Argus

Hey all! The Plushteam's March/April challenge is "World Mythology Plush". There are several categories including gods/goddesses, magical artifacts, magical creatures and mortals/demigods. Even though the challenge was announced quite a while back it took me a while to get in the groove. On the surface it sounded like an awesome challenge. I love mythology from all parts of the world so I thought I would have no problem finding something to make. However when I started looking on various websites I realized that many mythical characters are human or part human and I really didn't want to make a person (or at least I couldn't envision how to make a human). Then I found this site called MusesRealm.net. They have a magical creatures and beings area with tons of creatures listed in alphabetical order. I nearly looked and read every single one but settled on one of the first ones I saw, Argus, a giant with 100 eyes.

Here is his description from the site:

"Argus was a Giant with 100 eyes that were placed all over his body. He never closed all of his eyes at once, sleeping with at least half of them open. For this reason he made an excellent guard. The Goddess Hera had him guard the maiden Io, a lover of Zeus who had been turned into a white cow. Zeus sent Hermes to rescue the maiden, which the god was able to do by singing to Argus and getting him to close all of his eyes. When Argus was completely asleep and unaware, Hermes killed him. In return for his service and sacrifice, Hera placed his eyes onto the tail feathers of the peacock, a bird which from then on has been sacred to the Goddess."

This is my original sketch of Argus:

It's funny how different a plush can come out from the original sketch (at least for me). I guess he came out pretty much like the drawing except for the face. I like them both. :)

A little bit about my Argus... He is about 13 inches tall from his toes to the tip of his head. He is made from a shaggy blue fake fur and a complimentary blue fleece. He does have 100 eyes all over his body (hopefully). I have to admit he may or may not have 100 total eyes although I am pretty sure he does. Due to some confusion and a couple breaking off I did lose track once or twice. It was a lot of eyes! All of the eyes except a couple are glass (the ones that aren't are plastic) and they are all different sizes and colors. I love how they hide in his fur.

Argus has a lot of details such as a ton of needle sculpting on his hands and face. His fingers are wired and need to be bent so he can stand but you can unbend them if you want.

His nose has warts as you can see in this picture.

When he was done I decided he needed something to break up the blue body so I made him a vest. It is made from brown wool felt with misc. fur and felt patchwork added. There is also a wooden button to finish it off.

My Argus came out sweet and he even loves other creatures.

He is weighted in his feet and stands freely. His arms are jointed at the shoulder with plastic joints so they do move. His legs are not jointed and don't move.

The biggest problem I have found with working on these challenges and plush that is so different from what I normally do is that when the piece is completed I don't want to sell them. I am creating plush that I would buy...maybe that is good but it isn't so good when it comes to responsibility and the need for $.

What do you think of him?

Sunshine Adventure With Maisy Part 2

Remember when I said there would be an adventure with Maisy part 2 and we would walk the other way at Alton Baker park? Well we never did it over spring break but we did today! Over the past week we, here in Eugene, have been hammered by a storm that has given us a ton of rain, wind and even some hail/snow. The weather has kept Maisy and I from going to the park but this morning when we got up the sun was shining and the news said it would be in the high 60's today. Even though I had a ton of homework we couldn't spend the day inside so we headed to Alton Baker and started at the duck pond.

The pond is funny because it is all cement with lots of poop. I was pleasantly surprised to find a fence up because they are remodeling the pond to be less poopy and more natural. Once my Mom and I brought one of my little cousins to the pond when he was around 3 and he slipped on the bird poop and rolled into the pond. It was pretty funny (the water is really shallow and it shocked him more than was dangerous). Anyhoo I thought this sign was funny as if anyone would attempt to swim in the slime. The seagull on top is cute.

Off we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was super hard for me to get a picture of this graffiti because it was under the bridge and like I said before Maisy is afraid of everything especially the noise of cars zooming by overhead. I liked it but I wondered if the blue was covering up a cool face.

Maisy was ready for dip when we reached an old boat ramp on the river.

Halfway bridge!

Pretty view of the river from the bridge.

Geese!

So I forgot to bring a poop bag and Maisy was acting like she was about ready to unload one so I was taking her off in the bushes in the hopes that should the time come she would discreetly excrete where no one could see her. You know how dogs always go at just the wrong time (like right in front of a bike cop or in the park sand box just as a daycare center arrives). Well anyway while we were traipsing through the bushes I found this stencil and I thought it was pretty cool. Guess you never know what you will find when you are on the hunt for a perfect poo spot. Oh and p.s. she never ended up going.. whew..

Hope you had fun coming with us on our adventure walk! Sorry about all the talk about poop!

Are you Sick of them Yet?

I snapped a couple pictures of my Blythe and my Pullip today. They both have new outfits from the toy store. I am amassing quite a collection of clothing from Liv dolls and also I bought one Wizards of Waverly Place doll whose clothes fit them. Don't they look cute!!??