Bell and Bird Boutique

The official Tumblr of the Bell and Bird Boutique on Etsy!

[moonbeams-and-moonbin]

Tumblr don't delete this challenge

[omakeno]

😽

[bellandbirdboutique]

Detail shot of Dio’s bangs before they were sewn to his head. I still can’t believe I managed to make them all in one piece...

[bellandbirdboutique]

“You thought this was a normal amigurumi project, but instead it was me! DIO!”

I designed Dio Brando here as a birthday gift for a friend. Even though I know he’s a terrible person, I can’t help but think he turned out pretty cute…

[bellandbirdboutique]

#i like the kneepads#and the armbands look like they were slip stitched around? which is tough (via @oketragodofyarn)

Actually, the armbands are just back loop scs. I usually save slip stitching for trim/color change situations like the green on the ankles of his chaps. 

[bellandbirdboutique]

"You thought this was a normal amigurumi project, but instead it was me! DIO!”

I designed Dio Brando here as a birthday gift for a friend. Even though I know he’s a terrible person, I can’t help but think he turned out pretty cute...

[sio13art-deactivated20170921]

[milocrochet]

Брошь-корона.

[oketragodofyarn]

Bird again. Sending this message separately so I'm not overstepping too much - I was also wondering, why do your plushies not have faces? I mean, I just do eyes, because fine details are not my strong suit, but the buttons by themselves add so much expression, I think. Is the facelessness something to do with the proportions, or do you just like the aesthetic? Thanks.

Not a problem! (I can and will talk all day if given the chance, I’m just also shy first and foremost) It’s mostly the proportions, since I make plushes smaller and I’m not good enough at embroidery to want to try to embroider eyes, but I like the aesthetic of it too, after however many projects I’ve made like that. I feel like any eyes I would make would look… weird.

[bellandbirdboutique]

VERY BELATED RESPONSE WHOOPS

I've been meaning to test if delica/seed beads might look good as eyes. I think they’d be too small on my plushies, but they might match your minimalism better while still adding some shine. 

I didn’t really intend to keep going with button eyes in my work, but they’re surprisingly cute in practice. (Except black buttons. Those ones are a little too horror movie.) 

[bellandbirdboutique]

Bad and naughty vampire heads get put in the B E A D  P R I S O N to atone for their crimes.

[bellandbirdboutique]

What have I been up to lately? Well, here’s a WIP. Or should I say, WRYYYYY-IP? 

[cupcakescrochets]

Cheers, love! The cavalry’s here!

Tracer! I always have trouble with tinted-but-transparent goggles/glasses, I’ve never really come up with a way to make them that I’m completely happy with, so I made them removable!

[oketragodofyarn]

Hello, this is 50% of the Bell and Bird Boutique (The Bird half, specifically. The one who made the yarn Avacyn). I'm a group blog, so I can't do messaging, but my brother has shown me your MTG plushies before. I'm really envious of your embroidery detailing. I was just wondering, how tall are your plushies usually? I'm curious as to whether they are in the same size range as mine. Thanks!

Hiya! The detail is needle felting, actually, because embroidery scares me and stabbing yarn with a needle repeatedly makes the detail work much easier on me. 

But your question: I’ve misplaced my tape measurer, but i’m estimating about 9 inches tall for the MTG humanoid plushies? Which is surprisingly consistent, they’re all three within about half an inch of each other. 

(Also that Avacyn is super cool and looks like a Proper Plush with the Right Amount of Detail, which is something I’ve not been able to figure out.)

[bellandbirdboutique]

I like your needlefelting too, but I’m really impressed by how much detailing you do in your clothes/armor - my stitchwork is really imprecise, so I haven’t done any kind of finer details on my clothing so far. (That’s why Avacyn doesn’t have that V detail on her skirt…and why I’m struggling so much with all of Gisela’s billion sigilthings.) Also, I loathe the assembly part of amigurumi, so I try and keep my overall part count as low as possible, which means sacrificing some control over the final look. 

Also, it turns out Avacyn is about 9 inches tall herself, meaning that proportionswise, she might be able to outbeef the Beef…

Do you have a preferred technique for longer hair? I don’t have the patience for that rooting-each-strand-into-the-scalp thing that I see so many people doing, so I crochet “wigs” in 1-2 solid pieces and then sew those to the head. 

[oketragodofyarn]

Hair is rough, to be honest. Mayael got individual strands, unwoven and then steamed (semi)flat, Ral got a cap of black with white and black tufts poking out via needle felting, and Gids got one solid piece of crochet into a mullet. I think just one (or maybe two-three) pieces like that is my preference, since that’s what I tend to use… any of my older Dungeons and Dragons plushes get that type of hair, sometimes in a few goes so I can braid it. Getting some little fluff is nice, but the each-strand-in-scalp method is way too complicated for most things. And doesn’t come out in the textures I was looking for, etc., etc. Which is a really rambly way to say that I agree with your method. It’s the easiest by far.

I’m almost positive that your Avacyn could outbeef my Gids… and now I’m wondering how a fight between the two would have come out…

(Also if I didn’t mention it before, I’m so stoked that there are other folks in this community that crochet)

[bellandbirdboutique]

Belated response - thus far, I’ve been doing hair as one solid piece for the top, and then splitting it into separate “strands” at the bottom. Like, if you’ve ever crocheted anything with tentacles, it’s a technique like that. It lends itself best to characters with wavy/curly long hair, but if you tweak the spaces between strands and the overall strand thickness, you can force its shape to change overall. (ex: Avacyn’s hair is closely-spaced sc chains. Gisela’s are spaced the same, but they’re hdcs instead, so her hair comes out thicker.) You can also style this kind of hair by braiding it or tying it up, so it’s pretty cool. (If you fold Avacyn’s bangs up so they wrap around her head, you get Daenerys Targaryen hair!)

Who Would Win: 1 standard size Gideon, or 1 Really Buff Avacyn

(I’m flattered, but take me with a grain of salt - I haven’t played MTG for a few years now, and even when I did play I was pretty casual about it. Nowadays I mostly wait for @lizardwizard64 to tell me what the latest lore drama is, and I still only understand about half of it...)

[oketragodofyarn]

Hello, this is 50% of the Bell and Bird Boutique (The Bird half, specifically. The one who made the yarn Avacyn). I'm a group blog, so I can't do messaging, but my brother has shown me your MTG plushies before. I'm really envious of your embroidery detailing. I was just wondering, how tall are your plushies usually? I'm curious as to whether they are in the same size range as mine. Thanks!

Hiya! The detail is needle felting, actually, because embroidery scares me and stabbing yarn with a needle repeatedly makes the detail work much easier on me. 

But your question: I’ve misplaced my tape measurer, but i’m estimating about 9 inches tall for the MTG humanoid plushies? Which is surprisingly consistent, they’re all three within about half an inch of each other. 

(Also that Avacyn is super cool and looks like a Proper Plush with the Right Amount of Detail, which is something I’ve not been able to figure out.)

[bellandbirdboutique]

I like your needlefelting too, but I’m really impressed by how much detailing you do in your clothes/armor - my stitchwork is really imprecise, so I haven’t done any kind of finer details on my clothing so far. (That’s why Avacyn doesn’t have that V detail on her skirt...and why I’m struggling so much with all of Gisela’s billion sigilthings.) Also, I loathe the assembly part of amigurumi, so I try and keep my overall part count as low as possible, which means sacrificing some control over the final look. 

Also, it turns out Avacyn is about 9 inches tall herself, meaning that proportionswise, she might be able to outbeef the Beef...

Do you have a preferred technique for longer hair? I don’t have the patience for that rooting-each-strand-into-the-scalp thing that I see so many people doing, so I crochet “wigs” in 1-2 solid pieces and then sew those to the head. 

[podkins]

Winter Informal - Amigurumi Juniper Bonsai Tree

Although this bit of loveliness is sold now, you can find a lot of stunning little creations over at  MoonsCreations ‘s Etsy store.  Lovely right?

[theburgermaster-a]

((My latest crochet project is completed! Meet Mini!Pollo! He’s mini because I screwed up his legs and skipped a couple rows. Oops. Haha. But I’ve been assured that it’s okay because the real Apollo is short too. I’m super proud of this!))

[lizardwizard64]

@odric-master-swagtician

Yarn Avacyn!

[doctor-roman]

WANT

[bellandbirdboutique]

Hello, world! I made this yarn Avacyn as a Christmas gift for my brother, @lizardwizard64! Here she is hanging out with 40% of Gisela.

My blog is fairly sparse at the moment, but if people like what I do, I’ll come around more often!

[bellandbirdboutique]

Here’s another free amigurumi pattern from Bell and Bird Boutique: some charming wrapped candies! They use barely any yarn, and best of all, there’s no assembly required!