Kubo's Monkey

If I had my life to do over again, I would have wanted someone to tell me that you could grow up and make things for a living at a movie studio called Laika.

I've been a fan from the start. Coraline brought me on board as I was already a fan of Neil Gaiman's writing, and I even made a yellow coat for the crochet little me so we could be her for Halloween. Then Paranorman came out and won us over with its sheer quantity of details, B movie horror, and humor. I even made a comic and several posts for their #WeirdWins contests, leading to me winning four stunning posters, which I still have framed in my home. Then Boxtrolls, which I will admit I did not love as much as the other two, but still had such warm and loving characters that I had to make my own Fish, complete with box.

When Kubo and the Two Strings was announced, several people said to me "Ang, it's like they made a movie just for you." I was so excited to see it when it finally came out this month. I knew I loved it from the first few moments as the mom crawled across the beach to her son, and I started crying right then. Some people say that Pixar is making fairy tales that grown ups can enjoy, but I feel like Laika has always taken it just one step further, like they are making fairy tales for grown ups instead, that kids can also enjoy. This other way around is somehow more powerful to me, and so much more moving.

Kubo and Monkey

It was only a matter of time, then, that I would make something from Kubo, and Monkey seemed the perfect choice. I don't want to spoil it if you haven't seen it, but I loved the combo of protective, sassy, and wise that she pulled off. The dynamic between Beetle and Monkey was a joy to watch both for Kubo and the audience.

naked monkey face

I made her head, body and legs from some basic Red Heart which yarn I had on hand. The face and ears were from a leftover dusty rose color acrylic I also had in my stash. The taupe brown  of her hands is the same is Vanna's Choice from the beak of my Graboid. Finally I went out and bought one skein of Lion Brand's Wool-Ease in White-Multi, which has a little bit of shiny blue and pink something running through it. I felt it was perfect for her fur, which seemed to shine in many of the scenes.

really wanted to get her chest right

third version monkey paws

After spending a few weeks making body parts and ripping them out again, I finally got some shapes I liked. Then I remembered that Monkey has a left and right hand, and left and right foot, and that I would need to tweak the patterns to get it right. Then came stuffing and assembly, which always takes a few tries to get it all positioned right on the body. After that I added a bit of embroidery to the feet and added a little pink paint to the paws and face.

a hairless monkey!

Finally it was time to add the fur. This part took forever when I did Lion and he only had fur on part of his head and body, not everywhere! I only got about half of her body done when I ran out and needed to go buy a second skein. I spent about 15 hours just pulling the "fur" through. Then it was time to give her a hair cut. This was crucial, and I did use shorter tufts than Lion so I would have less to trim, but she still needed shaping around the face along the arms, neck and back.

looks a bit like when she was poofed by birds

She is finally done after about a month of work. Working on this just makes me appreciate how the Laika makers took the time on every puppet, every detail, just for us to take in without notice. It's amazing. Now she just needs a sword unbreakable...

Difficulty: Intermediate/Hard
Time to complete: 15 hours body, 10 hours fur
Finished Size: 13 inches from head to butt when sitting

Yes, I did write up the pattern, but not sure how I feel about sharing it yet, plus I still need to transcribe it. If there is interest, I will probably share.

Fish the Boxtroll

I kept seeing links popping up in Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook to a Heritage Auction of a ton of Laika props. Since I am broke and could not afford anything in the auction, but still wanted a ton of stuff, I did the next best thing and made something.
(WARNING: Very long post. Scroll to the bottom for finished pics if you don't care.)

I decided to make Fish from the Boxtrolls. His overall shape did not look too complicated to try to replicate in amigurumi. Though it is not my super favorite Laika film, Fish is one of the more charming boxtrolls and is very lovable. Plus, I already have a little me from Coraline.  I found a dusty green yarn and a darker green for accents and set to work writing the pattern as I went along.

I started with the head and just sort of roughed out a shape that I thought would work. I was using the high quality images from the auction itself to reference for the shapes of everything.

Head with nose, ears, eye dark and mouth embroidery.

Head & Body in main color green (numbers at the ends are stitch counts)

Notes: The head and body are worked as one piece. I do a lot of strategic increasing and decreasing to try to get the shoulders then a tuck-in through the chest area and then moving the increases to the front to make a belly bulge that tapers down into hips and finally a seat.

1: mc 6
2: sc 6 around
3: inc, 6sc  [7]
4: inc, 7sc  [8]
5: (inc,sc)  [12]
6: sc 12 around
7: (inc, 2sc)* repeat around   [16]
8-9: sc 16 around two rows
10: sc 13, 3dc popcorn in next one, 2 sc  [16] (makes the nose)
11: (inc, 3sc)* repeat around  [20]
12: {inc, 4sc)* repeat around  [24]
13-14: sc 24 around two rows
15: 5sc, ch 4, turn, sc, hdc, 3 dc in one to make 1st ear, slip stitch to same stitch, sc10 around, repeat ear, sc 9  [24]
16: sc around including one sc in the base of each ear [26]
17: 5sc, dec, 8sc, dec, 9sc  [24] (decreases should be under each ear)
18-21: sc24 around four rows
22: back loops only, dec, 5 sc, (in both loops: inc, sc, inc, sc, inc) in back loops again: 8sc, 2 dec  [24]       (the back loops make a line under the chin separating the shape of the head from the body)
23-26: sc 24 around four rows
27: 5sc, 2dec, 6sc, 2dec, 5sc  [20]
28: sc 20 around
29: 2inc, 16sc, 2inc  [24]
30: sc, inc, 20sc, ins, sc  [26]
31-35: sc 26 around five rows
36: dec, 6sc, inc, 10sc, inc, 4sc, dec  [26] (good idea to stuff here)
37-40: sc26 around four rows
41: (dec, sc3)* repeat around, sc in last stitch  [21]
42: (dec, sc3)* repeat around, sc in last stitch  [17]
43: (dec, sc2)* repeat around, sc in last stitch  [13] (stuff more here)
44: (dec, sc)* repeat around, sc in last stitch  [9]
45: dec around to close
Finishing embroidery in dark green: mouth, chest/nipples, over belly arch, belly button, shoulder blades, butt

Head and body with most embroidery. Butt was a little off center here, I redid it after legs went on.

I then decided to make up a shape for all that darkness around the eyes of the dark green. That way I could sew it on and not have to paint it.

Eye Dark in dark green
1: ch 6
2: 3sc in first, 3sc, 3sc in end, 3sc down other side of chain, slst to first
3: ch 1, 2slst, 2hdc in one, 2hdc, 2hdc in one, 2slst
bind off leaving tail, sew to face centered over nose

Legs make 2, in main green
Note: These are made from the foot up. I did try making a foot with popcorn stitches for toes, but they did not look accurate to the model, hence embroidering them on when done.
1: mc 6
2: inc each  [12]
3: (sc, inc)* around  [18]
4-5: sc 18 around two rows
6: dec, sc 7, dec, sc7  [16]
7: 16 sc around
8: dec, sc 6, dec sc 6  [14]
9: sc 14 around
10: dec, sc 5, dec, sc 5  [12]
11: sc 12 around
12: dec, sc 4, dec sc 4  [10]
13: sc 10 around
14: sc 5, popcorn 3dc in one stitch, sc 4  [10] (popcorn makes the knee)
15: sc 10 around (stuff)
16: dec, sc 3, dec, sc 3  [8]
17-21: sc 8 around 5 rows
leave tail to sew to body, stuff, embroider toes

Legs and first arm made. You can see how long the arms are, just like the movie!

Arms & Hands in main color, make 2

Note: these are worked from the shoulder down to the fingers. You will make three fingers and then add the thumb separately and sew in place. Stuffing the upper arms is tough but can be done with a chopstick-like stuffing device and patience. Stuff the fingers and forearm as you go along.
1: chain 6, connect to first to make loop (leave long tail end to sew to body with later)
2-16: sc 6 around fifteen rows (makes full upper arm)
17: inc, inc, sc 4  [8]  (makes elbow)
18-22: sc 8 around five rows
23:  inc, sc 7 around  [9]
24-26: sc 9 around three rows
27: inc, sc 8 around  [10]
28: sc 10 around
29: (inc, sc)* repeat around  [15]
30-31: sc 15 around two rows (stuff forearm here if haven't yet)
Now starting to make three fingers. Stuff before closing them off!
Index: sc 1, sc in last 5 stitches bridging the gap. First finger is 6 sc around. Do 18 sc around for length, stuff, then dec around to close. Cut yarn and hide tail.

Middle: 8sc around. Attach yarn in next open stitch by index finger. Sc in three, skip to three on opposite side right next to index finger. Do 3 sc in those, and 2 sc in the edge of the index finger to make 8. Do 24 sc around for length, stuff and then dec around to close. Again cut and hide tails. 

Pinky: 6sc around again. Should have 4 open stitches left. Attach in one right next to middle finger, do 4 sc around and two in the edge of the middle finger. Do 18 sc around for length, stuff and dec around to close. Bind off and hide tails. 

Thumb in main color, make 2

1: mc 3
2: inc around to 6
3-6: 6sc around
Bind off, leave tail, stuff, sew to hand at appropriate place.

So dang cute once those eyes are on.

Finishing Details

Sew thumbs to arms. Sew arms to area at shoulder. Sew legs to bottom of body toward the font so he can sit or stand. Do all embroidery of details if haven't yet. I made eyes out of orange felt and black pupils with black felt. Adhere to dark green eye background with Fabri-Tac glue (can be whatever you have on hand but that glue is especially great for fabric and yarn). I also added a little hair to the top of his head by looping and fraying a few strands of yarn.

Adding the pink shading.

Paint pink acrylic or fabric paint onto the ear, nose, elbow, fingers, knees, etc for highlights based on model. Can also paint on gray and dirt tones if desired, but I didn't. I love Nerdigurumi's video tutorial on this. 

All painted. Don't forget the butt. :)

I wrapped the legs with a brown flecked yarn to get the bandaged look.

Fish the Boxtroll is finished, but naked!

Now to make him a box... I measured him up and cut open a large cereal box and patterned a flat box on it and cut it out. After realizing the cereal box was not large enough to make fish's box, I taped it up anyway, missing some parts, to try it on him. His hands are so large that I had a really tough time getting it on him and had to cut slits in the sides to get it to work. Also the box made him a lot less cuddly.

With my paper box a failure I decided to get some felt and try to make him a box that way. It meant that I would have to embroider the design on the front with actual thread, not to mention sew... neither of which I have much experience with. I got a heavy stiff brown felt for the box itself, a dusty green for the fish design, and a tan for the paper label the fish design is on.

I used my paper template and cut out all the pieces: four sides, two with arm holes, the top with head opening, the seat with leg holes, and the flappy lid that hangs off the back. I cut out a rough rectangle for the label, and used a blue pen to sketch out the fish on the green. I have this cheap set of thread in a 10 colors and used what I had to backstitch the fish onto the label, using the thread to draw on the eye, fins and gills. I went back over with a second light tan to give the fish some more highlights. I also used it to help define the little bit of text I drew on with pen.

After the front was finished, I started sewing the pieces together. I used a backstitch to attach the head hole top to the long sides as I liked the line it created on both sides. However once that was done I realize I was in danger of using up all my thread. So from then on I did a simple sewing stitch and it held up fine. I did tweak the panels a bit once they were coming together to make it fit a bit more snugly.

I am a little bummed with the arm holes, as I think they are too large, but his hands wouldn't fit through anything smaller. Once I had a few pieces on, I added the base at the seat with the foot holes to start closing up the box.

As I got to the back I realized that with the amount of detail I put into his body, that it would be a shame if I sewed him into the box with no way to get it off. So I left one long side open as well as one short side at the base of his butt. I added tabs to the inside and then added snaps so that it could open and close. It will probably be a little difficult to get him out, but it should at least be possible this way.

Two snaps to be added to both the base and the long side tabs.

Anyway, now he's really done and not naked. I also think that this box actually looks a lot nicer on him than a cardboard one would. Plus he's cuddly even in his box now.

Time to complete naked troll: 10 hours
Time to complete felt box: 4 hours
Difficulty: Advanced for sure.

Halloween 2014

A bit late I know, but I wanted to share my costumes for this year!

Coraline
Obviously it isn't super on model but I think it gets the idea across well and is recognizable! I wore this Halloween day to Chipolte to get my $3 burrito and to the school football game. Turned out this coat is not warm and we had some of the first cold weather in Texas that night.

With my blue hair, a little makeup with added freckles, and a few pieces of clothes I think the transformation was pretty good. I will have to keep an eye out for yellow rainboots and a stone with a hole in it, though.

Yellow Rainjacket from L.L. Bean
Navy Camisole and Navy and White Stars sweater from Old Navy (from 4th of july season)
Dark wash Jeans from Target
Polka dot Rainboots from Target
Dragonfly hairclip made by me from felt, hot glue and a clip
A Little Me made by a good friend (made to really resemble real life me)
Crazy Gloves made by me

My Little Me did not have a raincoat, so I made one for her in about an hour and a half.
Two tiny sleeves, a body and a hood, sewed together, made for one cute tiny coat.

So there you go! A little money, a little work and a little wardrobe plundering equals a pretty good costume!

Oh and here's a pic of the pup! She's a skele-dog this year. It glows in the dark too. Got it last year on clearance at wal-mart for like $2. :)

So spoopy.

Saturday, the 1st we had a belated party because I really do like to have a Halloween bash. We have a great fire pit in the yarn and the cooler temps made it a really pleasant time. Since my Coraline outfit was dirty, I decided to throw together a second costume for the party.

I know most of you will not have seen the anime, Chobits, but it has robot girls called Persocoms. They have these big robot ears and are often dressed up. So I threw on my ears that I made, several years ago, from two pieces of craft foam. I used a clear bra strap and some bobby pins to keep them on my head and added a large flower to keep the strap hidden and add to the dressed up feel.

I went a little heavier on the make up than I normally do. I had shades of purple, blue and gray eyeshadow on and managed to line my whole eye. I also used a blue soft eyeshadow pencil to color my brows blue! A little pink lipstick completed the look.

I collect kimonos and this one is a purple pattern with cranes. It is a lighter one made of washable cotton (important since I was sitting around a fire all night). I had a yellow accent wrap and my bright green patterned obi to complete the look. It was really fun to do this look. Perhaps I will wear this out to an anime convention sometime... anyway.

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween.

Crazy Gloves

Last post I mentioned I bought some colorful new yarn for a new project based on an inspiration piece... that inspiration is Coraline's crazy gloves!

Those tiny gloves were really hand knitted by the same lady who made her star sweater. O.O

Those bright, striped gloves have stuck with me, and yes you can buy more accurate versions on Etsy, but I wanted to test a fingerless glove pattern and thought I could make myself a pair at the same time.

The Koigu yarn I bought was really spot on color wise I thought (if a little brighter). Same tones of orange, yellow, green and gray. Yes, it would not make the same kinds of stripes, but I am already getting away from their actual look since my pattern has open fingers too. That's ok. Hence Inspiration Piece.

The Koigu yarn...

Scrapped: Arched Cuffs pattern... too small I think.

The pattern I first tested is Arched Cuffs Fingerless Mitts by Cascade Yarns, I found it just doing a google search and since it was free I thought I would give it a go. Unfortunately, their "average woman's hand" size did not look like it was going to fit once I got about 7 rows into the pattern. I tried slipping it on and even though I could get it past my knuckles and to sit on my wrist it was a very tight fit. So, worried that I would put hours in and not have a product that I could use I decided to stop and try another. Now that I look back perhaps it could have been ok with a larger hook size as it called for a D hook and in the next pattern I used and E hook.

So I decided to go back to the first pattern I found for half finger gloves by PlayingwithFiber on Etsy. This one has two sizes so I know I can make the larger size and be assured it will fit. It's probably what I should have done from the start...

About halfway through, no thumb yet...

I had a little trouble with the foundation double crochet as it was new to me, but quickly picked it up after watching the video she links to. I am not sure why you couldn't just do a chain and then double crochet into it, like you might with other patterns, but I do like the way it turned out because it looks very polished. It was nifty to learn something new. Her modified half double crochet was also pretty cool and not too hard to master. It is important to know that the modified half double is not the same on both sides. There is a textured side and a smooth side, so I simply made sure the smooth was on the inside of the glove.

Almost done. Second needed knuckles and four fingers.

Although the variegated yarn did not stripe like I hoped it might, I think they came out great and will look lovely with the yellow raincoat I ordered... Even if they are a tiny bit too tight on me. Perhaps at some point I will make more accurate versions if I can find solid colors that match the movie gloves.

Kind of reminds me of the cover of a VHS or Beta cd...

Time to complete: 5 hours (10 hours for the pair then)
Difficulty: Intermediate

BTW, my 50g skein was more than enough for these both, so much so that I made a new chain for my yarn cutter out of the same pattern as the bracelet for my mom, just shorter.

After that I had a small ball... too much to throw away for sure. Not enough for much of anything... but maybe... a Headband!! Couldn't get one made that I liked though, so maybe I'll just make a few more long chains like this and wear em in the summer.

Also, one final note: From here on out, updates will be Monday only. That gives me more time to work on projects between posts and lets me keep up a nice buffer time. That means I can get ambitious or work on longer projects!

Coraline Fan Art

I follow Laika House on Instagram to get peeks at the upcoming movie Boxtrolls and everything else they work on. As I have expounded before I am fascinated by the handcrafted quality of the work that goes into their movies.

So when I saw a post where they were calling for submissions for Coraline fan art, for the 5th anniversary of it being released, I knew I had to enter. Prize is a pair of the limited edition Nike shoes from the 2009 release which I also tried to win at that time.

the reference picture

the sketch with inks

the finished watercolor

Submission was sent on February 6th... we will see what happens. FINGERS CROSSED

Bonus: Me and my little me.

UPDATE: So the submissions are voted on to win. I dislike that, since it's basically a popularity contest and not a random chance to win now. Oh well, at least I had a good time being inspired to make something fun and got to continue to work on my watercolor skills.

The Skees'

My husband really liked the last doodle from this post. So much so that he spun a whole story off it when talking to me about it and then asked if I could make a comic out of it for his birthday. Well, that was last month, but our anniversary was yesterday and I thought I would finish it in time.

I thumb-nailed the comic first. Then drew out each scene in pencil. We took some photographs for reference too. Then inked it when I was happy. Then scanned in all the inked panel sketches separately. Then took them into Illustrator to get vector line art. Then laid out the frames, vector art and text in InDesign. Then saved the file as an eps to keep the transparency. Took that eps into Photoshop. Colored the panels as if in full daylight. Then added a few filter layers to get the color right for a darker evening and the lighting. Added one more layer and tried to paint some backgrounds in for context.

Scooby Norman or ParaDoo

You might remember seeing a little thumbnail on a previous post that I mentioned was something I was rolling around in my head. Fanart for ParaNorman and Scooby Doo... kinda.
Well it is still in there. Annoying me because it won't come out right.

More doodles... Not happy with whole head and neck thing going on.

I think it helped to play around in the app called Paper on my iPad. That way I could get a sense of the color.

Getting to see those posters up close will help inspire me. I have no doubt.

Closest I have come to what I want... Will need to color it.

ParaNorman on my doorstep!

I usually tweet my posts here to their relevant subjects or creators if those entities have a twitter handle, for example, I direct tweets of fan art for webcomics to those comics' creators. Usually I get a nice note back from them expressing appreciation.

Last week, I tweeted about my outfit that inspired this post about the film ParaNorman. I got a reply back with a link asking me to confirm my identity and give them my address. I was unsure if I was simply entering their #WeirdWins contest or what. But I thought it couldn't hurt in any case.

I forgot about it until yesterday when a tube appeared on my doorstep, addressed to me, from Blithe Hollow. Blithe Hollow is the fictional town that ParaNorman is set in. Also, it was stamped with this tell tale stamp. I practically had a heart attack right then!

With trembling hands I brought it inside and set it on the table. My plan was to open it with my husband, but he didnt get home until 6pm. It was 12:15pm... could I make it? I busied myself with chores and work and trapping and rescuing a mother cat and her litter of 3 day old kittens from behind my woodpile.

The kitties didn't even have their eyes open yet.

 Now it was 4 something... nope can't wait!

Inside I found a lovely little postcard. Cool art on one side and a nice message to the recipient on the other. Loved the little skull detail at the bottom of the card. That's the graphic designer part speaking.

Rolled up inside was not one, two or three but FOUR... four posters. They are huge: 36"h x24"w. And on really nice paper too. They range from the one you see at the theater, to a few highly stylized zombie genre looking ones. I have no idea where I am going to put them, but I am going to frame and hang each and every one. I'm now thinking I should turn the giant blank wall in my office into a giant inspiration wall and just hang all kinds of random stuff on it, including these four.

This one is at theaters I think.

Looks a little Invader Zim to me.

My favorite.

Runner up for favorite.