Handmade toys
I've made a lot of toys over the years and I decided to record them here for posterity.
I designed these monkeys ages ago and I had a professional sew them. I made a prototype first. I sold them at a gallery show that I had at Reactor Art and Design.
Later they were featured in a book called Designing for Children by Stephen Heller and Stephen Guarnaccia.
Unfortunately I can't find my own monkey toy so I had to use the photos from the book.
After the monkeys I was asked to be in a show featuring artist made toys. A girl that I worked with took a screening workshop and wanted to do something with me. I made tiny pencil drawings of imaginary insects and blew them way up using a copier. My friend silk screened them onto fabric and we sewed them up using really simple legs and antennae. I called them Bedbugs because I thought it sounded kind of cute but since the huge infestations we have had here in Toronto I now think it sounds kind of itchy.
After I had my son I remembered a handmade penguin that my Grandmother knitted for me. I loved it so much and I wanted to do that for my son. The first thing I made for him was this sock monkey, my mother in law embroidered the mouth and eyes. We also made a sock elephant which sadly can't be found. This monkey is missing a pompom from his hat (the dog got it).
When we first got our dog he really like chewing toys particularly Lego. One day I was cleaning up some poop in the backyard (oh the joys of owning pets) and there was a Lego cap sitting on it at a jaunty angle. I wanted to send it to Lego's Create and Share site but I chickened out.
All the toys here were well-loved so they aren't in tip top condition.I have made about 50 toys for my son over the years but the majority of them were following somebody's pattern at my sons request. I'm only posting the ones I made up for him.
These are characters that show up on a Tamagotchi screen. The one guy is missing a foot, I also made some that were like eggs but they are MIA.
This bat was based on an imaginary pet my son had. He called him Sticky Bat because he said he would stick to his shoulder.
At one point my son was really into owls so I made him this guy.
This is my favorite toy, Marshmallow Cow. I felted some wool and it ended up being really thick and difficult to work with but I made this guy out of it. He's only about 4" high and the mouth ended up a little crooked but I think that's what I like about it. He looks like a bad ass to me, you wouldn't want to meet him in some dark... er pasture.