Author Topic: Plush lemmings (Read 20353 times)

Prob Lem · « **on:** November 09, 2012, 10:15:35 AM »

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 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 09, 2012, 06:45:44 PM »

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 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 09, 2012, 09:09:41 PM »

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 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 09, 2012, 10:44:38 PM »

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 · « **Reply #4 on:** November 11, 2012, 01:51:27 AM »

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 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 11, 2012, 04:02:36 AM »

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 · « **Reply #6 on:** November 11, 2012, 04:23:54 AM »

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!

Quote

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 · « **Reply #7 on:** November 11, 2012, 06:27:27 AM »

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 · « **Reply #8 on:** November 13, 2012, 06:53:11 AM »

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 · « **Reply #9 on:** December 18, 2012, 10:13:54 PM »

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 · « **Reply #10 on:** December 19, 2012, 11:11:26 AM »

Looks nice with the jacket!

Just in time for the frigid weather.

Prob Lem · « **Reply #11 on:** December 19, 2012, 12:34:21 PM »

Quote from: ccexplore on 2012-12-19 05:11:26

Looks nice with the jacket!

Thanks!

Quote

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 · « **Reply #12 on:** January 27, 2013, 05:15:43 PM »

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

Leo · « **Reply #13 on:** February 01, 2013, 12:46:20 AM »

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 · « **Reply #14 on:** February 01, 2013, 05:18:27 AM »

Quote from: Pooty on 2013-01-27 11:15:43

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

Thanks very much!

Quote from: Leo on 2013-01-31 18:46:20

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!

Leo · « **Reply #15 on:** February 01, 2013, 06:08:05 AM »

Ah, now I know where is the problem. You making are too big Lemmings. You must make them small. So, storage for 100 of them will be no problem at all (and as a side effect, less material will be used). Let's see... so small to fit (all 100 of them) in a shoe box. If you make a door on the box, you can open it and shake Lemmings out, like when they entering a game level. This will be a hit toy for sure.

Mikex62 · « **Reply #16 on:** February 04, 2013, 10:47:25 PM »

I would love to see Lomax's hat! These screenshots will help.

Prob Lem · « **Reply #17 on:** February 05, 2013, 11:15:49 AM »

Funnily enough, I'm actually planning on making a plush of Lomax at some point, although that won't be right away, because his hair is a slightly different shade of green to the norm, and I don't have the correct fabric for that, yet.

Leo · « **Reply #18 on:** February 05, 2013, 03:33:55 PM »

Yes right, now you will work on Lomax, and what about my idea of 'Box of hundred'?

Prob Lem · « **Reply #19 on:** February 05, 2013, 07:18:07 PM »

Quote from: Leo on 2013-02-05 09:33:55

Yes right, now you will work on Lomax, and what about my idea of 'Box of hundred'?

Haha, I wish I could, but like I said, I'm lacking the correct colour of fabric for his hair.

As for the box of 100, parts of them are already a little fiddly to make at their current size of ten inches tall - I'd imagine that making 100 much smaller ones would be nightmarish.

It may be a task better suited for the little crocheted kind.

Prob Lem · « **Reply #20 on:** February 10, 2013, 08:31:41 PM »

Another lemming has been completed!

This is Arthur, so named because I was reading a lot about the history of RISC OS around the time that I started working on him.

He's a combination of a novelty bag, and a desk-tidy - the darker blue loops that are attached to him, one of which can be seen in the photo, are intended for attaching a shoulder-strap to, and can also be used for holding pens and suchlike.

Arthur wears a Lemmings 3D-style Builder backpack for holding things in. I was originally going to have him holding a brick, but realised that this would have made him too unwieldy to use as a bag because it required his arms to be outstretched, so I dropped that idea. I also dropped the notion of changing the direction of the hair pile, because it looked really bad the other way around.

He's the first of my lemmings to have the dopey eyes, and this also marks the debut of the set of backgrounds that I got printed up for photographing these guys.

And now, onto the next ones I go...

Mikex62 · « **Reply #21 on:** February 10, 2013, 09:01:40 PM »

I like the dopey eyes because it looks like the Lemmings on the title screen.

Prob Lem · « **Reply #22 on:** April 10, 2013, 01:32:09 AM »

Another plush lemming has been completed!

His name is simply Mr. Lemming, after the eponymous (or possibly just hypothetical) Mr. Lemming mentioned in some of the level titles in the original game, and he's a bit different from the norm, because he's a miniature plush. He's so named partly because his hair was a bit of a pain to work with, and I found myself thinking of the level title "Keep your hair on Mr. Lemming", at one point. Well, that, and because I simply couldn't think of anything else, and I then figured that Mr. Lemming would fit.

He was made during some free moments in between working on a gift for a friend, one half of which is a completely custom-designed one-off plush, which is mostly too complex to machine-sew, so I already had my needles and threads sitting around on my desk (the other half of said gift is another full-sized lemming, who'll be next in line to be shown here once he's finished).

Here's a shot of Mr. Lemming with Arthur, just to show the size difference. Mr. Lemming is made from the very same pattern as the others, simply shrunken down, and with just a few minor alterations made so that it can work at this size (the most/only noticeable one of these changes is the lack of thumbs, because they're tricky enough to deal with at full-size, and would have been impossible to turn at half-size). I wanted a pocket-sized lemming to take on my travels and sneak into as many photographs as possible, so perhaps we could say that this guy has a new lemming skill - Photobomber!

Mr. Lemming stands at four-and-a-half inches tall. I must admit that, as far as huggability goes, I prefer the full-sized ones (who stand at nine to ten inches tall), because I designed them at the size that I always pictured the lemmings to be - that is, bigger than real-life lemmings so as to have the cute-and-cuddly factor that's evident from the games and promotional artwork, but not bigger than other, larger real-life muroid rodents.

That said, as far as the required trait of being pocket-sized goes, Mr. Lemming can't be beaten (and because he's smaller and lighter than the others, it's much easier to get him to stand unaided).

Last of all, here's an image of him next to a familiar everyday object - a CD case, which just so happens to be the one for the single, Lemmings by SFX - in order to give a better idea of his size. This might also give some idea of how tiny his pupils are; They're made of felt because I don't have safety-eyes that small, are just 5mm across, and were cut as perfectly-round as a human hand can possibly manage, before being carefully glued into place with my favourite brand of fabric-glue. This was hellish, and I never want to make a mini-sized plush again if I can help it.

More to come, as usual!

Pooty · « **Reply #23 on:** April 10, 2013, 01:57:51 AM »

Aww, that's so cute. It's like a little baby lemming.

Prob Lem · « **Reply #24 on:** August 26, 2013, 11:05:20 PM »

Well, I've finally made my fifth plush lemming. He doesn't have a name, since he's a gift for a friend of mine (he'll be travelling to his destination along with this creation, shortly), but here he is nonetheless;

I'm very pleased with how he's turned out.

lemmaniack133 · « **Reply #25 on:** September 02, 2013, 11:33:29 PM »

These plush toys look so FRICKIN' AWESOME! I'd SO buy one

Can't wait to see what you have in mind for a Christmas Lemmings

Prob Lem · « **Reply #26 on:** November 05, 2013, 05:56:25 AM »

Quote from: lemmaniack133 on 2013-09-02 17:33:29

These plush toys look so FRICKIN' AWESOME! I'd SO buy one

Thanks very much - I really appreciate it.

Quote

Can't wait to see what you have in mind for a Christmas Lemmings

Unfortunately, at this particular moment, I'm not sure whether I'll have the time to make a Christmas lemming in time for Christmas this year or not. It all depends on how much longer my current Lemmings-based plush project takes, really.

What I'm about to post was a quick project, finished within about a day total, to break up the monotony of the aforementioned more-complex plush...

Back at the start of this thread, I made a brief mention of the knitted lemming, known simply as Lemming, that my grandmother made for me when I was a kid. When I drew the original picture of him, he was intentionally different from the "standard" type of lemming, and at the time, there also were several others with different outfits and, in some cases, hair colours. However, Lemming is the only one who I still have, now. Now, I cannot knit (and I really have tried to learn), but I set myself a little challenge to see how closely I could replicate the style that my grandmother knitted in, in my own preferred form of needlecraft, and in so doing, I decided to make one more lemming of Lemming's kind, as a companion for him;

I think I managed to stick pretty closely to my grandmother's style, so I'm pleased with the results.

The next one will be somewhat more of a standard lemming. Watch this space!

ExplodingLemming123456 · « **Reply #27 on:** March 12, 2014, 06:15:40 PM »

Cool!

Prob Lem · « **Reply #28 on:** March 13, 2014, 01:24:52 AM »

Hey, thanks very much.

And, a minor update while I'm here: I'm still working on the next one. It's proving to be a bit fiddly. I'm getting there, though!

Prob Lem · « **Reply #29 on:** June 25, 2014, 12:15:54 AM »

Been a little while since I made a regular lemming, hasn't it?

...

Well, it's going to be a while longer 'til we see another one, 'cos this guy's not quite a regular lemming - he's a blue-haired one.

This chap is Ben, so named simply because I wanted a blue-haired lemming to have a name that starts with a "B". He sports several structural and cosmetic changes, and was part of an experiment with the proportions of my Lemmings plush pattern. The structural changes all worked out (these being an adjustment to how the body is put together, and a different way of attaching the arms and sleeves), and the most notable cosmetic one - new hair fabric (which will now be the standard for all future lemmings I make, as I have it in the correct shade of green, as well) - did, as well.

That said, the feet were made smaller in an effort to move things a bit closer to the original box-art, but I don't feel that it quite works. I think the original version of the pattern, with the larger feet, is more accurate to both Lemmings 3D (which is mostly what I modelled the pattern after), and to the title screen artwork of the original game, as well as the vast majority of all of the other Lemmings artwork ever. I'll be reverting that change, I think...

Anyway, I'm still really pleased with him!

grams88 · « **Reply #30 on:** June 25, 2014, 11:11:04 AM »

Hi Prob Lem

Nice to meet Ben,

When I usually play the two player with my dad at the weekends I always go player two where the lemmings have blue hair and a green coat or shirt, opposite to player one's lemmings. I'm not too sure if Ben will get along with the other lemmings as he's part of player twos team who's mission is to destroy player one's team.

Thanks for sharing and contributing as always.

Prob Lem · « **Reply #31 on:** June 26, 2014, 12:54:14 AM »

Thanks!

Ben and the others seem to be getting along fine. I suspect it's the humans who worry more about which team they're on, heheh.

Prob Lem · « **Reply #32 on:** July 15, 2014, 11:09:27 PM »

Ok, no more new Lemmings plushes just yet (I've now begun contacting those who've expressed interest in my work in case anyone else wants one, though, and plan on making one more for myself), but I think I almost spontaneously combusted with cuteness overload at this...

It turns out that Build-A-Bear Workshop/The Bear Factory/Teddy Mountain/Teddy Mill/etc. shirts (and probably some hats and accessories, too), for 15" bears, fit my lemmings. I had a hoodie and a samurai outfit hanging around, and decided to try them out on Darwin and Arthur, respectively.

You'd better bet that there'll be a Christmas lemming photo before long...

RubiX · « **Reply #33 on:** July 16, 2014, 03:19:33 PM »

They are fantastic, and this will be a great way to show my love of the best game ever.
Supporting Prob Lem

(understand we all have our bills, and may not all be able to support the cause)

Prob Lem · « **Reply #34 on:** July 25, 2014, 10:43:26 PM »

Thanks, RubiX.

Here's my latest one, guys. He's been made to order for RubiX, who's named him Lex. It was requested that Lex resemble Darwin, so he has alert eyes and a widow's peak.

He'll soon be winging his way to you, RubiX.

Prob Lem · « **Reply #35 on:** August 03, 2014, 05:44:04 AM »

After Lex started his journey, I got to work on a lemming to act as a mascot and wear seasonal outfits and costumes (this is the other one that I mentioned wanting to make for myself, a few posts ago). His name is Max, since "Mascot Lemming" was rather unwieldy, and he's nine-and-a-half inches tall.

I wanted a traditional-looking lemming this time around, so he has the traditional dopey eyes, which have thus far been a rarity with lemmings I've made for myself.

I think he came out pretty cute. He also makes a fantastically dopey-looking samurai, as you can see.

RubiX · « **Reply #36 on:** August 08, 2014, 05:03:23 PM »

Its Mike & Lex

Prob Lem · « **Reply #37 on:** August 08, 2014, 05:50:50 PM »

Haha! Awesome!

Author Topic: Plush lemmings (Read 20353 times)

ExplodingLemming123456