Other games

Vanguard plush from Demon’s Souls

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Demon's Souls Vanguard plush

I’ll admit, my only experience with the Souls games is Bloodborne. I had no idea what I was getting into when I bought it – I’d just heard around the office that it was a really cool game so bought it at launch assuming it would be happy romp through a demon infested city a little like Devil May Cry. At first my partner and I were like … what are we doing wrong? Are we going the wrong way or not using an important feature? Why are we dying all the time? Then we learned. Yes: dying all the time. That is the game. Enjoy. So while I’m intrigued by Demon’s Souls – I really wont be playing it. I want to go back and replay Bloodborne (I did finish it in the end) but remember the struggle and that’s just not my kind of thing. I need to relax with gaming. That’s why I gave up raiding in Final Fantasy XIV. I don’t have the time any more to be that frustrated. To celebrate the PS5 Demon’s Souls remake I was commissioned to produce a plush toy of Vanguard. At the time there was barely any resource on … Vanguard plush from Demon’s Souls

Rot plush from Kena: Bridge of Spirits

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Kena plush

I’ve got my PS5 pre-ordered so I’m allowed to start getting excited about next gen games! One of the games I’m most anticipating is Kena: Bridge of Spirits – the graphics and atmosphere look cute and Ghibli-esque. I was worried initially seeing the first trailer that it was going to be a little like Pikmin due to the rot, but it looks like that isn’t the case (and my only reason for worry is that I’m utterly rubbish at Pikmin). I think Kena: Bridge of Spirits was going to be a launch title, or close enough to count, but has unfortunately been delayed until Q1 2021. To tide me over I’ve made two of the rot. The first is a standard rot with a few little mushroom spores and leaves. Apparently you can customise your rot with hats, etc in game. Mine is eu natural. The black embroidery on black fabric didn’t really work on this one an he’s a little … plain I guess? So I decided to make Hero Rot, who sits on Kena’s shoulder With faux fur, little antlers and many more leaves and flowers, this one turned out so much cooler!

Demon Lord Ninetails plush (Okami)

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okami ninetails plush

Okami is one of my favourite games and I’ve been meaning to make this plush for a long time. Now I have the embroidery machine I could actually make it a reality! However I didn’t expect it to take me over 6 months to complete. Even when making significant progress on something like the tails, the shear amount of work still involved was daunting and stopped me continuing at a couple of points. Underneath all the detail is a very simple sitting fox template. The mask took an hour on its own to embroider and the first attempt I made at it when all skewed at the end where something went wrong with the machine – the gears got jammed or something – and I had to start again as all the outlines ended up wrong. Each tail was almost a plush on its own with an individually embroidered mask recreated from some blurry screenshots from the game, detail in cotton and various faux furs and painted and varnished prayer beads. The tails are all wired so they can stand up (they can be a little unruly though). Of course the demon fox has little beanies too. I was so … Demon Lord Ninetails plush (Okami)

A small herd of Concrete Genie plushies!

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Concrete genie plush

If you own a PS4 and haven’t taken a look at the award-winning Concrete Genie, I strongly recommend you do. The game is a joy to play and the art style is beautiful. I was asked to make plushies based closely on designs provided by the game art team for either a small production run or just to have around the office. There were a lot of first for me here. I got a sewing machine just for this project and will never look back – everything before now was done completely by hand and took forever. I made my first human plush when doing Ash and now I feel more confident in trying a human creation of my own. At one point I was making ten of a plush in a short timeframe. I’m sure for a lot of plushie makers this is nothing – but I’ve never made more than two of anything at once so this was a big deal for me. I also used a lot of materials I wasn’t used to. I’ve used pretty much exclusively minky and fur in the past. I got to work with cotton, linen, knitted cloth, making items out of … A small herd of Concrete Genie plushies!

Mog of War

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Based on my World of Final Fantasy/Kupirate moogles, this Kratos moogle is much more cross.

RiME fox plush

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My competition entry to the RiME Create Contest. This little fox joins you on your journey through the video game RiME, released on May 26th. If you liked the style of Ico then this game is definitely for you.

“Riki fight better than anyone!”

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Update Oct 2020: I’ve had quite a few requests for these lately. I’m pretty busy at the moment but I’m going to try an get a few little ones done – please keep an eye on the web shop (https://www.owlsteaparty.com/shop/) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/owlsteaparty) I wasn’t able to add a voice box like I wanted, because of a cock-up when ordering. I’ve got voice boxes that will play one long tune but not one that will play many sound files. The voice box was also too big to fit in the wing like I wanted, so has been left out. However, I was able to tidy up Riki’s sewing, stuffing, and add new arms, legs and wings. It might not bee too obvious form the pictures below but the attachment of the new limbs is much better, the arms are now a better proportion and the wings are a better shape with nicer dying too them (plus wire). The outfit was all fine to remains untouched. And he’s still as giant as ever.

Shadow Kargarok plush – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

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Not a very pretty plush but a cool monster and a break from making lots of Pokemon. This creature is a shadow Kargarok from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. They’re a pretty minor enemy but one that stuck in my mind as a well designed one. This plush is made entirely of Ash grey Shannon plush fabric – and lots of it! It has detail on the face using opaque fabric markers but it is otherwise very simple in terms of colours used. The shape on the other hand is crazy with the wings being particularly fiddly. I’d seen plushes with holes sewn in them before, all Queen Chrysalis plushes, and all with comments form the creators complaining about sewing holes! Luckily they were shallow holes to sew and didn’t need any sort of fabric cone on the inside to bulk them out to the width of the wings. I hemmed the holes while the template was inside out, then turned it out and sewed up the holes as I stuffed the wings. Ended up taking a lot of time to complete. The whole plush is full of aluminium wire so the legs. tail and wings are pose-able. The … Shadow Kargarok plush – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Spiritlord/Glasya Labolas Plush – The Last Remnant

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This is something I’ve wanted to make for ages – a plush of the monster Glasya Labolas (or Stymphalian Bird) from the Last Remnant. If you’re not aware of The Last Remnant, it’s an RPG by SquareEnix that didn’t score too well with critics (between 6 and 7 out of 10) but was a joy to play. My favourite monsters were the Spiritlord groups – large scary looking birds that are many times taller than a man. They were usually tricky to defeat too. Spiritlords came in three different pallets – basic (red/orange), Blackwing-style (red and black) and the style used for the common enemy Glasya Labolas and a few rare versions of the monster which is mainly a mixture of blues. This plush is made from faux fur, minky and polymer clay. It has armature in the body, limbs and tail meaning it’s completely poseable. I’m really happy with the body shape, fabrics and colours used but not totally happy with the face. For my first time using polymer clay, it’s probably the best I can do with my skill level but I’d still like it to be a bit more detailed and a bit less cartoony. I’ve also learned to attach … Spiritlord/Glasya Labolas Plush – The Last Remnant

Oka plushie

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While I might stop short at his 11 littlepons, I had to make Riki’s wifepon Oka to keep him company. While the basic shape is the same, Oka’s outfit is much more complicated to create. There are a lot of little components to assemble and a lot of boards that need to be kept the same width on an awkward shape. Oka’s body and bow are made from minky/cuddle soft fabric. Her flower bracelets are fixed on with little cord rings so they can be easily taken on and off. Her outfit is white felt with magenta, lilac and mint coloured self-adhesive felt for the details. She is very pretty when assembled with a friendly face. I can see why Riki married her. :3 Her hair is made from pink and white feathers that have been curled with heat (I was able to buy them like this on eBay). It’s not an exact representation of her hair but it compliments the way Riki’s hair has been achieved very nicely. If you would like to make Oka yourself, I’ve made the sewing template available here.