Evolution of the Poltergoost

The Poltergoost was the kind of piece I really love. It cracks me up, it was based on an aspect of popular culture (..The Ring still freaks me out...) and people seem to like it! My relationship with the outside world with my work is a little odd. I made a little gingerbread man for the Stuffed art show at Munky King. He's cute and looks like a typical gingerbread man. He has the signature "Kuhl" eyes but other than that, nothing to distinguish him from all the other gingerbread plush out there. Yet when I post him on Flickr I get bazillions (more like five...) of responses to him. This always confuses me as surely we have been desensitised to the ordinary cute by the sea of kawaii imagery...but I digress.

So Poltie is great for the opposite reason. Whilst I am willing to bet there are other plush Poltergoosts out there, in TVs on different parts of the world, there aren't many and it is a kinda left of centre kind of idea. Creativity kids, I guess is what I'm talking about. Not great gobs of paint, drinking in bars in New York Artists as Hero kinda wank, I am a PoMo gal meself. No one would even be able to recognise what the plush was without the original idea coming from the inventors of Poltergeist and The Ring. Nope it's more that weird pleasure you get out of making your brain stretch in directions other than where you usually go. Anyway here is the original Poltergeist in all his zigzaggy glory

This was Poltergoost, original series. A few people got one in his present form. Then the faric ran out. I don't know if you can see it, but this fabric is an insane woven lycra from Italy that has a mix of lime green, purple, dark blue and yellow running through it, it's amazing. I got it back in '97 when I was doing postgrad and have subsequently found out it's alllll gone. Shop closed, stock sold, no more. This has led to the evolution of the Poltergoost

The next stage was altering the form a bit, I like how the original looked but soon lost the pattern that makes up the little guy in the centre of the TV. Not to worry says I, I'll make another. I made about five and none looked the same and I wasn't happy how the one's I made looked. Hmmmm..time to go back to the drawing board.

This is when Poltergoost evolved into Poltergrab. The little hands with the tiny fingers work in any fabric I use. He looks a little more "gonna getcha". So overall, happier with him. but still, got no new fabric. (This particular plush is at Plush you in Seattle right now)

So here's a lycra I picked up of Flea Bay. It's a print made for Speedo I think. It's kinda swirly and inter-dimensional looking. Yeah... I don't like it much either...

My next trial was to try a different colour swirl (there was a comment about green fabric being kinda dark) and with grabby hands to see if it worked. I like it better, but still...This one's going to Rivet Gallery for their Stuff This! show

Which brings me to the current piece. Poltergoost: the Next Generation. He is zigzaggy (didn't reaslise how much that made a difference until I used a zigzag fabric again), wish it was a little crazier colour wise but still.. He has grabby hands and a wide shit eating grin, which was supposed to be part of the original design. I wanted him to be the ghost of a Guy Smiley type of character. I think it works...and hopefully you do too. This little guy is making his debut at the MF Gallery Toy Show in New York

tinyshop

Yep the lack of capitals is deliberate. Antoinette Celes is putting on a showcase of very very small works at Double Punch in San Fransisco on the 17th of November called tinyshop. I was faced with the challenge of making plush no more then 3" high. It was a lot of teeny, teeny sewing and using the littlest buttons I could possibly find for eyes. I actually like shows that have a set theme, I find riffing off the themes posed can be a great opportunity to develop new ideas and force a bit of creativity out of the ol noggin. Well, lo and behold me hearties and see the majesty that is Tiny Bunny (I like capitals..)

Is he not cute? Do you not want to rub your nose on his cute little face that in sum total is probably smaller than your nose. He's cute as a button, and the same size as many buttons.

Tiny will be in strictly limited release at tinyshop (there's one) but if you can't get to San Fran for a little baby bunny action, check out my Etsy store, I'm makin them to order over there. Tiny...you know you want some

MF Gallery Toy Show

Yeah there's a bit of toy-showness happening around my place at the moment. MF (Martina and Frank) Gallery has a toy show in New York around this time each year I think. Apart from being toy makers themselves, they allow the rest of us plebian toy makers to put our stuff on their walls. I'll be sending in a green haired Kit (see below post) a Poltergoost and a Siamese Bunny.

Siamese Bunny has a weird history. He is a part of the Bad Bunnies series and was really just a prototype that i didn't like much. here's a pic of the original on the left. The new Siamese came about as he was really really popular at the show I had at Happy Yess. So in the face of popular opinion I have resurrected the little guy with a few changes and here he is! Check him out if you're in New York around November 10th.

Stuff This!

No, not a response to all Year 12s requests for help even though i have told them all year to get their work done early (I keep waiting for them to fear my wrath..they kinda laugh instead), Stuff This is a plush show happening at the fairly newish Rivet Gallery in Columbus, Ohio. I am a bit time poor at the moment, and the request was for one of a kind pieces if possible. I did the Claytons version of a one of a kind piece, I produced a new colourway of an exisiting piece! Yeah, lame, I know... Anyway here's magenta haired Kit!

In comparison to the green haired original that started this blog!
There will be a Mariot cactus and a Poltergoost in one of the fabrics I'm trialling, so again, new colourway, old design. Does it help that these are designs I really really like and think are my better ones. Jeez, excuses, I'm just like the kids

Stuffed: Food Plush at Munky King!

The lovely Sarah Jo of DKE Toys accepted some of my onions and other food related plush even though I was very late in getting in contact for a show called "Stuffed: a plush food extravaganza" at the very cool Munky King on Melrose Ave, LA, USA. The brief is as suggested in the title, to collect together a whole lot of plush food creations together and create the lowest calorie buffet anyone could ask for this close to Christmas (I wonder what the calorific content of fake fur is anyway?) Anyway as i'm just about to go back to teaching for the worst four weeks of the whole year (Year 12 students getting ready for handing in the work I have nagged them all year for...grrr!) I haven't had an opportunity to make anything new, so I have revampred and redesigned one of my first creations: Rotten Egga

At the top we have renewed and reinvented Rotten Egga, with growly expression and a teeny safety pin in his nose and below we have old Egga. He may actually be the same one that's in this pic! Anyway I tried to make him look a little more punk as Egga's story is a sad one

Anyway, if you'd like to see some plushy food and perhaps pick up a new and improved Rotten Egga, check out Munky King on the 1st of November!