Soft Sculpture

Soft Sculptures; Commissions made by Cwtch Club and for other purposes

I recently learned puppet making with Wendy & Brian Froud. This is what I made:

The starting process with foam & evostick

 

 

Fur being added

The final piece

Here are some of my favourite commissions I made under the name Cwtch Club. To see more and to order, go to http://cwtchclub1972.blogspot.com/

Rat Man - Brown Jenkins from a Lovecraft novel:

I got given a 2nd commission for xmas 2022 from the same client that I made the tree creature for. This was another extremely enjoyable challenge. The most complicated part was the face. Please note, my client wanted rat teeth rather than the teeth in the picture. 

At first I thought I would make it with a soft sculpture technique using stockings and wadding, but it didn't create the desired shapes:

Then I thought I could make a hollow clay face which could be then fixed to the body, but I was concerned that it would be too fragile:

Finally I decided to needle felt the face as it gave more flexibility and would be easier to secure to the body:

Here is the face starting to take shape, above

Here's the finished face attached to the body. I made the teeth with air drying clay and then painted and varnished them. I used the same technique for the finger nails & claws

The body was made using fake fur & wadding, the ears, hands, back paws & tail from flat felt with pipe cleaners encased inside. I made the hair & beard from wool, which I sewed on.

Tree Creature

I loved making this crazy looking tree creature called Otesanek. It was a Christmas gift for a client to give his daughter who is obsessed with this tree creature that originated from a Czech fairytale. There was a film also made about him called Little Otik or Greedy guts, not copyright though due to him being a fairytale.

I had never made anything like it before and had to experiment to get the 'bark' effect, the twigs and the teeth & gums right. I even adjusted the dummy so it would fit in it's mouth.

I also made the bonnet, so that it would fit his head perfectly.

The client was very happy with the result.

Welsh Dragon

This dragon was commissioned by a friend for her then 7 year old son - Haydn. It was one of the first Cwtch softies I made. I love his drawing and was so happy to bring him to life.

Cwtch Monster

This monster was also drawn by Haydn, one of the cutest monsters I've ever seen. 

I was so happy with the result that he has become my Cwtch Club mascot.

Penguin

This penquin was drawn by Haydn's brother - Ewan. I love the fried egg on his chest!

Stretchy Suzie

I made this doll for Stretchy Suzie's yoga studio, in Cardiff. Suzie is the logo for Stretchy Suzie. Rebecca Swandzt , the founder of Stretchy Suzie, absolutely loved her. I loved making the doll, she was a challenge as she was the first human like Cwtch softie that I had made. As a Fashion graduate and Costume Designer, I also loved making her clothes.

The D Teez

This is Ally, lead singer of the D Teez, a punk garage band, who I play viola with. The idea was to make these dolls so that we could animate a video to go with one of our songs. Sadly lockdown happened before we were able to record anything properly and most of the band have been too busy to get together since. :(

This is Lee - our bass player and Ada - our guitarist.

This is Tom, our drummer

I'm still waiting for Ally fo make a version of me! Looks like I'll have to do it myself...

I loved making these dolls, it was a challenge to make them look like the actual people, from photographs. I think I managed it though.

Butterfly

This beautiful butterfly was drawn by my client's youngest daughter, when she was 5, I think. It was great to re-create the colourful drawings on the wings.

 Dinosaurs

These dinosaurs were the first commissions I had from the client who also commissioned the butterfly. These amazing dinosaurs were drawn by her two sons. They were so much fun to make with all their colours, though I slightly regretted using zig-zag stitch to colour them in, as it was a long process, I think it was worth it! It was the first time I had made a creature with an open mouth, so that took a bit of figuring out, but I got there in the end. So happy with the results and so was my client.

Policeman

This policeman was commissioned as a Christmas present for my client's son. He had drawn it as an 8 year old and he was 30, the year I made it. He was over the moon, as was my client. I especially love the pockets and his grin.

Crocheted butterfly

I made this when I was going through an amigurumi stage, having been given a book on it one birthday. It ended up as a hair clip for one of my nieces.

Knitted sloth

This is a knitted sloth I made for my partner, when I was going through a knitted animal stage, having bought a book on knitting animals. I did a much more sloth-like face than the book suggested though, I wasn't impressed by their interpretation!