Some Rambling OFF Thoughts (Plus Bad Batter Post-Plushie Comments)
Firstly tysm everyone who's been enjoying my stuff so far! i just post here when i get a severe round of ADHD and OCD and love to post my work here! ill start with my overall thoughts about my experience exploring the OFF tags on tumblr (then it just devolves into meshing with the plushie stuff so haha i love ADHD :)
looking at mortis ghosts' old tumblr and seeing the sketches hes done for OFF over the years really hits home with the idea that you dont gotta stick to one exact character design. no one's interpretation of the characters is right or wrong, its what YOU see. reflecting on the bad batter plushie i made recently made me really wanna look at everyone's interpretations of the bad batter. i thought before when i originally saw the sprite of the bad batter, that he did have two white eyes. but the more i looked at some of mortis ghosts other works, i noticed how much it varied from piece to piece. ultimately i had to make a choice. how was i gonna make his head? well i had a few options. i either make him have two eyes or one central eye that looks to follow you like a duskull. i see some folk give him a tail. some folk give him spines like a gator and leaning into that motif a bit. its all very intriguing to observe and cross reference. i think what im trying to say is that the bad batter plushie design was influenced by everyones interpretaion of him, not just mortis ghost ^^ so he feels a lot more special to me. ill attach my template for anyone interested, but PLEASE be warned!!! i did NOT use these sizes!! always ALWAYS make prototypes before cutting fabric! also i did make adjustments OUTSIDE of this template. unfortunately, my OCD and ADHD got the best of me and while i saw my goal, i forgot to consider minor things during the templating process that cropped up later during the project. so please, dont give into those demons x3c
How I prep for cutting if i am unsure about my template: use translucent paper or just regular copy paper and cut out a mini version of my template and assemble with tape!!! the thing about fabric and paper is that they have very similar rigidity and doing a paper prototype not only saves time but also money!
the thing about the bad batter plushie and how i decided to go about it is that i saw his head as a shell. the problem with this is that i havent had much experience with trying to wire something AND have it act as a hollow opening for a plush. the experimental vs actual results would definitely show that its not as easy said than done on paper vs applying it!
The First Hurdle: The Hands!!
i began with his long spindly hands! unfortunately i am still dealing with the aftermath of my hasty creation process and the polar fleece i had laying around is NOT good cudly fabric! this is a classic case of me leaping before thinking (thanks ADHD!) and these were a BITCH to sew and flip!!!! the problem that made it worse was the wiring which i used old notebooks with those bendable wires to make his body flexible. my poor ass pliers (well theyve been through worse, i do have a lot of tools as i do house work and am the fix it gal ;) the mechanical engineer is engi-here! also shoutouts to my Kobalt pliers, theyre the real MVP here)
im just gonna block post the works in progress cause this took up 3 days of near nonstop work. i believe i said it was around 30 hours of work!
the next biggest hurdle was the one i was dreading the most: THE BIG CHOMPIES!!!! tell yall what this was no joke a real challenge to my engineering brain!
these particular screenshots were after 6 HOURS of working JUST on the teeth! though i did genuinely love how they came out!!!
the head after the last bits of the lower jaw were sewn and the inside of his head were closed up! the eye was planned to be in the center of the black strip inside his face so that it can sit.
body p much done! he was just missing his top and his hat! at this stage it was p much done. and after all that the plush was done!
so, what would i have done differently? what can i offer to anyone whos looking to try to make him or really any plushie? well first, CALM YOUR IMPULSES if you have ADHD like i do!! the hastiness of that is what screws you over later in the project! for example, above with the template. also, be mindful of how much space you have when you turn fabric inside out, that will save you a LOT of headache! anyways ty for reading if you made it this far! i do appreciate it <3 !!!