Last day or two, I've been working on a new amigurumi crochet item- The Dogtopus! This is the first one I've made for saleing in my shop. I'm pretty excited about this new item, and I hope it does really well and gets positive feedback. :)
Check it out now! Enjoy!
Oddity Owl Art Store - Dogtopus amigurumi doll
Friday, April 11, 2014
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Introducing... the Dogtopus!
Do you know what amigurumi is? Amigurmi is the Japanese art of crocheting small, cute plush animals and other cute anthropomorphic creatures. Normally, amigurmi toys are animals, but there are also inanimate objects and food. It's so adorable, that the art of amigurmi has exploded all over the world. There are many books and patterns out there to create all kinds of great items.
I have been trying to teach myself crochet for years in order to make some cutie amigurmi items too. It's been hard for me to get my mind wrapped around crochet pattern diagrams and instructions. It took many a great youtube tutorials to help me finally get the basics under my belt. I started working on a dog pattern from the amazingly helpful book Ami Ami Dogs by Mitsuki hoshi. After several epic fail attempts, I eventually started to get an item that resembled an animal shape. Mitsuki's dogs are great, but they are realistic dog colors. My dogs, instead, were going to be made in fun, vibrant colors.
Since re-shaping and re-starting my business, I've been trying very hard to produce more inventory for my shop. I want to stay motivated and on track for always having more products to put out. I didn't do this last time around and it ended up causing a few kinks in the system. Anyways, my new motto is anything I make, I should sell too. If it's good for me, then it's good for you. So I thought ok, I'll make a few doggies for sale and get them up on my shop. I picked out my body color yarn and got to work.
Started working on the head and face.
After the ears were made, I took a break. I sat back and thought over what I was working on. I started thinking about how I was just following someone's pattern that anyone could get their hands on. There could be several dogs already out there to buy. What would make my dog any different then all the other dogs? For those who know me, know that I take a lot of pride in not being cookie cutter, for myself and for my work. I enjoying thinking and being outside the box.
So what could I do? I didn't want to just make a copy of a dog someone else is already selling. Was using a fun color enough of a change to make it different? Hmm... I didn't think so. I got my sketch journal down off the shelf and got to brainstorming. I ended up coming up with something different then your average dog, and idea I really liked a lot! Something new, something I'd never seen, something fun! But it meant I was going to have to design it myself. Did I know enough about crochet to be able to make up my own patterns? Back to brainstorming. I drew up some ideas for the body, using what I already knew from attempting to make other amigurmi animals, and coming up with a pattern I thought would work.
Now it was time to get back to work.
Started working on the body.
Then I started making the legs. Wait... what? Is that 5 legs? And I'm working on more? What's going on here....?
Legs, legs, legs!
Next up, I made a little sailor hat. It doesn't really look like a sailor hat though... it kinda looks more like a white bowler hat. o.O I wanted to try and stitch on an anchor in the front of it, but It would have been too difficult to do because I had already stitched the hat on the head. Next time I will have to put the anchor on before the hat gets on that head!
Now it was time to start putting all the pieces together. Head on the body, then the legs. I also needed to add a nose to the snout..
and then.... the Dogtopus prototype was done!! Half dog, half octopus, 100% adorable!
I am SO happy with how Dogtopus came out. :D And it went pretty smoothly while making it. Can't beat that! I can't wait to make one to put in the shop. I'm working on one that will hopefully be in the shop by early next week. Yay!
I have been trying to teach myself crochet for years in order to make some cutie amigurmi items too. It's been hard for me to get my mind wrapped around crochet pattern diagrams and instructions. It took many a great youtube tutorials to help me finally get the basics under my belt. I started working on a dog pattern from the amazingly helpful book Ami Ami Dogs by Mitsuki hoshi. After several epic fail attempts, I eventually started to get an item that resembled an animal shape. Mitsuki's dogs are great, but they are realistic dog colors. My dogs, instead, were going to be made in fun, vibrant colors.
Since re-shaping and re-starting my business, I've been trying very hard to produce more inventory for my shop. I want to stay motivated and on track for always having more products to put out. I didn't do this last time around and it ended up causing a few kinks in the system. Anyways, my new motto is anything I make, I should sell too. If it's good for me, then it's good for you. So I thought ok, I'll make a few doggies for sale and get them up on my shop. I picked out my body color yarn and got to work.
After the ears were made, I took a break. I sat back and thought over what I was working on. I started thinking about how I was just following someone's pattern that anyone could get their hands on. There could be several dogs already out there to buy. What would make my dog any different then all the other dogs? For those who know me, know that I take a lot of pride in not being cookie cutter, for myself and for my work. I enjoying thinking and being outside the box.
So what could I do? I didn't want to just make a copy of a dog someone else is already selling. Was using a fun color enough of a change to make it different? Hmm... I didn't think so. I got my sketch journal down off the shelf and got to brainstorming. I ended up coming up with something different then your average dog, and idea I really liked a lot! Something new, something I'd never seen, something fun! But it meant I was going to have to design it myself. Did I know enough about crochet to be able to make up my own patterns? Back to brainstorming. I drew up some ideas for the body, using what I already knew from attempting to make other amigurmi animals, and coming up with a pattern I thought would work.
Now it was time to get back to work.
Now it was time to start putting all the pieces together. Head on the body, then the legs. I also needed to add a nose to the snout..
and then.... the Dogtopus prototype was done!! Half dog, half octopus, 100% adorable!
I am SO happy with how Dogtopus came out. :D And it went pretty smoothly while making it. Can't beat that! I can't wait to make one to put in the shop. I'm working on one that will hopefully be in the shop by early next week. Yay!
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