Weekend Features #2

Another weekend has come and gone, and along with it another set of features. I do mean to do these more often, as I find some many fun and whimsical items on Etsy and Artfire, but my last few attempts were thwarted by Etsy's downtime for maintenance. I really shouldn't leave this for the last few waning moments of the weekend, but eh, I'm a night person, what can I do?

This weekend's theme is MICE! <:3 )~

Etsy artist Hint has a couple of cute mouse pendants made in silver. If I wasn't allergic to everything but steel and gold I'd so pick one of these up. You can find these as well as other pendant designs in her shop .

This pair of felted baby booties are too cute! I love the little tails. Created by Etsy artist PrettyLittle.

A little grey field mouse adorns this wheel thrown vase by Laurawallstaylor on Etsy. And that white mouse mug is a perfect companion for your morning coffee (or tea, in my case). At last, a sighting of the elusive Mousealope! LittleRobot has this and many other prints in her shop.

What a stylish little mouse, perfect to send a letter in style! WhiskerGraphics on Etsy has this and other cute statinary sets (don't you just love that name?)

Artist nimbusnovem on Etsy has a collection of hand engraved tablets and art boxes. The attention to detail and life-like rendering is quite exceptional.


This last piece is a wonderfully designed ceramic tile by GretchenKramp. I especially like the natural clay color's contrast with the blue.

Hope you enjoyed these whimsical works of art! I'll be back soon with a couple of colorful mice of my own.

New Plushies... Sorta

I guess as an artist one should be always seeking to improve their craft, and when something is presumed finished they should be open to new perspectives that can change their work and allow it as well as the artist to grow. As I was working on my skinny pig plushie I began to see guinea pigs in a different way, as can be expected when one views a furry animal without all the fluff that covers its anatomical features. As a result, I've made a few slight changes to my baby guinea pig plushie pattern. It's not all that much of a difference really, it's only on the head and shape of the face, the rest of the body is unchanged.

Here you can see a pair of baby guinea pig plushies, both made with the same materials. One of them is the older pattern, one is made with my new modifications. Can you tell which is which?

Now it's a little easier to tell. The plushie with the new modifications is the one in front. The differences are slight, but effective.

When you put the two different styles nose to nose you can really see the difference. The newer plushie is on the left, the older style on the right. I adjusted the pattern so that the face is more defined with a more prominent snout. The ears are angled a bit more naturally, the eyes are closer to the top of the head, just like a real cavy. The differences are minimal, if I didn't point them out most people would never have noticed. I figured I'd let everyone know that all my baby piggies from here on will be made with the new pattern, but since the differences are almost indistinguishable I'm not going to update every single plushie listing on DeviantArt or my shops with new photos, but I can always provide photos of the plushie after it's made before i ship it out.

Custom Plushie Update! Jack & Alfred, Lilli & Nelli

Here are the latest custom guinea pig plushies I've done.


These guys, Jack and Alfred, were made with strings attached to them so they could be used as plushie ornaments. I stitched their named into their smooth flannel bellies in embroidery floss that matched their strings.

Lilli and Nelli were made for someone on DeviantArt. They are her dearly departed guinea pigs, Lilli is a himalayan baby piggy plush, Nelli an adult-sized plushie.

I recently picked up some new fur, and still ironing out some details on my skinny pig plushie (making proper wrinkles on a plushie is tough!) so I'll have some more fun projects to post pretty soon.

New Artwork for my Shop

Every listing for an item on Etsy or Artfire has to have at least one image. That's easily handled for most cases, when you have an item that's already been created. But in the case of a custom plushie which hasn't been made yet, I needed to come up with something. I haven't done much two dimensional artwork for quite some time, so I made this drawing. The piggy is the same from my banner up there, but instead of cuddling with a guinea pig plushie he's making one. The pics pinned to the wall are sketches of actual photos of my dearly departed Tiramisu, and there she is, in plushie form.

And in case you're wondering, guinea pigs always use safety scissors. :3

Cherry Bomb the Guinea Pig

Uh oh, here he comes again! All the other guinea pigs scurried out of the way. It's not unlikely for a piggy to get caught up in all sorts of hijinx and misadventures when Cherry Bomb shows up. This fiery red cavy really puts the "pop" in "popcorning", there's never a dull moment when he's around.

I made this crimson cavy with some lovely fur I picked up recently. He's available in both my Artfire and Etsy shops. I've got several other projects in the works, more on those as they get finished.