MeSmithy's Art Space

Warrior Armadillo

2010-12-27T11:41:00.000-08:00

A super interesting commission, I was asked to make an armadillo! I love learning about strange animals and armadillo fit the bill. This piece took me longer then it should have but I have been having the craziest month! I can't wait for January

Dark Moogle and Sprites

2010-12-02T11:03:00.001-08:00

Well I did it! I finally made a Dark Moogle and he will be for sale at Rivet Gallery's 'Plush You!' show this weekend. All the artists were asked to submit 2 pieces and to keep them fairly priced in the interest of the economy and the holiday season. Well, I knew I wanted to make a black Moogle but it took me a while to decide on what the other piece should be. I wanted to do something that would fit with the moogle but due to all the house hunting and traveling in Novmember I didn't really have time for another large piece. I decided the soot sprites from Spirited Away would be a cute and accessible gift that people could use as charms or ornaments. I can't wait to see what the show looks like all put together and I hope it goes well. Next up, an interesting custom sculpt and some leather coin purses I have been working on.

Hathor - God of Fertility

2010-09-24T14:47:00.001-07:00

Here is my Jouwe for theTAG show on October 2nd. I was really excited to work on this piece because it has a lot of natural character and less 'blank' then other platforms. I wanted to change the piece a bit but still maintain the look, so I decided to follow the Egyptian theme and celebrate Hathor the Ox got of fertility.

7" Mog

2010-09-08T15:17:00.000-07:00

After completing my mega moogle I did a 7" one for Amy Greenwood aka Vinyl Goddess She did an amazing write up and critique of the piecehere I love that she actually critiques and analysis vinyl art instead of just blanket affirmations of approval. I would love to see her tackle even more pieces! Head on over and give it a read!

I made a few forms for future Mogs, this time flocking their noses which I think added a little something. Once I finish my jouwe I would like to make a black Nega Moogle! Then I will take a break from moogles, I swear (maybe not)

In other news, I hope to overhaul the website soon, maybe within a week or so, so all future blog posts will be there. Heres hoping!

Mog the Mega Munny Moogle

2010-07-27T11:58:00.001-07:00

Almost a year ago I left the show American Dad, where I had worked for four years, to join up with Futurama. The crew of AD is so amazing and they gave me a mega munny as a good bye present. I knew I wanted to turn that gift into something I wanted for myself, so I decided a life sized moogle is what I needed in the house :) I got him done in time for comic con and brought him along for the ride.

Tiki Mask

2010-07-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

Every summer my friends and I make costumes and attend theLabyrinth of JarethMasquerade Ball in Los Angeles. In the past I have made a deer spirit, dragon, and a couple fish. Last year I had the idea of doing a light up tiki mask but the wedding plans kept me from having the time. This year I started in April and was able to finish it with no problems! My goals were to make it lighter than previous masks, better visibility by having it flip up, and to use glow wire in a thoughtful way (it can look super chintzy if done wrong). My friend Kelli also did a tiki mask and we had a great time at the ball :)

Brain Slugs

2010-07-15T14:29:00.000-07:00

Wednesday was the last table read of season six for Futurama. We had many treats to celebrate and my favorite was the Brain Slug cupcakes. Not only were they adorable but also amazingly delicious! They were so cute people wanted to keep them, so I decided to whip some up not made of food :)

900º Celsius

2010-06-30T13:42:00.000-07:00

I heard about TAG doing a custom Celsius show and I wanted to get on board. The Celsius is a great platform and a lot of fun to work with. I feel super lucky to be involved in the! The show will be on July 10th so come on out and support some great artists!

ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD

2010-05-26T16:06:00.001-07:00

For my birthday I decided to go to Paint, Wine & Cheese at Paint Lab in Santa Monica. I wanted to do a painting to hang in the office that also wouldn't take to long to do, so I decided on Hypnotoad which is one of my favorite Futurama Characters. Also, I did another custom set of Universe A Futurama figs. I do not own the rights to Futurama or Hypnotoad, those belong to the amazing Matt Groening and Fox Studios.

Beware the Blue Shells

2010-05-26T15:56:00.000-07:00

I saw a JLED Gamerita going for really cheap on ebay so I decided to pick it up. I thought making it look like a Koopa from Mario brothers would be fun (specifically the blue shells from mario kart) and of course I wanted to do it in stitched leather. To be honest, this piece took a long time and I think I will be taking a break from stitch leather toys and maybe focus more on painting. I like how the leather looks but it takes a super long time and the response to it is mixed. Right now I am focusing on my labyrinth costume and I'll post some wip of that later.

The Last Unicornasaurus

2010-04-07T16:56:00.000-07:00

Wow, its an updating frenzy! I finished this last night after about a month of work on and off so I am glad to have it done! Its headed to Chicago for the Last Unicorn Art Show. Its hard to tell in the pictures but the thread on the body is opalescent and in the mane its iridescent. I can't wait to see the other pieces for the show :)

Wow, sorry about the radio silence

2010-04-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

So it seems like I haven't updated in a long time and I need to get better about that! I want my blog and website to stay current so I am going to start being better about it. First up, I finished these custom Mei Mei and Di Di in February. These figures were sent to me way before the wedding and I was glad to finally finish them! At first I was a little intimidated by the shape, especially the big hair buns on Mei Mei, but then I got the idea to use animals of the zodiac and transformer her buns into horns. After that it all fell into place

Fundraiser Stitched Mini Munny

2010-01-18T20:10:00.000-08:00

I started working on this mini munny the day before the earthquake. After hearing about the devastation in Port Au Prince I decided to make this piece a fund raiser. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross. While I am sure many of you have already helped the cause, please consider giving a little more and getting a one of a kind stitched leather mini munny as a thank you. Lets send the people of Haiti as much help as we can!
You can bid here

here are some pictures of the process

Final project of 2009!

2009-12-14T12:23:00.000-08:00

So here it is, my final project of the year! I was asked once again to make flash drives, this time for the cast of The Cleveland Show. Since the drives are so small its very tedious work but now that its over I feel very accomplished.

I'm Alive! Back from the wedding abyss!

2009-11-10T15:21:00.001-08:00

Weew! It has been a long haul but finally I am all done with my wedding! After months of planning it all came together beautifully and I thought I would take this time to post some pictures, talk a bit about the process, and acknowledge my amazing vendors. First Installment:

Bridal Attire

The Dress- Ok, so I did try on some 'regular' wedding dresses at Alfred Angelo. I knew we were going to have a beach wedding and they had no shortage of pictures showing bride on the beach in huge $7,000 dresses, but it just didn't seem right to me. On the other hand, I didn't want this occasion to be too casual either. Finally after weeks of searching I found Wai-Ching. Chrissy is an extremely talented designer in Seattle and I just fell in love with her look, particularly 'Eucalyptus'. Her dresses feel elegant and youthful but without looking too hippy (at least to me).

It was definitely a bit scary to just send my money and email her my measurements without trying anything on first, but I was so in love I had to have faith. When it arrived 3 months later it fit perfectly (I opted for a lace up back) but it had a boo boo. There was a brown dye spot on the dress that I thought looked too much like a stain. Since its hand dyed thats bound to happen. I contacted Chrissy and she was super helpful. I was able to send it back and have the dye removed without any problems.

My only complaint was that while Chrissy is an amazing designer, I get the feeling that she may need a personal assistant or at least more 'office type' help. When I sent the dress back with the dye issue I also asked for it to be hemmed. When the dress came back the spot was gone but no new hem. I'm sure she just forgot but thats what production people are for, so the artist is free to make art and not worry about details.
Overall I can't thank her enough! I got my perfect wedding dress and I simply adore it :)

Shoes - I didn't actually wear shoes on the beach, but I did have the lovely Tommy Bahama sandals for the reception. They were both elegant and comfortable.

Necklace and Earrings - All I can say is Thank God I have a

sister who is good at this stuff! She helped me narrow down what I should be looking for in a jewlery/hair/dress combination. The dress has a shear halter top which I decided to wear on the beach, but wanted a nice necklace for the reception. Once I had a direction I went straight to etsy and found Deb Pattyn.

She makes stunning sea glass necklaces and since sea glass was sort of a theme for the wedding it fit perfectly. I was able to work with her by sending picture of my dress so she could find just the right shade. The necklace and earrings are is so beautiful and I know I will treasure them always.

Anklets - I also wanted sea glass anklets for myself and my bridesmaids, so once again I went online and found Sarah of Camano Creations. I was actually able to send her some sea glass that I found, in addition to her own, to incorporate into the pieces. She made them specifically for each dress and she was super fast! They turned out great.

Hair - Last but certainly not least, Mariela Hellewell did all the hair for the wedding party (thats her in the picture) and she did an amazing job! She works at Carlton Hair Salon in West LA, so if you live on the Westside hit her up. I made the flowers by just gluing fake ones from Joann Fabrics onto the ends of bobby pins. It was a simple and inexpensive accent.

Stitched Cow

2009-09-01T14:33:00.000-07:00

After a solid month of working on wedding projects I needed a break! My Mom's birthday was around the corner and she had mentioned wanting one of my stitched figures. Since she works on dairies I thought a little cow would be appropriate. Took me about a week and it was a great way to unwind. Now its back to the wedding stuff, but I really enjoyed my mini hiatus.

Raj - The Stitched Elephant

2009-07-23T11:51:00.000-07:00

All done! I took too long on this guy, but I was having a hard time getting a clear idea of what he was supposed to look like. I could have stopped when he was all stitched, but I liked the idea of decorative painting. Leather is an unforgiving medium to paint on, but it was exciting :) Now I'm sending him off to Phoenix for the 'Munny Grubbers' show in August. I hope he finds a home!

Slowly yet surely

2009-07-06T14:30:00.001-07:00

Since Chelo and I have really started to crack down and work on wedding stuff, the progress on this piece has been pretty slow. I was able to log a few hours this weekend and i can finally see the end in site! Once he's all stitched I want to add more 'decorative' elements, which will be a new thing for me.

Sometimes when I start projects I have a clear vision of the outcome (Anubis, the deer spirit mask, mog) and other times I just have an idea and hope that it fleshes out (stitch the lion, tropical fish mask, this elephant) It doesn't always turn out as well as I hoped, but I always learn something from the process and I always have fun doing it. I'm still not really sure where this elephant (whom I named Raj) is going, but I enjoy being along for the ride :)

Big Cartel

2009-06-16T18:05:00.000-07:00

Finally got a big cartel account:

http://mesmithy.bigcartel.com/

i only have Mog posted at the moment, but i hope to have a few things go up over the next few months

Process Pictures

2009-06-16T16:34:00.000-07:00

Thought I would share some process pictures of my new project. This is my first 8' munny. I enjoy the large format for this particular figure (cuz its an elephant) but to be honest I seem to prefer the 5" mini munnys. I like that they take up lest real-estate on desks and shelves

Anubis

2009-05-29T11:58:00.001-07:00

For the show 'Into the Darkness' hosted by 1AM Gallery in San Francisco I decided to make a little Anubis. This is the last gallery show I will be participating in until after the wedding but I still have some other projects on my plate. I was able to complete Anubis in 5 days, which is a record for me.

Stitch the Lion update

2009-05-04T23:44:00.000-07:00

I just found out that 'Stitch the Lion' won another contest! His first was the 'Most Fabulous' award at Switcherooni's 'Easter Munny Show' and now its first place in Delicious Drips contest
I'm glad he has been so well received and i hope to do more like him in the furture :)

American Dad and Family Guy - Jump Drives

2009-05-04T16:21:00.000-07:00

After submitting a sculpty jump drive of the American Dad character Klaus to one of our office art shows, I was commissioned by the casting director to make the rest of the family. After that she wanted some Family Guy chatacters as well. These jump drives are 4GB and some were given to the cast as christmas gifts. These pictures are just horrible, but since they are so small and glossy it was hard to take a good picture :( All are made with colored sculpty and NOT painted.

Masks - Tropical Fishy

2009-05-04T16:08:00.001-07:00

My friend Kelli wanted to go to the Masquerade ball in 2008, so I told her I would make the mask if she made the costume. She had a particular tropical fish in mind for her costume, so I used those colors and went from there. I didn't like working with fabric as well as leather, but overall I think it worked out.

Masks - Angler Fish

2009-05-04T16:03:00.000-07:00

I decided that I wanted to be scary for the 2008 Masquerade ball, so my costume was an Angler fish. Wire frame covered in leather with a light up angler.

Masks - The Deer Spirit

2009-05-04T15:58:00.001-07:00

I finished this mask in June of 2007 for the Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball in Los Angeles. Marchelo wore the 'Deer Spirit' costume and brought the character to life. the mask is made of a wire frame, then stitched buckskin, rabbit pelt, feathers, beads, and antlers.

Sharky Labbit

2009-04-30T11:51:00.001-07:00

I submitted a piece for LIFT gallery's 'Multipile Personalities' show. After hearing the title, the first thing I thought of was a shark who was also a rabbit (go figure) Thus, Sharky Labbit was born!

Catbus Labbit

2009-04-16T11:47:00.000-07:00

So we're doing a vinyl toy show at work and since I had an extra labbit lying around, I decided to make the Catbus from My Neighbor Totoro.

I had originally thought of giving him extra legs, but then realized that not only would they be hard to see through the fur, but that most of my pieces are heavily sculpted. I thought this time I would try to maintain the shape of the labbit as much as possible and just add a tail.

Colored sculpty for the eyes, mouth, nose, and windows

hi Totoro!

Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon Dunnys!

2009-04-06T12:21:00.000-07:00

So I did these for an event that ended up being a wash, but I learned a lot in the process. I dunno if I'll do dunnys again cuz they are so small! only 3"! I think my eyes were crossing by the time I was done -_-

Stitch the Lion

2009-04-06T12:15:00.001-07:00

I decided to try something new by applying leather to a munny form and then stitched the pieces together. I am really pleased with how it turned out :)

Now time for the Mane!

Mog the Moogle Mini Munny!

2009-04-06T12:04:00.000-07:00

Mog, from Final Fantasy, is one of my favorite video game characters, so when thinking of a subject to submit to Shoparooni's Easter Munny Show the choice was easy! He's cute, fuzzy, and ready to kick ass!

Fuzzy Mini Munny Momo

2009-04-06T11:50:00.000-07:00

After making Appa I decided to make Momo from the same show

Since I wanted Momo to spread his arms so you can see his wings, I had to add a ball and socket joint to the munny. I used a spare one from a volunteer Stikfa

Fuzzy Appa Mini Munny

2009-04-06T11:36:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do a munny of Appa from Avatar the Last airbender. I thought I might try something new by making him furry :)

Here is Appa, the 6 legged sky bison.

Sculpted up. Now time to add the fur!

All fuzzy!

My First Munny - Babe the Blue ox

2009-04-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

This was the first munny I ever made and it was for a munny exchange with my friends: