Plush You 2008 (Dolls for Friends)

Elaina and Mungee are our submissions to this year's Plush You show in Seattle. It's our first time participating in this well known West Coast show, and we are very excited to have been invited to contribute.

Elaina and Mungee headed off on their short plain ride North from our studios in Portland, and hopefully, if all goes well, they will be permanently residing in Seattle or some other wonderful location by the end of October.

Clive (Dolls for Friends)

This is Clive
He likes to sing
He likes to sing The Doom Song
Goes a little like this

Doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom Doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom Doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom

Doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom Doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom Doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom...

...feel free to join in when you think you've got a handle on it...

...Doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom Doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom Doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom

Doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom Doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom Doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom doom...

Sissypants Murphy (Dolls for Friends)

"Sissypants murphy, he's so square, wears a blue leotard for underwear."

Poor, poor Murphy. He's the target of an endless barrage of verbal barbs and arrows. The new kid on the block and the recipient of the new kid ridicule.

"Sissy pants murphy, boo hoo hoo, cries like a girl cause he can't tie his shoe."

Compounding matters is the fact that he is also a sensitive little guy, and as a result sheds tears a little more often than the next street block bully.

"Sissypants murphy, you're such a nerd. Short and ugly and dressed like a turd."

Poor, poor sissypants. Won't someone invite him over and show him a little love? He REALLY needs it.

Mask-er-Raid (Dolls for Friends)

Something is slinking through the shadows. Can you see it? Perhaps not, perhaps it's nothing more than a perceived sense of motion-maybe dread, fear, uncertainty? Whatever it is, cognizant thought or raw emotion, you don't quite feel like you're alone.

You take a couple of steps, unable to shake the feeling that there is something dogging your heels. Nervously, you stop and peer deep, deep deep into the shadows, straining your focus, second by second eyes becoming adjusted to the dark, and that is when you see it.

You see the unseeable, hear the unhearable and witness what so few have witnessed that if you were to add it up it would be the sound of one hand clapping. Yes, it's Mask-er-raid, the phantom jelly. Defender of the defenseless and captivator of hearts and minds. He has been trailing you throughout your time in the city, ensuring the safety of your passage and warding off evil as it approaches.

You take a step back and take a deep breath-thankful to know that the rumors were true, that there is a defender of humanity, siding with the voiceless. Yet, you still think there is more to this. Why did he choose to reveal himself now after so many years of silent stewarding? You lean back into the shadows, straining again for sight-vision-clarity. As you open your mouth, you make a silent squeek, unsure of what to say beyond the single word, "Why?"

A moment passes until a raspy, dry response is returned, "I'm hungry, do you have a dollar for the value menu?"

Buckman Art Show and Sell Donations (Dolls for Friends)

We were approached by the organizers of The Buckman Art Show and Sell to see if we would be interested in donating five pieces for gift bags they were preparing. The bags are to be presented to the events' musical guests at the end of the night. In return for the donation, they would give us some additional press leading up to and during the event, and a bit of all-around goodwill. Given the nature of the art show and sell, we graciously accepted.

We just dropped off the pieces yesterday at the school offices, and we took a few quick snaps before handing them off. These five will be at the show, in addition to one large piece that we sent in earlier for the auction that will be benefiting the school. Of course, these six are in addition to the 50 to 75 pieces Jill and I are frantically putting together to sell at the show. This officially marks the largest lot of plushies we have put together for any show. I just hope we have fingers left after all this sewing.

Farley (Dolls for Friends)

Took a break, but now we're back. This is Farley:

From his outside appearance, one might think that Farley is nothing more than a work-shy, sluggish, lethargic, lackadaisical loser, but you know what? They would only be half right. You see despite his disheveled, outward show, he is in fact an Ivy League educated, know-it-all.

After taking his PhD in Ancient Literature, Farley traveled all over the world visiting various locations depicted in his much loved literary works. Once satisfied with that, he enlisted in a traveling Shakespearian theater group and performed a variety of the bard's works in several cities around the world... and then, it all came to an end.

After performing Julius Caesar for the upteenth time, Farley developed a strange, morbid fascination with the play and the man him self and went into a strange period of solitude. He started to withdraw from everyone he knew, mumbled to himself quite often and began to dance around in the town squares wearing nothing more than an ivy wreath on his head. Farley had his troubles.

After several months of professional help, he has finally been able to move past his obsession (he still looks a bit out of it) and has begun to read, write and dress again. He is now looking for a place he can lay low and recoup his physical and mental health and write his memoirs.

Syd (Dolls for Friends)

ZZZZAAAAPPPPPPP!!!! Our lights dimmed heavily.

ZZZZZAAAAAPPPPP!!!! Our lights went out.

We rushed outside to see what the commotion was to find this little beauty perched on the bottom of our bug zapper. We were so surprised, and more than a little myphed at what we were looking at. I had to actually consult my rare collection of flora and fauna reference guides to even begin to get a hint of what she was.

It turns out that she's a Northwestern reticulated Electro-Rhopalocera. In other words she is one of the only nocturnal butterflys known to exist. They, like other butterflys, feed on nectar at night, yet they are also able to store large amounts of electro-kinetic energy as defense mechanism against predatory creatures.They are harmless to humans, but could be considered harmful to other animals of a lesser size if construed as being a threat.

After tripping the breakers in our house we brought her in to feed her some mangoes and honey. She has now been with us for two weeks. We call her Syd.

G. Wilikers (Dolls for Friends)

Mr. Wilikers has long been a staple in the upper crust elite of England's finest social circles. Born with the finest pedigree and every opportunity at his disposal, he's made use of his vast wealth (he's a trust fund baby) and knowledge to create a very comfortable and regimented lifestyle. While his proper and methodical habits could be construed by some as being annoying, after a few days they become more tolerable and eventually can end up being quite comforting.

He will keep his hosts up for hours spinning wonderful tales on the history aristocratic life, and he knows the dirt on just about everyone. As a matter of fact it was rumored that G. Wilikers was deemed SO proper and SO wealthy that he was approached as being the original mascot for the world-famous game Monopoly. It was felt, however, that a more "normal and traditional" image should be used, so it was a no go. Oh well.

A Sustained Life (Dolls for Friends)

We've been working diligently on getting our next group of pieces ready for the upcoming 2nd Sunday Sustainability Fair being held in Portland on February 10.

We were approached by the fair and asked if we would like to represent using pieces made from reclaimed and recycled materials. Since nearly all of our pieces are in some way using reclaimed materials, we thought this would be a great opportunity to get out, meet some people, talk about what we're doin' and share some DFF love.

If you're PDX local and in the city on the 10th, swing by the booth cause we'd love to hear from you.

Percival (Dolls for Friends)

Percival is extremely fond of techno, dub, trip hop and down tempo music. He's been known to attend a variety of rave and house style parties, spending days grooving to the hypnotic, repetitive musical structures while hopping around in a semi-trance like state alleviating his cares and concerns.

He's extremely mellow, widely read and loves to talk about a variety of subjects. Despite being a bit squinty from a variety of strobe light induced corneal burns, Percy is extremely friendly and outgoing.

Magmador (Dolls for Friends)

Magmadors were known to be ancient producers of volcanic activity. Their job was to shake at tremendous rates of speed resulting in friction at the base of large volcanoes.

Once the pressure and tension had reached a maximum stress level, the volcano would spew fire and molten lava into the air and give way to molten rivers that would eventually become the base of the land masses we now inhabit. Over time as the all of the major continents became formed the small, but mighty magmadors went into a perpetual state of hibernation, awakening every so often just to let us know they are still there.

This particular magmador was found in an old lava tube in the Pacific Northwest. He is rather gentle and just likes to lay around and smolder.

More photos can be seen on our Flickr page.

Harutori (Dolls for Friends)

Winged and majestic, the Harutori species is rumored to fly in the early morning right after sunrise. They are habitual sleepers and clock in at a whopping 22 hours of sleep per day. The other 2 hours are spent in solo flight and gathering food. And while 2 hours may sound like such a slight amount of time to be seen, it's really what happens in those two hours that makes the species stand out from the rest of the "tori" species.

When asked to describe the experience most people cannot adequately put it into words without some type of emotional outburst. It's said that the experience differs for each person that witnesses the flight of Harutori. I wonder what your's will be?

Bertram (Dolls for Friends)

Countless people migrate to Hollywood each year in the hopes of striking it huge in show business. Of those individuals, nearly all of them fail to recognize their dreams of success. After several years of scrimping and scraping they usually leave the stretches of southern California for brighter pastures-never having realized the dreams of their youth.

Bertram is one of those optimistic dreamers who came to la la land with ambition and plans to take the world by storm. He worked day and night trying to secure his position on the silver screen never losing focus on his brass ring of hope. That was three decades ago.

Now, pushing 50, Bertram is coming to grips with the fact that his spot in the limelight may never come to fruition. Despite his attempts to bring himself in line cosmetically with the rest of his contemporaries (obsessive teeth bleaching and enlarging, tucks, lifts, and even sewing literal stars to his body to emphasize his plans of making it big) he has had little success.

He's finally decided that it's time to fall back on his formal education (occupational therapist) and focus on taking his place in the ranks of "normal"society.

More photos can be seen on our Flickr page.

Belvedere (Dolls for Friends)

Deep from the East Indies, Belvedere (middle rear) is known for his big game hunting, big scotch drinking and larger than life, English "HARUMPHs".

He has hunted on every continent, and is always looking for the next big catch. He's been known to sit on the porch in the moonlight, smoking his pipe and waxing nostalgic on the "good old days" and reminiscing about his various big safari adventures.

Note: Sorry, mustache wax not included.

More shots can be seen on our Flickr page.

Wemble (Dolls for Friends)

He's perhaps the most proper rodent you'll ever meet, but what do you expect from a hamster that's been raised in the house of an upper crust English family?

Wemble comes from the best lines of Hamster breeding and speaks with an elegant, refined English accent that calls to mind such screen greats as Sir Laurence Olivier, Peter O'Toole and Richard Attenborough. Wemble loves his biscuits and religiously honors his tea time.

You can see more photos here.

Ooki (Dolls for Friends)

Orphaned at birth, little ooki was taken in by a large nomadic tribe wandering through the frozen tundra of Northern Canada. Raised on fresh yak milk and doted on by the many nurturing tribe members, little ooki grew, and grew and GREW. He's not so little anymore. But a kinder, more loving jelly you won't find anywhere.

He speaks an unusual mix of dialects which we are currently working on deciphering. He makes many musical noises, and is content to be wrapped in a cozy blanket and carried around all day. We are lucky enough to be caring for him while his adoptive tribe migrates to warmer countries for the winter.

Wouldn't you love to keep him for a while? Just be sure to keep a fresh supply of yak milk on hand, and fill the tub for him at night-he just loves a swim before turning in for the evening.

You can also check us out at dollsforfriends.com or on flickr.

Olive (Dolls for Friends)

Olive is one of the younger jellies that we've come across during our adventures. She was found during a recent trip to Bora Bora while swimming in the warm, tropical waters. We were surprised at first because seldom do we see a specimen as cute as she is while still in braces. But seriously, what's a girl to do when she's battling such a serious overbite?

Orthodontics aside, Olive is a vibrant, rambunctious teenager who will love you one day and question you the next. Yet, her sweetness and loyalty will never be one of yours.

Yanitori (Dolls for Friends)

Yanitori is a night bird. His beautiful plumage is said to glow in the setting sun of the isles of his native Japan. Sightings, however, of this wonderful creature are so rare that they were believed to have become extinct. Books on creature lore actually list him as more myth than fact.

Imagine my surprise when I awoke from sleeping in the fields of the Japanese country side and found this wonderful specimen sleeping on my chest. I don't know where he came from, but after an engaging conversation and explanation of how I might help him, he agreed to accompany me back to the States.

Still intrigued about why he sought me out, i decided to do a little poking around into what's known about their instinctual habits. After much research I found out that he had been attracted to the smell of the puffy paint on my "Hang in there baby" t-shirt, and had come to inspect the curious fragrance. Needless to say, I was happy I held on to that shirt for all these Years.

Welcome from Dolls for Friends

Thank you to Claire and The Needle for inviting Dolls for Friends to become a participating member of this weblog. We love design, art and creating fun little creatures that others will love as well. We look forward to contributing on a regular basis to this creative, new forum. If you would like to find out more about Dolls for Friends and what we do, please check out our website.

Thanks Again, Erin and Jill