Plush lemmings

[Prob Lem]

I am a toy-maker - it's what I do. And, now, I have designed and made a plush lemming, and wanted to show him to you all.

This little fella is Darwin, named to riff off of the myth about lemming suicides and "survival of the fittest". He's one of my lemming characters, and is a recent addition to the main cast of the Lemmings-based fiction that I've been working on, on-and-off, for the last sixteen-and-a-half years, for my own entertainment.



He has been made during my free time over the course of the last week. It would've been quicker, but I had to iron out some minor issues with my pattern as I went along, and I managed to injure my fingers a few times, too. The whites of his eyes still need to be stuck down with fabric glue, but that hasn't arrived in the mail yet, and I felt that he was finished enough to show off, so here he is. Unlike other lemmings, he has a widow's peak, which was a real pain to deal with in plush form, due in part to the fabric that I used for his hair.



Here's another picture of him, taken from a slightly different angle. As you can see, he's an alert-looking lemming, so he doesn't have that dopey-eyed thing going on that so many of the species do.



Darwin (who stands at ten-and-a-half inches tall) was created to be a buddy to Lemming (who stands at ten inches tall, and whose parents weren't very creative with names ), the knitted lemming that my grandmother made for me when I was 12 years old (who, you'll notice, looks markedly different to the standard type of lemming - he was made based on a drawing I did of a perception of the in-game sprites, instead of the ever-familiar box-art, and this resulted in the formation of his backstory also; He's the main protagonist of the aforementioned long-running Lemmings-based fiction of mine). They're pictured together here, because it felt right to do so.

I'm delighted with how the pattern turned out, and I plan on making more of these guys, for sure (I'll post about them in this thread, as and when I make them, in order to keep them all in one place and not flood the forum). I hope you all like him.

[Minim]

They both look lovely and cute! I certainly prefer your design, as I like the look of the beady eyes and the hair. It's a shame that they can't stand up, but thanks for showing us!

[mobius]

  cuddly wuddly!

They look great, nice work 

You ought to put those on Etsy or one of those sites. I'd buy one if my room wasn't already filled with too much junk. [please don't misread that, your plush lemming is not junk ]

[Prob Lem]

Thanks very much, both of you.

@minimac - Believe it or not, Darwin can stand up with a little coaxing (obviously, Lemming can't). The paper is just there so that their hair shows up against the fabric they were standing on. I may put little sewn-up bags of the plastic pellets typically used in bean-bag toys inside the feet of future ones, which will practically guarantee that they'll be able to stand.

@möbius - No worries, I didn't misread it.

[Simon]

Great work, yes! The new doll has the best-fitting body proportions of all the (few) plushies I've seen. Lemmings really have these monstrous feet and nose-heads.

May the craftiest player win.

-- Simon

[Prob Lem]

Thanks very, very, very much. Also, haha, "nose-heads" - I've never heard that one, before. Their head shape, and rough proportions, remind me a bit of The Wombles, to be honest.



I took a couple more photographs of Darwin, incidentally, to show a side view and a back view (wherein you can see that he has a properly-formed scalp and everything ). But first, one that looks humourously like an awkward vacation photo, which I took after the whites of his eyes were finally glued down;



And then the side view;



And the back view (complete with Lemmings 3D backdrop, of course);



As a side-note, I should mention that there is now green fur EVERYWHERE in my house, thanks to the fabric I used for the hair. It sheds so badly when you first get it and start cutting it.

[geoo]

Wow, your plush lemming is definitely by far the most accurate looking one I've seen (accurate to what I imagine a lemming should look like ). And cuddly.
And nice vacation photos! 

As a side-note, I should mention that there is now green fur EVERYWHERE in my house, thanks to the fabric I used for the hair. It sheds so badly when you first get it and start cutting it.

[RubiX]

wow , nice work.  I want one.

Infact, this just got me thinking of a great idea for youtube.   Uuuuumm I will need about 50 made, better get started.  Open an online shop lol.

I would be throwing them off a cliff, one bye one!.  Im laughing just thinking of how this could look.
I'm one of the ridiculous people who laughs at his own stupid jokes and ideas, yes.

VIRAL VIDEO!

[Prob Lem]

Thanks again, guys.

I'm halfway through my next one, now (another principal character from the ongoing fiction), but hit a delay because my new sewing machine died on me suddenly. I got it replaced with a different make and model yesterday, so I'll be back to work on it later.

[Prob Lem]

Sorry for the double-post, but, after a bit of a delay in order to organise some Christmas-related stuff, I've finished another one (technically, I finished him yesterday, but I had to wait overnight for some glue, which keeps his jacket's collar in position, to dry). Festive-coloured felt sheets provide the backdrop for the photo this time, because that was what was closest to hand on my project table.


This is Thomas, leader of the resistance* and wearer of an awesome jacket**. There's no special reason for his name - I just happened to like it, and it stuck because he's meant to be a bit older than the others, and it sounded suitably slightly-old-fashioned.

*I always figured that lemmings, being such conformist creatures by-and-large, could at some point potentially end up faced with organisations which try to take advantage of that fact. It allows for some conflicts and developments within the ongoing story, anyway.

**The jacket started merely as a literary device to mark him out from the other characters, which is why it's there even though Classic-type lemmings don't tend to wear such things (the red trims at the tops of the pockets were inspired by the red parts on Cooler's jacket in the 1980s Pound Puppies cartoon series, though I have no real idea why this is - I'm guessing that it's probably because that character was also marked out by a blue jacket). It was utterly hellish to make. Thank goodness that I don't need to make any more jackets again, especially since I've got to make more lemmings soon, because a couple of relatives have been asking me for them after they saw Darwin.

[ccexplore]

Looks nice with the jacket! Just in time for the frigid weather.

[Prob Lem]

Looks nice with the jacket!

Thanks!

Just in time for the frigid weather.

Oh boy, isn't it ever? It's one of the coldest years I can remember, here. Kind of wish I had a jacket like that, now...

[Pooty]

Wow! These plush lemmings are really good! Very nice work!

[Leo]

Well, hm... it's nice, Lemming feels warm now, but if you want a winter Lemming you must make him Santa suit and Santa hat. And what, you made a Lemming and that's
it? It's not right, you must make 100 of them, not just one, you know that?

[Prob Lem]

Wow! These plush lemmings are really good! Very nice work!

Thanks very much!

Well, hm... it's nice, Lemming feels warm now, but if you want a winter Lemming you must make him Santa suit and Santa hat. And what, you made a Lemming and that's
it? It's not right, you must make 100 of them, not just one, you know that?

I'll have to make a Christmas Lemming next year (it's bad luck to do so this long after the Christmas season, right? ).

As for making more, I'm doing so. My current project is a plush bag for carrying change and other small things in - that one will be the first one to have the dopey eyes, and a skill assigned, too (I'm also going to reverse the pile of the hair fabric from how it is on Darwin and Thomas, to see how it looks with it pointing downwards towards the face instead). Then I'll get to making the ones for the friends and relatives who've been asking me for them.

As for 100, I'd love to, but then my house would be overrun!