his whole body, fur and horns glow brightly.
He is up for grabs on eBay, bidding starts at £1.
Cavey is a plush series from A Little Stranger. Each Cavey is lovingly handmade in the UK.
