Subscribers to my newsletter got a little sneak of this a couple of weeks ago, if you want to preview my available work before anyone else please subscribe to my monthly newsletter. I have created these three pieces for the Persona exhibition at the Sho gallery, which opens this Friday May 25th.
The Forest Dweller (Mixed media with faux fur)
Forest Dwellers are peaceful, kind creatures who balance the woodland energy. They live long, quiet, lives spending their days tending the landscape and keeping a watchful eye on the creatures of the forest, aided by the Tree Sprites, who tell them if anything is amiss with the harmony of their surroundings. These gentle beasts prefer to stay out of sight and are rarely seen by humans.
Tree Sprites (Mixed media)
Tree Sprites are playful, inquisitive little beings. They have been observed in a wide variety of breeds, though their purpose is always the same; to keep a watchful eye on the forest and assist the Forest Dwellers on maintaining the harmony of the landscape. Blending into their environment, listening out with their large ears and communicating what they have observed back to the Forest Dwellers. Tree Sprites are regarded fondly by the Forest Dwellers, who view them as both a friend and a pet.
Please email if you are interested in purchasing these pieces.
Persona is an exhibition celebrating the art of character design; the creation of a visual personality with a strong and interesting identity. A unique collection of work from selected contemporary artists and designers including:
A little stranger, Dan Chernett, Dominic Mayer, Ed & Flo, HollowShells, Huw Barrett, Ian Watson, Jimbob Isaac, Mr Go Nathan Miller, Philip Morgan, Ross Cocker and more…
Show Runs May 25 – July 4th. Opening Preview Evening Friday 25th May from 7pm – 10pm.
The SHO Gallery and Shop, The Coach House, 1a Inverness Place, Roath, Cardiff, CF24 4RU. http://www.thesho.co.uk/
‘Fly Me to the Moon’ started life as a blank Bellicose Bunny. I started by separating bunny from her rocket, painting the rocket with acrylic paint and sealing with a heavy gloss lacquer. I then sculpted her face and hands in sculpey, and sewed her a full, faux fur, fluffy bunny costume complete with fluffy bunny tail. Finally i added a pair of little goggles which i made from scratch using found items and orange vinyl, reconnected her to her rocket, and she’s ready for take off!
‘Fly Me to the Moon’ is part of Bellicosity and will be on display at TAG gallery, LA March 3-18. Opening reception 7-11pm. TAG, 7571 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles CA 90046, Get directions.
Some work in progress shots… (I post these on Instagram follow me: ALittleStranger)
These three zombie bunnies were a private commission and are sold, please get in touch if you would like to open a commission of your own – hollystanway (at) gmail.com
Harking back to the zombie bunnies i made a couple of Halloweens ago, these three were commissioned as gifts for three of the buyers friends, which i thought was a really sweet idea. The zombie bunnies faces are resin casts of my original sculpt, painted, sealed and splattered with ‘blood’ The bodies are made from black faux fur and are weighted to stand unassisted. Each one has then been given a liberal splashing of glossy acrylic ‘blood’.
It’s been a long time since i posted one of these resin faced dolls, this one was a private commission. It was a real trip down memory lane to make her and i enjoyed every minute of it. It must be a good couple of years since i used one of these resin faces (I made one in October for my booth at Designercon but she sold before I got a chance to take a photo of her, oops!) I have only a handfull of these resin faces left and have no plans to make another mold. so if you would like one, please get in touch.
This one-off jointed bear is around 12″ tall (not including her ears) Her face is a resin cast of my own original sculpt. Her face has been painted and sealed with layers of matte lacquer with gloss accents on her eyes and lips. She has weighted feet and a weighted bottom and free moving teddy bear joints in her shoulders and hips so she can sit and stand unassisted.
A Little Stranger / The Tarantulas / Real x Head / Onell Design presents: Niblette. Ok, so he’s a GID Nibbler in a hot pink hoodie, but as the pretty counterpart to the SDCC release i thought he needed a pretty name 
These Nibblers are really, REALLY, GID and glow like crazy in the dark or under blacklight.
Each GID Nibbler comes with a hot pink hood and specially designed header cards. Vinyl Made in Japan by Real x Head. Cloak Made in UK by A Little Stranger.
They go on sale in the A Little Stranger Shop Wednesday February 1st at 8pm London time (15:00 Eastern, 12:00 Pacific time. if you are unsure what time this is in your country use this time convertor.)
Urban Vinyl Daily have kindly made me featured artist of the month, thank you Ben for the great interview questions! Head on over now to read about how i got into the toy biz, upcoming plans for Cavey, my influences, customs and more…
Christmas Eve at midnight marked the secret release of the Dune Sea II Nibblers over on The Tarantulas webshop. This figure was a a collab between Onell Design x Real x Head x A Little Stranger x The Tarantulas. Vinyl figure made in Japan by Real x Head. Their little cloaks are handmade in the UK by yours truly.
Stay tuned for a special A Little Stranger colourway, available exclusively through the A Little Stranger shop at the end of January. This morning the postman brought a big box of goodies from Chris for a photo shoot, man am i excited about this release! More news soon
Links: The Tarantulas blog / The Tarantulas shop
Bee-Girl in a jar was a private commission and is sold. She is an A Little Stranger original, made from scratch with polymer clay, glass eyes, faux fur and wire, suspended in an antique jar. I have a few more of these beautiful antique jars waiting for little creatures to go inside; working on a smaller face sculpt was fun and had left me eager to explore just how small i can go with these…
Phew! It’s been a crazy few months which has left my online shop a little neglected as things seem to fly out of shows before i can get them up online. So i’ve been putting my free time over Christmas to good use and updated the A Little Stranger Shop.
A great big sort out of all my stock following all the live events and custom shows i’ve done this year has left me with two customs and half a dozen Bunny Brooches to add to the shop! Visit alittlestranger.bigcartel.com for a browse.
Grey Fancy Snow Bunny follows on from my custom 11″ Eeerz The Fancy Snow bunny, for the Eeerz Invasion Tour at Forbidden Planet. He started life as one of the Eeerz white DIY vinyls, onto which i sculpted his face with polymer clay and painted it with acrylics and pastels, and added ‘fluff’ lines to his body. I made his fluffy head and ‘eeerz’ from soft grey faux fur and off-white velvet. Lastly i made him a little black velvet bow tie and fluffy white tail.
Grey Fancy Snow Bunny was a private commission and is now sold.
Imagine if our favourite Japanese characters were real and lived among us? Taxiderm-eevee is a piece of rogue taxidermy, exploring what it would be like if my favourite Pokemon, Eevee, were a real animal that had been captured and preserved for future generations. Imagine what we could learn from this fascinating creature!
Taxiderm-eevee is an original work created for the Beware the Tall Grass show, November 18th at Kidrobot, London. He sold on the night.
Thank you to the guys at Flatties for having me as a part of Codename: Babushka. This is such a great idea for a project and i’m really happy to be a part of it! There’s 15 artists involved in the project (head here to see a list) each artist’s set is then split up, muddled about with the other dolls and put back together at random, so you will receive 5 pieces of original art from 5 different artists! A Set of 5 russian dolls is £140, they also offer a payment plan, details here.
Codename Babushka is designed for the ulitmate blindbox experience and collectors in mind. Russian Dolls have been sent to all the artists below, each artist has a nest of 5 russian dolls starting at 5.5″ and shrinking down to 1.5″. They have been commissioned to create 5 artworks which will fit back inside each other. Once completed and collected up at Flatties HQ we will mix them all up and put them into blindboxes.
I handpainted my wooden dolls with acrylics in thin layers, leaving the woodgrain exposed underneath. They are then sealed with layers of lacquer for protection and shine. Each doll in the set is inspired by a different animal, going up in size: Hamster, rabbit, red panda, lemur, ram.
Don’t Forget Your Mittens is my piece for the Icons show at Fullcircle, Leeds, on October 28th 2011. She started life as a 1000% Bearbrick, i sculpted her face from scratch using polymer clay and glass eyes. I then painted her face with chalk pastels, acrylics and matt lacquer before sealing her lips with a few coats of gloss varnish and adding real human hair. Her bear suit was made from scratch in a soft caramel teddy bear style fabric, with fleece trims and a giant zipper in front. I then added the finishing touch of her little knitted mittens on a string through her bear suit.
I had a great time working on this custom, i think its my favourite piece i’ve worked on to date! Although slightly daunting at first i thoroughly enjoyed working at this massive scale – she’s the size of a toddler, and currently resides in our living room while she waits to be shipped up to Leeds for the show, creeping out everyone who comes over.
The line up for the show is insane and i’m humbled to be in the midst of such a fantastic selection of artists. You can see a work-in-progress shot of Map Map’s uh-mazing custom over on the Hang Gang site.
Baby Kraken started life as a 9″ white vinylmation Mickey Mouse vinyl. The skull is made from Mickey’s head with just a little light sculpting and teeth added, and a drilled hole for his gold pirates hoop I kept one of the figures hands and glued into it an arm bone i’d sculpted from sculpey. Both the skull and the arm were painted with acrylics and given a good grubby-ing up before being sealed with matt lacquer and dusted with ‘moss’.
The head of the Kraken is simply a plush skin i made to fit the upturned body from the figure. His tentacles keep their shape via a metal armature I bent into appropriately wiggly, tentacele-y positions before fixing the armature into the inside of the hard vinyl head. He has real glass eyes, and his tentacles decorated with hundreds of ‘warts’. Then i went to town fixing on coins, jewels and crystals all over his tentacles.
In the darkest depths of the briny deep,
See the baby Kraken scuttle and creep.
The floor awash with coins and treasure,
a vast amount by any measure.
The spilled contents of a treasure chest,
a bounty from an ill-fated pirates quest.
It’s collector’s bones lay decayed and forgotten,
amidst ships boards, ragged and rotten.
The baby Kraken passes over jewels blue and red,
that stick to his glistening tentacles and head.
I am over the moon to be included in Art Passes series 3 by Lunartik! Art passes are pop out wallets for your Oyster Card, Business cards, Travel Card Holders etc. I use mine all the time as a little purse for carrying ID and cash on a night out. Get your A Little Stranger art pass here for £3.
Art Passes series 3 are In the shop now and feature the work from these great artists:
- Lunartik
- Doktor A
- Lou Pimentel
- Pez
- A Little Stranger
- Tortoy
- RWK (Robots will Kill)
- TADO
Monster Stack was a piece of embroidery and felt collage i created from scratch for the project. I started by counting how many stitches i would need to create a piece the correct size for the template, hand embroidering the rainbow background, and stitching on the little felt monsters. Each monster was then given a pair of bead eyes and a teeny stitched on mouth. I finished the piece off with a splattering of tiny heart shaped buttons and an A Little Stranger woven label.
Meet Real x Nibbler – a triple collab between Onell Design, Real x Head & The Tarantulas, with little hoodies made by yours truly in rainbow of colours. The little guys went down a treat at Comic-Con; the hoodied nibblers sold out as soon as they went on sale, and the The Fishtank Castle‘s playset’s too! I had a blast working on these little hoodies, and even more fun hanging out with everyone on the booth -these boys are awesome and a lot of fun to be around!
And for those of you not at Comic-Con, fret not! We still have a few tricks up our sleeves – there will be an online release in Autumn 2011. Keep your eyes on The Tarantulas blog for updates.
Chris hard at work. Note: delicious breakfast bagels were also available, never say Chris dosen’t look after you!
“ooh lookit them all!” (I nicked this image from Chris’s blog)
Fishtank castle! (image pinched from Toysrevil – more images over there!)
It seems everything i’ve been working on recently is top secret, which is awsome for me cos i get to work on fun secret projects like a toy-making super villain, but sucks for you cos i can’t blog about what i’m up to 
After sitting on this for the last few months I’m very happy i can now share it with you! I’ve been working with The Tarantulas on a series of Nibblers, each in a snug little pointy hoodie. Cute, right! Come find them at SDCC to checkout the figures and playset.
The Tarantulas (and me!) will be appearing at SDCC as part of the Global Figure Symposium 2011 (Booth #4937) kindly hosted by Matt Doughty & organized by Datadub. (Exact details / timings TBC)
This Coraline doll is a little project i’ve been doing in my spare time since February, and i’m really pleased to finally have her on my toy shelf all finished. Now i just need to finish customising her mini-me! I had been oohing and ahhing over the Lalaloopsy dolls i’d seen in friends flickr streams, back around Christmas you couldn’t get Lalaloopsy’s over here (I’ve recently started to see them in Toys R Us and Tesco, but they’re so much dearer than in the US) As soon as I saw Mittens Fluff ‘N’ Stuff with her blue hair and button eyes i just had to make a Coraline. So my friend Lauren was kind enough to send me a lalaloopsy doll (and her mini version, so she can have a dolly of herself!) from the US.
I made all her clothes from scratch (you can get the patterns here) and made her hair bows from polymer clay. I didnt’t make the boots (oh how i wish i knew how to make doll shoes!) just painted them yellow to match her raincoat.
Get the patterns here
Lots of In-progress shots….
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!
