Unique crochet doll patterns - Vox Mortuum

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2009-09-13T16:00:00.001-04:00

Testing.

The Frog Prince

2009-06-11T22:34:00.003-04:00

"Dresses, or jewels, or golden crowns, are not for me; but if thou wilt love me, and let me be thy companion and playmate, and sit at thy table, and eat from thy little golden plate, and drink out of thy cup, and sleep in thy little bed,--if thou wilt promise me all these things, then I will dive down and fetch up thy golden ball."

The Frog, that may or may not later become a Prince. In exchange for returning her
golden ball, he asks quite a bit -- to eat from her plate, and drink from her cup, and even sleep in her bed. But what Princess could ever bear being so close to a slimy ugly frog?

This Frog is extremely posable -- and sizable, coming in at a massive 23 inches wide
from finger to finger, 9 inches of body length, and 24 inches from snout-tip to
toe-tip.

Pattern now available!!!

You’re out of the woods, you’re out of the dark, you’re out of the night...

2009-04-16T17:34:00.001-04:00

It all starts with Dorothy:

Dorothy was the girl swept up into a tornado and dropped by its force into the Wonderful land of Oz. There upon her way she receives a kiss on the forehead by the witch in the Munchkin kingdom -- and also the magic slippers of the wicked witch that was killed by her falling farmhouse. In the book the slippers were silver with pointed toes. Did you know that? :)

Along her way she meets the Scarecrow:

The “brainless" Scarecrow joins her, hoping to ask the Wizard for a brain. Eventually he gets a head full of pins, needles, and bran, to make him very sharp indeed. I gave him a diploma so he can still look smart without being pokey when hugged.

After that, they find the Tin Woodsman, frozen in one spot:

Luckily my Tin Woodsman has less of a tendency to rust. Still, just to be sure, he also carries his trusty oil can with him. He brings his ax along to help clear the path for Dorothy and the other travelers to reach the amazing Emerald City. There, Oz grants him his wish: the gift of a heart, "made entirely of silk and stuffed with sawdust." The Wizard soldered it into the Tin Man’s chest in the story, so I’ve left the scar where you can see it.

Then they have a brief scuffle with a rather Cowardly Lion:

It’s tough to be such a cowardly king! The Lion follows along with Dorothy and her other friends to the fabulous Emerald City, where he hopes the Wizard of Oz will give him courage. The courage the Wizard originally provides in the book is green liquid and comes out of a bottle – lots of people do find their bravery at the bottom of a glass like that. But I decided to show our Lion as the brave and happy creature that laughs at his former cowardice.

But then Dorothy and her friends are sent to dispose of the Wicked Witch:

Pure evil, or so we're told. In the story, she had only one eye -- but it could see like a telescope. For the sake of symmetry I gave her both eyes, but I kept all the other wicked witch tropes alive -- the green skin, the black dress, the pointed hat, the broom. She is so evil that when Toto bites her she does not bleed; her evil had dried her up ages ago. She forces Dorothy to be her slave until the time that Dorothy sloshes a bucket of water over her, melting her into non-existence.

The Wizard is able to escape in a balloon, but Dorothy needs a bit more help from Glinda:

Glinda the Good Witch in the original Wizard of Oz story has red hair and bright blue eyes, and a white dress -- but how boring is white? Glinda is such a pink name. It practically has sparkles on it. So I gave her a pink dress. Glinda meets Dorothy towards the end of her story, and helps Dorothy to realize the power of her silver slippers to get her back to Kansas. She also sets up the Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman, and the Cowardly Lion each to rule their own little kingdom of Oz.

*******************

I hope you’ve liked my little picture show; I didn’t mean to bomb everyone with so many pictures but I wanted to wait until I had the whole group to display. If anyone’s interested, I’ve got all these patterns available on my website; and soon I’ll be rounding out the set with the Wizard, some munchkins, some flying monkeys, and Toto too!

Having a big sale!

2009-03-18T23:10:00.002-04:00

For a limited time, all dolls and commissions are 20% off!

Go here for details: http://voxmortuum.net/sale.htm

It's been a month...

2009-03-15T12:47:00.003-04:00

But I've been busy!

Quick post before I head off to do the mundane things around the house that require doing. During the month that I was away, I was not idle! First, I finished up Optimus Prime.

He's an amazing 2.5 feet tall by 1.5 feet wide and the client was in awe. Always a good feeling. :) See Optimus's full page here.

Also, I finished up Bronx from Gargoyles - another huge build:

Bronx is 20 inches long by 20 inches tall and very snuggly. The client for him had had to wait a year for me to get him as perfect as I wanted him to be, and she felt that he was certainly worth it! View his full page here.

Upcoming builds: Pennywise from IT, Voltron (all 5 robots combining to make 1), Haku's dragon form from Spirited Away, and more! Watch this space. :)

Quick Update

2009-02-16T20:30:00.003-05:00

Oye, what a week. Nothing grand; been working along on the Super Deformed Optimus Prime. Couple of things have slowed me down: last week, a fibro-flare, and this weekend a case of stomach flu!

So nothing completed lately, but I've had good reason. And in the interest of posting more often and being accountable for my art, I wanted to let my blog know. :)

Hopefully I'll have more and better to report by the weekend.

MORE BUTTONS!

2009-02-10T21:19:00.004-05:00

Hokay, so -- got some work done on a smaller Optimus Prime over the weekend; also got some serious work on Bronx from Gargoyles. The original Optimus Prime I started, I was working in scale from the head I completed... which would make him wind up to be over 4 feet tall.

Let me say that again: 4 Feet Tall.

But the original person commissioning me had paid me something more like... oh, possibly 2 feet tall. So now I've got a half finished Overstuft Optimus Prime yarn statue *thing* that I really would like someone to commission so that I can finish it. I've made the pretty strict rule for myself this year that I will not start a new doll unless I'm commissioned to do so -- I've got about 20 dolls of my own interest that I started along and along and just haven't finished yet. So I've got to work down my backlog!

I'm considering selling the HYOOGE Optimus for $250, plus shipping to wherever. So if you're interested, please shoot me an email.

But the real reason I'm posting now is because I've got my Unicorn/Horse pattern back up for sale, and if you're not on Ravelry (and you should be! Why aren't you? Go ahead and join up; I'll wait.... okay, you there yet?) this'll be your first crack at it. So get it for $7! Look at this face. Can you deny this face?

Here's your button!

More on next weekend, same hook time, same hook channel. :)

The Crow-Black Dream

2009-02-01T14:23:00.002-05:00

"Don't look! Don't look!" the shadows breathe
Whispering me away from you
"Don't wake at night to watch her sleep
You know that you will always lose
This trembling, adored, tousled, bird-mad girl... "
But every night I burn
But every night I call your name
Every night I burn
Every night I fall again

"Oh, don't talk of love," the shadows purr
Murmuring me away from you
"Don't talk of worlds that never were
The end is all that's ever true
There's nothing you can ever say
Nothing you can ever do... "
Still every night I burn
Every night I scream your name
Every night I burn
Every night the dream's the same
Every night I burn
Waiting for my only friend
Every night I burn
Waiting for the world to end

"Just paint your face," the shadows smile
Slipping me away from you
"Oh it doesn't matter how you hide
We'll find you if we're wanting to
So slide back down and close your eyes
Sleep a while, you must be tired... "
But every night I burn
Every night I call your name
Every night I burn
Every night I fall again
Every night I burn
Scream the animal scream
Every night I burn
Dream the crow black dream

Dream the crow black dream...

More Heads.

2009-01-31T22:22:00.003-05:00

So the work I've done lately is I finished Optimus Prime's head:

And I finished Queen Etherea from Venture Bros:

And I just yesterday finished a doll of the Crow (from the movie of the same name), but I won't have pictures made until tomorrow. He turned out incredibly good.

I'm looking at doing some commissions this spring and summer, and working on my current commissions. Just got the payment for a Voltron commission, so that'll be fun. :)

Please wait while your Vox Mortuum is loading...

2009-01-25T16:57:00.004-05:00

Oye. I haven't posted in so long. First the holidays, then trying to get caught up on my past commissions, and this and that and the other...

So I've made a mini resolution to check in every Sunday and just make a post about what I've been trying lately, maybe throw a picture on to it, ya know.

I've started on to an Optimus Prime commission; this week I've finished the head. Today I also completed a Queen Etherea (from Venture Bros.) and also Terra's Esper form (from Final Fantasy 6). Pictures will be forthcoming.

And for today's yarn pr0n I give you: Zexion. He was a Kingdom Hearts commission that turned out quite nicely.

I'm watching my darling husband play Kingdom Hearts - Re: Chain of Memories on the PS2, and I definitely must admit I wouldn't mind doing various characters and enemies from this game or the others in this series. However, I also have a total of SEVENTEEN personal dolls I've made a mini resolution to finish before I start anything new. What does this mean? It means that if you want to see it in crocheted plush, email me and talk commissions to me! The only way anything jumps to the head of the line right now is if I'm retained to build it. :)

Big builds coming up: a dear friend has commisioned some more of the Heartless; also the same gent who commissioned the Optimus Prime has promised me some funds for a fully transformable Voltron -- all 5 lion dolls that become the main robot. I look forward to the challenge. :D

So please stay tuned, and I'll try to be better about updates!

Working Hard

2008-09-07T22:43:00.002-04:00

Yesterday I sent some correspondence, updated my Ravelry account and finished the Akio from Revolutionary Girl Utena I had been working on. Pictures soonish.

Today I've finished two commissioned dolls that were about 60% done previously, sent more correspondence, worked rooting the hair and finessed a few more details of the Miki doll (also from RGU).

I also went to Michaels, helped my fiancee do the laundry, and did a grocery run.

Currently I'm working on the pants for Juri Arisugawa (yet another character from RGU).

Tomorrow I'll finish up the Miki doll, in the breaks and the time bracketing my "real job". I think I'll also try to make a post office run.

I don't know what I'd do without my wonderful fiancee -- he really handles all the logistics of our life. He makes the work possible.

Time to get back to it!

Touching the Infinite

2008-09-07T11:39:00.005-04:00

From the wikipedia:

The Infinity Gauntlet is a fictional artifact that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics.

The Gauntlet is a glove mounted with the six Infinity Gems. Each Infinity Gem grants its bearer complete mastery over one aspect of the Universe, being Time; Space; Mind; Soul; Reality and Power.

A wielder of all six Infinity Gems has, in theory, virtual omnipotence and can manipulate the universe on whim. Only the cosmic entity Living Tribunal has been implied to be beyond the power of the Gems, as it managed to prevent them from being used in conjunction.

I'm such a fan girl. As soon as I got this tribute idea I had to follow through on it. This turned out really well -- approximately 12 inches by 6 inches, with all the details from the comic. It's firm but flexible. There's a lot of movement allowed in the fingers for all of its bulky size (as you'll see as soon as I can get the webslave to add the page to the website...) yet the glove is still solid enough to stand on its own. Here's a picture!

Two updates in the same 7 day period? The world is ending...

Overdue Update

2008-09-03T11:01:00.004-04:00

Been a fair long while since my last decent update, so I figure I should let you in on the happenings. First, Gathering of the Gargoyles was an unparalleled hit -- I took in twice the funds as last year, and I got 24 commissions to last year's 16. I'll be working on those throughout the year (and a little ways into next year). I think I kicked a fair amount of donkey, and I know I had a great time. Made some marvelous new friends, reconnected with some old friends, ate some absolutely delicious food. Curse you Chicago, with your inexpensive but exquisite sushi places that deliver!

Currently for my personal project, I'm working on making Tribute Dolls of the characters of Final Fantasy 6. You can view the sprites I'm working on at this website. I have Relm, Celes, and Celes as Maria completed and up with their own pages on my website, and currently I have Terra’s Esper form in process.

Here's some link-love of the new girls! I think they turned out beautifully.

(RELM)

(CELES)

(MARIA)

I contemplated making Relm's Chocobo Brush and Celes's sword, but decided that accessories in the future should probably be an addition to the commission (and of necessity, to the price) -- they turn out great but they add a lot of time to the project completion. What with my full-time "real" job and my already-commissioned knot-work, I don't currently have the spare hours. But what a delightful complaint, to have days full of what I love to do. :)

I'm thinking that after I finish up the Final Fantasy 6 characters as Tribute Dolls I'd like to work my way through the Disney Villainesses. There are such *great* evil women in the Disney mythos that I'd love to parody in yarn.

I have definite plans to create most of the main characters of Revolutionary Girl Utena as Tributes. I’ve started on the group with Touga Kiryuu, who turned out adorable. I’m nearly done with Akio (and halfway through Miki and Saiyonji) so I’ll supply pictures of those when they’re available. To keep the masses satisfied, here’s one of Touga:

And then whatever else draws my eye. :) As always, if there's any character, any object, any idea you'd love to see in plush -- just drop me an email and talk commission to me!

I've not paused on my original designs either. I have finished both the Demonic and Angelic pair. MY LINKS! LET ME SHOW YOU THEM!

(ANGELS)

(DEMONS)

It's also the time of year where I need to be polishing up my Nativity pattern -- currently it's Mary, Joseph, and the Baby J with manger, but once it grows to book form it'll include Wise Men, Shepherds, sheep, cows, camels, Angel, star -- and possibly even the stable.

Yes. I feel confident I can crochet a stable. :D

Love and crochet,

Vox

P.S. Note to self: Must crochet the Chainsaw of Enlightenment someday... and tell the story about how the idea came about…

P.P.S. Tomorrow -- pictures of the new crocheted Infinity Gauntlet. :)

You Always Remember Your First...

2008-07-25T01:32:00.003-04:00

Sales button, that is.

That beautiful little thing up there? Will take you to buy my Octopus Pattern.

I'll get the website worked up soon with these buttons as I add the pattern to Ravelry's magnificent designer service.

*jumps up and down and squees for about ten thousand years*

I just wanted to brag a bit...

Alchemy Commissions Now Available

2008-06-22T13:16:00.005-04:00

I am now taking Alchemy Commissions on my Etsy page. So if there's ever been an animal or a character that you'd like to see as a plush animal, bop on over to my Etsy site and commission it! All commissions start at $45 plus $9 shipping and handling in the continental US, and the pattern remains my property for future distribution at my discretion.

Also, I'm having my code slave Fauxfire update the website this week, so a lot of things should be tightened up soonish.

Oye. I'm staring up at my bookcase right now, which has ...(counts)... nine half-finished dolls on it. So much work to do!

Next weekend (27th through 30th) Fauxfire and I will be at Gathering of the Gargoyles in Chicago. Come out and chat us up in the dealer's room. :D

Busy as a Bee -- but I finished the bus!

2008-06-19T10:51:00.004-04:00

Yikes! So much to do, so little time! I'm ready for the Gathering of the Gargoyles (June 27th through 30th in Chicago, come check us out!) but I want MORE MORE MORE! I want to get my book finished and published; I want to get my website updated and polished; I've got so many designs for merchandise that I don't have the time to get out on paper/in vector form.

Not to mention more fabulous designs, more books, more art forms (and mediums), more ideas!

I guess I'd better start working on cloning myself; it's the only way I'll manage.

Anyhoo, I'm inviting more commissions, so if there's a doll you'd like to see, let me know!

P.S. I finished my catbus! Here's some pics:

There's more at my website, and more updates soon!

Sick day means a work day!

2008-05-05T11:47:00.000-04:00

Whew! Sorry for no updates, Faithful Viewers, but I've been working non-stop since last I posted. Full-time job + full-time doll-making = Vox too busy to update elsewhere. But a sick-day means some forced inaction, and boy do I have some goodies for you. Here are some shots of my half-finished CatBus!

Also I should have some shots of a non-crochet project up soon. Hope you like it!

Spread the Word!

2008-04-04T20:17:00.000-04:00

Whew, more sites! If you have a Facebook or Myspace account, feel free to friend my accounts on those networking websites. They're just stubs right now, but I plan to load them to the fullest this weekend. I'll be starting my new job Monday so I've got to get in there and get some things tidied up before I do. :)

myspace: http://myspace.com/voxmortuum

facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1211315440

What all else did I do today?

* Finished up a commission on an original character for a nice young lady.
* Got some cat-bus legs going on; pictures to follow tomorrow
* Directed my Dear Web Designer in tweaking a few pages of my website so that they look a bit tighter
* And now I'm going to start working on the bodies for the Demon and Demoness, the next two dolls for my future book.

Lots of stuff coming down the pike and I'm really excited about it all. I hope you are too. Stay tuned!

Today I got a little head. :)

2008-04-03T19:06:00.000-04:00

Today I did a lot on Ravelry, and I definitely suggest that all yarn and fiber artists get an account there. I posted the new Centaur dolls (male and female I did make them) and pictures of my Pegasus.

I'll have these patterns completed and up on my etsy shop within the next day or so.

But the thing I've found tres nifty today was the work I did on Maleficent's faceup, as seen below. Isn't that the cutest thing ever?

The Start of a Beautiful Yarn Barf

2008-04-02T16:09:00.000-04:00

Woot! First post. Yay!

Now what the hell do I do? :)

Oh. This is for my yarn art, isn't it? Hardcore. Yesterday I finished up the two Centaurs and today I'm working on a Cat Bus commission and a Pegasus. And I'm working on a few personal projects and all my Gargoyles dolls for the convention in July.

I start a new position next week so I'm trying to get all I can pushed into the remainder of this one.

Currently my website is here: http://www.voxmortuum.net

And my etsy is here: http://voxmortuum.etsy.com

And my Ravelry is here: http://www.ravelry.com/people/voxmortuum

And my zazzle store is here: http://www.zazzle.com/voxmortuum

And someday I'll have my books published and I'll post that link too. :)

Anyhoo, back to work. More soon!