A Little Stranger » custom

Redcoat – 8″ Qee custom

Holly — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 07:58:37 +0000

Meet My latest custom, Redcoat, an 8″ Qee. He is now on his way to the Civil War and Our Founding Fathers show which takes place in July. This was my first time customising a large figure like this and i had a lot of fun making him!

He started life as a blank white DIY qee, to which I added glass taxidermy eyes, sculpted his face in sculpey and gave him a fluffy faux fur coat. See a progress photo here. His antlers were also sculpted in sculpey and i wanted them to be half way between horns and tree branches, with the oak leaves wrapping round to add to the natural, woodland feel of the character. I was also asked to send in an index card to be displayed with him, explaining what the character is about and the inspiration behind him:

Meet Redcoat, a monster older than he looks. He journeyed to America with the British Army and it was during the American Revolution he realised that all men (and presumably monsters) were created equal and that like, liberty and the pursuit of happiness was more his style, just like the founding fathers. Redcoat lives in the forests of New England (he’s English after all) and now spends his days in the sunshine tearing about with the squirrels.

As a British Artist i wanted to bring something very English to the theme of the show. I love the bold colour and iconic white cross design of the redcoats and thought they would be interesting as an animal’s ur, as if the animals were intrinsically patriotic and brave. Redcoats oak branch antlers give contrast against his fluffy fur coat.

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Qeeology 2.5 show is tomorrow

Holly — Thu, 06 May 2010 06:52:17 +0000

Qeeology 2.5 is on tomorrow, if you’re in the Nebraska area you should check it out, there are some really great pieces from very talented artists. I’m so pleased to be included, it’s a shame i cant make it to the show! Take a picture for me! Pictures of my custom, Moss Rabbit, are here.

Custom for Qeeology 2.5

Holly — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:11:32 +0000

Here’s a little sneak peek of my custom for Toy2R‘s Qeeology 2.5 show, part of the Toy2R 15th Anniversary World Tour. I’ve been really inspired by vintage toys and facemoulds lately, my friend leant me an AMAZING book called Happy Bunny Kitty Pony (i need to buy myself a copy and quit hoggin’ hers!) and i’ve based this little guy on some of the cute/creepy bunnies in there. He’s a little further along than this now but i’ll post more pictures when he’s done – a girls got to have some secrets right?

Droplet Launch Night

Holly — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:57:58 +0000

The party was held at the fifty fifty gallery in Bristol and it was PACKED! The que was all the way round the corner and the Droplets sold out in less than an hour! Big props to Gav for putting on such a great event.

There were gorgeous Droplet cupcakes by Cakeology (unfortunately we didn’t get there early enough to try one, they flew off the cake stands!) A big droplet to sign, droplet stickers, name badges, t shirts, tote bags. It was raining droplets! It was brilliant to see all the customs up close after seeing some sneaky pics on the web, and i met lots of lovely people as well as catching up with friends

Pictures of my custom here

Doc18 has photos of all the customs here

Photo by Rick Nunn

Me with my custom (from my flickr365project)

After the show we went to a couple of pubs with various toy peeps, and had a thoroughly lovely time. Phil made a giant straw, we all took turns being ‘Babs’

Massive David Blaine (from my flickr 365 project)

We spent the next day soaking up the sights of Bristol, after a fry up at the Boston Tea Party. We checked out the Forbidden Planet there and i treated myself to some Friends with You blind boxes.

Applehead Custom 3″ Dunny

Holly — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:43:02 +0000

Here’s a few pictures of my custom 3″ Dunny, ‘Applehead’. Applehead began life a production Dunny, I started by stripping him and painting with a white cellulose primer, all the colour work was done in acrylics and sealed with matte lacquer, with the ‘apple’ being finished with layers of full gloss lacquer, with metallic and pearlescent powders mixed in so it has a lot of depth. I made the vines from wire and some already tiny fake leaves that i cut down further.

See pictures of him in progress here

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The base is a clear acrylic oval painted purple on the underside and polished around the edge. The foliage is varying grades of model makers grass/stones and soil, with long tufts of grass dotted around. His little mushroom friends were sculpted from fimo.

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Droplet Custom

Holly — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:35:59 +0000

I’ve just put the finishing touches on my custom droplet for the series 2 Launch party on the 6th February, if you’re in the Bristol area you should come down and check it out! The Droplet toy itself is very simple so it has a lot of scope for customising and I had a lot of fun making this little guy. I’ve seen a few sneaky pictures of how they’re doing up the gallery on Gav’s twitter, I’m really looking forward to meeting all the other artists and seeing how they’ve customised their Droplets.

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He stands on his own and for the show he’ll be sitting on a mirror so you can see all the detail underneath. It took forever to sculpt all the suckers so i want to show them off! The tentacles have a wire armature inside and were sculpted in polymer clay over the top. See his progress here and here

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For size reference, this is how big he is. I’m a bit sad now that i have to pack him in a box for his adventure to Bristol, but i’m sure he’ll have lots of fun with the other Droplets

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Some close ups of the tentacles and suckers. You can just make out the blue/pink pearlescent powder in the lacquer.

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Droplet Launch party

Holly — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:13:41 +0000

I’m very pleased to be involved in the Droplet Series 2 launch party. I’ve been working on my custom this week and i’m looking forward to seeing what all the other artists make of theirs! It would be great to see you there. Pictures of my custom are here.

Sepia Bear Custom

Holly — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:00:00 +0000

This custom has just been completed and shipped out to America, this was request to look like an old sepia photograph, so i cast the face in a slightly dulled creamy colour and picked creamy-toffee colour fabrics to match. Her body is made from a curly faux mohair with a dark backing so it really looks old. When she was complete i ‘aged’ her all over with an airbrush, i’m so pleased with how she came out!

Latest Custom

Holly — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:00:00 +0000

I have been busy working my way through my list of custom orders, here are the latest – this one is on her way to Italy! She was really fun to make, i loved picking out all the fabrics that tone together. Her body is made from super soft brushed jersey fabric like you’d use for baby clothes

Blue sleepy monster in her new home!

Holly — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:00:00 +0000

I wanted to share some photos Lauren took of her sleepy monster, who she names Moonmallow. I should send all my creatures to her to get photographed she takes beautiful pictures! Check out her pictures here and here. Thanks Lauren!!

Holly xox