To New Beginnings

Hi all! Long time no talk, huh? I am back at blogging, however, I am moving the blog to my own personal domain on SquareSpace. Blogger has been good to me, but I wanted something that could incorporate and help me manage my new store. Please head on over to shyscout.com to follow along.

See you there!

P.S. Feel free to follow along on Bloglovin' as well ;]

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Toy Army Tuesday - Mahlimae

Hi guys! Toy Army Tuesday is back in full swing, and I have so many incredible artists and pieces to share. Today I am excited to share with you the very talented artist Nicole, from Southern Tasmania, Australia - aka Mahlimae.


(Echo 10, Mahlimae, from my personal collection)

Nicole of Mahlimae produces beautiful echo hatchlings. Her "work is pulled together by a common theme of possibility, a longing for connection and a intentionally simplistic form which aims to intrigue. [She finds herself] hopelessly drawn to the mystery of ancient Folklore, to the beauty in the darkness at the heart of a forest, to the energy which radiates from worn, tattered fabrics...[and she believes] there is much to be said for the subtleties in expression and much to be learned by allowing yourself to step outside the reality of the everyday." - For more about her and her work please visit her website here - Mahlimae.com.


(Echo 10, Mahlimae, from my personal collection)

How precious is this little piece? I initially stumbled upon Nicole's work via instagram and instantly fell in love with the sweet and simple expressions in her work. Nicole produces a small number of her echoes each year, so I was very fortunate (and woke up at 4 in the morning) to get one. I love her work because each piece seems to carry a world of secrets that they want share with you. She is definitely one of my most prized possessions :]

Toy Army Tuesday - Rotofugi Haul

Hi all! Toy Army Tuesday is coming to you on a Thursday this week since I am a smidge bit behind, whoops. Oh well. You need to shake things up now and then, right? Today I am going to keep my post fairly short and to the point. For those of you who are not up to date with my blog - in February I attended the Traveling Circus at Rotofugi. The Circus Posterus collective/my favorite group of artists had their work up for display. Being the crazy person that I am, I waited out at 5 in the morning in the below freezing Chicago temps to be the first person in line to get a ticket to buy a piece from the show. Thankfully waking up that early was complete overkill so my room mate and I were the first two people in line - meaning that I got first dibs at whatever two pieces I wanted - yeah, I was and am still excited about it. Oh - and my room mate is the best person ever.

Anywho... I knew that I wanted to add a piece by Amanda Spayd and Chris Ryniak since I didn't own anything by them at that point and their one of a kind pieces are highly sought after and nearly impossible to track down unless you attend an opening. Below are the two pieces I picked up. In the next couple of weeks I look forward to sharing more information about each artist with you. In the mean time - take a look at my adorable creatures.


(On the left - "Fiddlesticks" by Amanda Louise Spayd. On the right - Ice Root Gourwart by Chris Ryniak.)

("Fiddlesticks" by Amanda Louise Spayd)

(Ice Root Gourwart by Chris Ryniak)

(On the left - "Fiddlesticks" by Amanda Louise Spayd. On the right - Ice Root Gourwart by Chris Ryniak.)

The Dust Bunny by Amanda Spayd was the item the Traveling Circus's fliers and posters, and was also the first piece she created for the show. As soon as I saw her post a preview of it online I knew I wanted to take the little guy home if at all possible. Her work is cute, creepy, and mysterious all wrapped up in to one. This guy looks startled - as if you caught him sneaking in to the cookie jar late at night. Aaaand get a load of his very real looking teeth. The Gourdwart by Chris Ryniak just blew me away. His adorable frankenstein-esque features and blue coloring had me instantly falling for piece. I am so glad that I was able to bring both pieces home with me, and I was even more excited to meet these talented artists who I have been following for quite some time now. It really was a special night and I am so glad I have these guys to remind me of it all daily :]

*end nerdy rant about toys.

Have a beautiful day everyone!!

Toy Army Tuesday - Sawdust Bear

Hi all! How goes it? It hit 50 yesterday!!! It was so nice to walk home from work and enjoy the sunset for a change. I am just going to overlook the fact that it is supposed to snow again on Wednesday, because I honestly can't take it any more. Anywho... for those of you who tuned in last week I shared bits and pieces from the Traveling Circus show opening at Rotofugi (if you missed it feel free to check it out!). The show had a group of my favorite artists from the Circus Posterus Collective, so over the next few weeks I will break down the pieces and give you a little more information about the artists themselves. This week I thought I would share with you Shing Yin Khor's work from Sawdust Bear.


(Shing Yin Khor, "Blue Sweater Scaleybug" & "Orange Sweater Scaleybug" - mixed media)

For those of you unfamiliar with Shing Yin Khor's work - you're in luck today. Sawdust Bear "sculpts awkward, charming, and awkwardly charming creatures trapped in a world of bumbling science and human fallibility. [Her] themes are inspired by historical hoaxes, old museums, cabinets of curiosities and pre-Linnean taxonomy; [Her] palettes are inspired by the more obnoxiously colourful parts of nature, especially invertebrates." In addition to sculpting Shing also publishes pretty sweet little comics, "[she] write[s] the historical fiction comic Marie and Jeanne, write[s] and illustrate[s] the shoegazey near-future sci-fi Center for Otherworld Science, and the awkward monster comic Marlowe the Monster, all of which can be downloaded for free". - For more information about her and her work please check out her website - Sawdust Bear.com.


(Shing Yin Khor, "Underwater Gravebeast Plaque" & "Curiosity Cabinet #1- Clown Jellies" - mixed media) (Shing Yin Khor, "Orange Sweater Scaleybug" - mixed media)

I love Shing's out of this world creatures who resemble bits and pieces of creatures we know, but with a whimsical twist. Their facial expressions are always priceless. They awkwardly stare at you as if they were caught in the act of something. I mean take a look at the Orange Sweater Scaleybug above for instance - how adorable is that face with his tongue flopped out like that? I was laughing out loud when I saw this piece in person. I wish so badly that I could have afforded to take him home.

(Shing Yin Khor, "Drab Fairybug" - Watercolor, Ink, and Acrylic - For sale Here - photo from Leanna Lin's Wonderland) (Shing Yin Khor, "Dragonwinged Fairybug 2" - Watercolor, Ink, and Acrylic - photo from Leanna Lin's Wonderland)

In addition to overly sweet sculptures and neat comics Shing produces beautiful hand drawn studies of her creatures. The pieces above are from her latest show the Supahcute Science Fair at Leanna Lin's Wonderland. You should definitely check it out because there are still some affordable pieces available.

Last week I was lucky enough to score a monthly subscription to her work on Patreon, which means that each month I will receive a care package from her with pieces of her work - from prints, to pins, postcards, and maybe even a mini resin piece! I could not be more excited. I can't wait to see what she produces this year and I hope to eventually add a fattybug or scaleybug to my collection someday soon. I will be sure to share with you all what I receive from the subscription somewhere down the road.

I hope you enjoy her work as much as I do.

Take care everyone!

SawdustBear.com | Supahcute Science Fair | Shing's Patreon

Toy Army Tuesday - Traveling Circus

Hi everyone! Today I have something very exciting to share with you all - the Traveling Circus (show opening) by Circus Posterus at Rotofugi.

WARNING: This is about to get geeky.


For those of you who don't regularly tune in to my blog the Circus Posterus Collective is a group of (my favorite) artists. Their home base/gallery - the Stranger Factory is located out in Albuquerque, New Mexico, making it very difficult for me to attend any of their shows. Over the past few years I have tried attending a handful of their shows and workshops but unfortunately my plans have always fallen through. Thankfully, my dreams came true when CP decided to have a show at Rotofugi - my local designer toy shop and gallery.


(Wall of work by Amanda Louise Spayd.)

I was beyond excited when I got word that CP was headed to town! It was my first time attending one of their shows, and even more exciting was that a handful of the artists were going to attend the opening - of course I had to be there. I have been a member of "The Sideshow" which is their fan forum/chat boards just shy of one year and I have been using it to keep on top of news in the CP world as well as meeting fellow fans. The CP forum is a bit like family, I swear, next thing I knew I was being invited over to a fellow boardies home to have dinner with some other boardies as well as with the artists!! I went back and forth that entire week debating if I should go or not, thankfully, I mustered up enough courage and headed over there. Everyone was so nice and down to earth, it was so surreal. I still can't believe it happened.


(Work by Kathie Olivas & Brandt Peters)
(Work by Stephan Webb.)
(Work by Valency.)
(Work by Ferg, Travis Louie, and Brandt Peters.)
(Work by Jen Musatto and Travis Louie.)

The morning of the opening - Saturday, February 15th - my room mate and I camped out in front of the store at 5am in the lovely -6 degree Chicagoland weather and waited for the store to open at 11am so that we could be the first two people to receive tickets to purchase art from the show. Haha. It was a bit overkill, but I wasn't sure what to expect. The next person to show up in line didn't arrive until 8am. I thought my room mate was going to kill me. By the time the doors opened only 8 people were standing in line - I honestly regret nothing.


(Work by Chris Ryniak.)
(Work by Shing Yin Khor - Sawdust Bear.)
(Work by Kathie Olivas and Brandt Peters.)
(Work by Joe Scarano.)
(Work by Time Lee.)
(Work by Stan Manoukian.)
(Work by Katie Carillo.)

I am continually blown away by the work these artists produce. It was nice to inspect each piece in person for a change as opposed to looking at them from fellow boardies photos in the forum. I have to make it out to one of their shows in New Mexico some time soon.


(Work by Kathie Olivas and Brandt Peters.)
(Work by Amanda Louise Spayd.)
(Work by Shing Yin Khor - Sawdust Bear.)
(Work by Valency.)

I fear this post is becoming borderline overwhelming so I will stop for today. In upcoming posts I will break down the pieces by artist and give you more information about them. For more information about each piece please visit Rotofugi's Gallery - I will re-update this post later with the title of each piece, honestly, I am just up way past my bed time at the moment. As for today - I just wanted to give you a glimpse of what the opening was like. These last few photos with the artists are my personal faves.


Kathie Olivas and I.

Amanda Louise Spayd, Fiddlesticks (my Dust Bunny!!), and I.

Chris Ryniak, Brandt Peters, and I while being photo bombed by Amanda :]

For those interested: the show runs from February 15th through this Sunday, March 9th. Oh, and click on any of the images above to see more shots from the show!

Until next time! Have a great day everyone.

Toy Army Tuesday - Candy Coated

Good morning my lovelies! I hope your day is off to a good start. I am just going to jump right in today with my Toy Army Tuesday post because I am way too excited. I will admit, I haven't been keeping up with my favorite collective of artists Circus Posterus, honestly, because I am trying to save money. However, the other day I saw a post that could not be ignored - Circus Posterus is coming to Rotofugi!!! This means I will not only be able to see the work of some of my favorite artists in a gallery for the first time, but I will also have the chance to meet some of the artists live and in person. I feel like such a fan girl and a nerd right now, but this news made my week. I tried all last year to make it to one of their shows and designercon, but unfortunately was unable to manage any time off. Now they are headed to my neck of the woods. Wahoo!

Anywhooooo, I thought it was only fitting to show off another piece I own from this talented group of artists.



This piece is my personal favorite^


Isn't this piece yummy? This Skelve is a Candy Coated Kuma designed by Kathie Olivas. This piece debuted in April 2012 for the Monsters & Misfits 2 show. He is 9 inches tall and is an edition size of 40. This is the skelve that got me in to collecting skelves, honestly. I was immediately drawn to this piece because of the color combo, adorable candy corn like nose, cute butt (check out his little jammies) , and devious face (cute and creepy is the best combo after all). I had quite a hard time tracking this piece down since I had missed out on it's debut, which makes him that more special to me. I don't think I could ever part with this piece.

I am so excited to see what the Circus Posterus has in store for this show. I will talk more about it next week as the show draws near. Stay tuned!

Toy Army - Starry Midnight Masao Set

Mornin' everyone! Toy Army Tuesday is back in full force.
Today I am bringing to you the first skelves I added to my collection - the Starry Midnight Masao Set.



Aren't they pretty?


This edition of skelves were designed and hand painted by Kathie Olivas and Brandt Peters, the Starry Night Masao Set was created in November 2012 for DesignerCon. The larger of the two - the four legged Masao skelve stands at 8 & 3/4 inches tall and is an edition of 66. The mini Masao skelve stands at an adorable height of 4 inches and is an edition size of 100. I was instantly drawn to the translucent blue with silver glitter - these gems look pretty neat in sunlight. I love cute and creepy things - what's not to love?

Do any of you collect - toys or anything else? I would love to hear about your collections.
Also, do you have any questions for me about my collection or collecting in general?
I would love to answer any questions you may have.
Until next time!

Toy Army Tuesday - Latest Editions

Hi all! Another Toy Army Tuesday here. Instead of bombarding you with information this week I thought it would be nice to show off how my toys are currently displayed throughout my room. I hope to have a room or at the very least entire wall to devote to them one day, but in the mean time they will sit on an ikea bookshelf and thrifted record cabinet.



A smidge bit chaotic, but it makes me happy each and every day. Most of the pieces in my collection are by Kathie Olivas and Brandt Peters. I will go more in-depth the upcoming weeks about each piece but I could use your help.

What would you like to learn/get out of Toy Army Tuesdays?

I have been trying to briefly cover the artists and background about each and every piece. Is there anything you feel like I am missing or going on too much about? I would love the feedback.

Thanks!

Also, these photos were all taken with my new 50mm 1.8 lens - I am in love! Have a good day everyone!!