Got an idea for the next hot toy?  Put it to the test over at Patch Together.

Here’s how it works: you submit an image of your awesome resin or plush toy design and Patch Together members vote on which designs are worth prototyping.  If your toy gets chosen, it will go up for pre-order in the Patch Together store.  Once it has enough pre-orders (20), your toy will be produced as a limited edition and you share the profits with Patch Together (40% you, 60% PT).

This is a pretty good deal if you consider that average licensing fees max out around 5% for artists and you get to keep the rights to your designs.  If you want to skip the contest part, you can pay PT outright to manufacture your toy.  They’ve also recently started accepting ideas for Flash animations and “products in general.”

“Mason” the vengeful birdhouse by Wickedbird.  Currently available for pre-order.

No embroidery on the Yoka bear.  Even with his appendages removed, his body is still too small to handle even a tiny needle.  The plan now is to turn him into a gryphon.  He will get polymer clay claws and a beak, and otherwise be covered with small felt “feathers.”  On Friday I ordered a hole punch that makes teardrop shapes and works on felt.  Hopefully it will arrive in time.  These are probably not the colors I will use, but this is the general idea:

Oh man, I don’t know about you, but this is probably the most enticing palette I’ve ever had to work with.

I got them all today at the Pine Street Papery in Sausalito, which is actually on Caledonia Street.  I got about eight sets of each of these for $70 total.  Not a bad investment if you consider how many mandalas they will create.

The Mrs. Grossman’s site says I can only make fifty art pieces with their stickers.  Not that I intend to make more that, but it seems kind of bogus to market a product primarily as an art material and then limit the number of pieces your customers can make it.  I can’t think of any other example of this.

Hopefully the Bay Bridge will be open again by Monday, so I can go to the East Bay and pick up my little wooden bases.  Then I can really get down to business.  In the meantime I’ll work on making my own stickers so I have everything ready to go.  The anticipation is killing me!

Sorry my posts have been so sporadic lately. In addition to prepping for holiday sales, I’ve got two art shows coming up in November that I haven’t finished the work for yet. I’m working with sort of childhood theme–lots of bright colors and repetitive geometry–and I’ve done a couple of studies, but no finished pieces yet.

The first piece I’m working on is a custom Yoka vinyl toy for a show at DesignerCon on November 21st. A Yoka is a cute, jointed, vinyl toy bear. Mine is only 3″ high.

I was kind of surprised at how many people have made custom-decorated Yokas. Check out this one by Phu! This is a 10″ but he’s also got a 3″ in the DC show.

With such high-caliber work to contend with, I want to make sure my Yoka isn’t jankity and represents my strengths/style as an artist. My first thought, of course was to make a plush Yoka, but Alisa Ross already did that.

Then I thought I would put silk pins into it and wrap the pins with colored string, like the string art projects I did in summer camp. I pictured a delicate, multi-colored scaffolding that was same shape as the bear, but floating about a centimeter off its body. You’d just barely be able to see the white toy underneath through its gossamer shell. But when I actually tried this on a little foam model, the threads all slid down to the bear’s body and he just ended up looking like a coloring-book version of Hellraiser.

I thought about trying to hold them up with those tiny orthodontic rubber bands but that’s just too bulky for such a small toy. Now I think I’ll just embroider the designs directly onto the toy. Not as cool as a floating rainbow exoskeleton, but still pretty sweet.

The other project I’m working on is a set of mandalas for The Lab’s Postcard Art Show Dec. 4-6. They’re small pieces (about 6″ squares) and made with sticker shapes I drew. Here are some of the stickers.

Ideally I’d make the whole mandala set with stickers I drew myself but that’s a lot of time spent cutting tiny shapes and I don’t have much time these days. Depending on how quickly the first few go, I will either make them with a combination of my own stickers and stickers I’ve bought (of the Mrs. Grossman’s ilk), or I will just make digital prints of the mandala patterns I’ve mocked up in Illustrator. Here’s one from yesterday:

Apologies in advance if my posts are widely spaced until the holidays. Wish me luck!

I’ve never won a raffle before, so I was STOKED to hear that my name came out of the fishbowl at the Neon Monster second anniversary party.  What did I win?  This incredibly sweet original painting by Reuben Rude!

Richard Starkings and Justin “Moritat” Norman were there signing issues of their Elephantmen comic, so Reuben painted this elephant outside  during the party.  After it was over, he took it home and added a few collage elements and the drips you see.  I really love that all four sides of the painting (which you unfortunately can’t see in the photo) have gorgeous orange to green to blue gradients on them.  The painting measures about four feet per side and two inches deep.  Amazing!

Speaking of raffles, I have to put forth a little plug: come to the Bazaar Bizarre in Golden Gate Park December 12-13!  I’m organizing the raffle this year and the prizes are amazing.  You can see some of them here at the BazBiz Flickr stream.  At the last Baz Biz there were eleven prize lots each totaling more than $300!  For the price of one ticket you walk away with eleven chances to take care of your entire holiday list!  Craft and Make Magazine will also be there with a raffle.

16 Towers Print by 3 Fish Studios

Fruit Stripe Vase by Why Girls Go Astray

This weekend the Alternative Press Expo came to town.  It’s a nice little convention that brings together the independent publishing community, put on by the same folks who bring you ComicCon.  Most of the tables were taken up by comic artists and writers, but a fair number of zine publishers, crafters, illustrators and small shops also represented.

Soon after arriving, I swung by the Neon Monster table, where I got to meet the lovely and talented Marian Churchland.  Among other things she has drawn for Richard Starkings’ Elephantmen series.

I had met Starkings and Justin “Moritat” Norman (the main Elephantmen artist) the day before at Neon Monster’s Second anniversary party.  Happy Birthday, Mitch!  Mr. Starkings gave me a few autographed issues of Elephantmen to peruse and I have to say, it’s not a bad rag.  Mr. Moritat also drew me a sketch of Jean Grey as Phoenix, perhaps my favorite comic book character ever.  Thank you guys!

Though I usually go as a fan, this year I went to A.P.E. mostly for business–I spent my time scouting the tables for characters that might make good plush toys.  Unfortunately there weren’t too many in the simple and cute category this time around, unless you count the yetis.  EVERYone’s got a yeti now.  Yetis are the new diamonds.   Still, there was plenty to love and even more to buy.  Even I couldn’t resist.  I got two of Brandon Bird’s Law & Order valentines for my sis (SVU is her favorite show). Brandon Bird is famous among my friends for his painting “No One Wants to Play Sega With Harrison Ford.“

The best thing I got, though, was this set of monster hugs cards from Goblin-Fish Press.  There were five in the pack but these two are my favorites.

Hilarious!  If you’re sad you missed A.P.E., don’t worry.  There are two similarly awesome events happening next month.  For you east coasters, visit the Editions & Artists Books Fair in NYC beginning Nov. 5th.  While you’re there, say hi to the good folks at The Present Group.  For you west coasters, come hang out with me at DesignerCon in Pasadena on Nov. 21st!

Anyone looking to make a little money or exchange critical writing for art?  The Present Group is looking for a critic.

Since I live across the country from my family, I buy most of my gifts online.  Usually there’s no sales tax (which can save you almost 10% if you live in California), and it saves me a trip to the post office.  Unfortunately, my sales tax savings are always trumped by the high cost of shipping, so I was psyched when I found freeshipping.org today.  It’s a lot like my other favorite coupon site, retailmenot, only it specializes in free shipping codes.

I love the Internet.

This weekend I re-organized my studio.  I never realized how much my half-finished projects were stressing me out until I finally tackled my bin of cut but un-sewn plush pieces.  I thought that perhaps I could turn them into kits, like the ones I have for making mini hams, but it wasn’t worth the time to make detailed instruction booklets. Could I somehow turn them into simple, no-frills kits?

Yup.

Inspired by the recession, the Helvetica movie, and the joy of removing physical and mental clutter, my thing-a-day was some quick and dirty identity packaging.  The design takes a (huge) page from the no frills supermarket packaging I used to see growing up.  Sure, the kerning could be better but what you you want?  It’s no frills.

Inspired by this epic post at CrookedBrains (via DudeCraft) of things made out of credit cards (and these rat pins, specifically) I decided to see if I could cut complex shapes out of plastic gift/rewards cards.  Turns out that it’s not too difficult, as long as you only cut in towards the center of the card and don’t try to curve your lines too much–perfect for making leaf shapes for holiday wreaths.  Last year I made this wreath and it took forever.  Each leaf was constructed by tying together seven separate plastic triangles with wire.  Each leaf was then tied onto the wreath form one by one.  Oy.

This year, I’m thinking of making some mini-wreaths, but with just one piece of plastic making up each leaf.  Yesterday I practiced a few different leaf forms to see which ones were easiest to cut.  Here are some of the more successful examples, which only took a minute or two each to make.  I’ve got a maple in there, a couple of oakey/hollyish ones, and some toothed leaves.  I tried a few really simple shapes as well, but they didn’t seem as autumnal as these.

Do you have any other ideas for iconic leaf shapes?  What have you made from plastic cards or other recycled materials?