The Birth of my Zombie Sock Monkey

In 2006, I made Frank... He's Dr. Frankenstein's Monster. He was the monkey that got my wheels spinning on the idea for a Zombie Sock Monkey. No one was doing anything Halloween related, other than people making the classic Red Heel Monkeys and dressing them up in costumes. Which was cool, but I wanted to be different.

In 2009, after Macabre had already come to me as inspiration, I finally created zombies! Four of them. Unfortunately... only 4 (1 2 3 4), because they trended on Twitter and caused such a stir they sold out. My messages started exploding with requests for more zombies.

I was getting so many requests to make zombies and I just didn't have the materials... I finally found what I needed, eventually making Banshee, Cortex, Franklin (a tribute to Frank!), and so many others!

Then came Phil, Ralph, and Beth. They completely changed my design and set the Zombies into the look they have now.

These days I have all sorts of zombie monkey designs going on. I use them to experiment new techniques or materials on. I use up left over sock pieces that are too small for anything else. I've put him on fabric, clothes, home goods, and right now I'm working on DIY kits for my zombies.

I love zombies. I watched Night of the Living Dead as a child and I loved it... It scared the crap out of me, and I enjoyed it.

Zombie monkeys are added to stock 1-2 times a year 

at my newly opened Etsy shop, Pumpkin Bones.

- Stacey Jean

Space Monkey ... from sock monkey to lifestyle!

One of my favorite things is making my monkeys into products that vary from bed spreads to phone cases... stickers, clothing, you name it!

This guy was a customer request way back in the day, but he's been requested a few times since... and when I was working on my fabric cut-n-sew fabric dolls for Spoonflower, I really wanted to make him into one with coordinating items. Between there, Zazzle, and Redbubble, I can pretty much create a whole line of items for each little monkey friend (which is something I'd love to expand on, so many ideas, so little hours in a day!)

SOOOOO, I present to you the very first collection of items you can buy and use to create a whole coordinated life of my Space Monkey!! (lol) Or just snag up a thing or two...

SPOONFLOWER

Spoonflower is print on demand fabric designed by creators all over the world! I love being part of such a community, and the creative outlet it gives me. I have two smaller key chain sized cut and sew dolls and a rocket. Also a coordinating fabric. (The alien is going to get his own theme coming up at some point with his own UFO.)

REDBUBBLE

Redbubble is one of my favorite places to post things... As you can see from the sampling, there's a lot to pick from. There's even more on the site, click the image to get to my collection of Space Monkey goods available on there right now.

ZAZZLE

I really missed when Zazzle had shoes. But they are back! And these are fun, they unzip so you can have a bunch of different mix and match options. Paper plates, napkins... have a Space Monkey party! Lamps and pillows...SO much fun things. There's even more to pick from when you follow the link. Deck out your bathroom, your office... your kitchen!

-Stacey Jean

Awesome Artist DECEMBER : ZomBea's Boutique

Name: Bea
Astrological Sign: Leo
Location: Devon, England
Primary Craft: Felt Stuffed Dolls/Horror Hair Bows
Other Crafts: I make some bags/purses/hair bows out of horror/geek fabric

The creation of a VooDoo doll pincushion lead Bea to make all sorts of great little horror accessories. Like most artist in the genre, her roots began in a love for Halloween. Her products bring out the sweet side of horror, and are a clever mix of things both classic and modern with super heroes sprinkled in here and there.

How long have you been creating art and things?
I started taking dressmaking lessons about 2 years ago, while I was there I decided to make myself a voodoo doll pincushion to store my pins. I enjoyed making it so much I made a few more for friends, and then a few horror based variations, and I was encouraged to join Etsy and started adding more items as I went along.


How did you become a horror theme artist?
I have always been a fan of horror and Halloween, I love making taking something creepy and turning it into something a bit more cuddly and cute.


What mediums do you primarily work with?
I mainly make my dolls and hair bows out of felt, I design a pattern on paper and then cut out the shapes and hand stitch them. I am learning all the time what works and what doesn’t but I love giving myself new challenges, working on custom ideas is so much fun.


Tell me about your favorite piece of art. What were some challenges creating it, what were some victories. Where is it now?
Probably the most complicated piece I have done, and the one that gets the funniest comments are my human centipede gingerbread men. This was originally made for a very good friend of mine who is a big human centipede fan! It took several attempts as getting it to stand up and have its face pointing upwards was quite a challenge, but after scrapping a few initial ideas I was really happy with the finished product and he still has pride of place in my friend’s living room! I have started selling my gingerbread men on my Etsy page as well, I love the thought of it going off to make other horror fans giggle.




What's the best lesson you've learned while selling your work? To have confidence in myself! When I first started I was quite reluctant to shout about what I was doing, and I played it down saying that it was just for fun and something silly. I now have a Facebook page to promote my items and all my friends and family have been so supportive and excited about everything I make. My reviews on Etsy have given me a massive confidence boost, It still puts a massive smile on my face to know people are happy to spend money on the things I have made and be so pleased with what they receive!


Is there a creative person in your craft that inspires you to grow as an artist and creator?
I don’t know if there is a specific person within my craft. I am a massive Tim Burton fan, I take a lot of inspiration from his ability to take things that would be scary and put a twist on in. I really just try to make things that make me happy and bring a smile to my face. I hope everyone will see the passion I have coming out in my work and will enjoy it just as much.


What is/are your favorite horror movies? How have they influenced you as an artist?
I love some of the older horror movies with their over the top gore, Evil Dead, Re-Animator, The Thing. They have definitely taught me to have fun with my art and not to take it too seriously!


Who would you rather meet in a dark alley, a squad of clowns or a horde of zombies?
I would go for Zombies, in the hope they were the old, slow ‘Night of the Living Dead’ variety! Clowns are totally terrifying!


Any last words before we shoot this into the interwebs?
Thank you for featuring me, it’s been great to reflect on the last couple of years of crafting and makes me excited as to where the next few will take me.


Homepage: zombeasboutique.etsy.com
Facebook Fanpage: facebook.zombeasboutique.com
Instagram: @ZomBeasboutique
Twitter: @ZomBeasBoutique
Tumblr: zombeasboutique.tumblr.com

The Little Octopus... and he was yellow.

Spoonflower does these great contest every week. We design a fabric based on the theme they give and then that fabric becomes an entry. If it's in the top 10 it goes live for sale in the shop without ordering a sample (before an item is listed, the artist has to order a swatch of it, to make sure it's what they were aiming for. Much like real fabric production).

The contest this week is:

Cephalopods

In honor of Cephalopod Awareness Days (Oct. 8th- 12th) we decided it was about time again to pay homage to our favorite inky sea creatures. Although, it's a fact that not all species of cephalopods produce ink. With more than 800 species of cephalopods, that's a lot of inspiration to draw from! Show us your best Cephalopod themed design! Previews will be sized as a fat quarter (21" x 18") Deadline for entry is Tuesday, September 29th, 2015. Voting will open Thursday, October 1st, 2015.

Which usually people think of Squid and such, but I wanted to do an octopus, and because I'm on a pillow doll kick I made him into a cut & sew pillow doll.

As you can see, my ideas start as really crude sketches. You get the idea, and can see how that went into my design. I sketch on paper, take a photo with my phone, send it to myself, and then create in Illustrator click by click. Someday I will get myself a drawing tablet, but for now... and for years, I've done it this way.

He will be published in October if he doesn't rank in the contest, in both fat quarter size and a giant yard sized doll, and also a pattern print (links to follow once it's live).

You can get him now on t-shirt at TeePublic!

My Spoonflower shop got a a makeover and I have a Santa Skeleton and VooDoo Reindeer in process. Once the samples arrive, they will go live. 

http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/staceyjean

You can get a peek at what's coming in the designs that are not for sale yet, here.

Voodoo Dolls, FINALLY!

I've wanted to make Voodoo dolls for awhile now. I've talked about it, I've blogged about it, I've tweeted... WHEN!? People would ask? FINALLY... I did it!

These are little bitty ones. 5" ... they have a loop on their heads so you can put them on your key chain, or attach them to a bag. Each one is hand crafted from socks I dyed, and poly-fil, with felt embellishments and threads and a button. You can see them, and buy one on my web store at staceyjean.com.