ToyCyte sale!
We've slashed our prices for a lot of our toys to make room for more customs! Go get some amazing deals today at our store !
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There’s always so much going on in this scene, but occasionally it seems like we’re all just barely scratching the surface. Case in point: an email I got from Ryon Xavier Smith, who has been making toys since he was six, but is not exactly a ‘household name.’ Ryon decided to step out of the [...]
Continue reading...6. April 2009
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Rich of Ume Toys just sent in word on his latest creation: Jasper the Unfriendly Ghost. Made of Sculpey, Jasper will be a very limited edition run of 10 hand cast, finished and numbered. Writes Rich, “He is small, but cute standing proud at just under an inch and a half.” Price is TBA. Check [...]
Continue reading...16. March 2009
For this installment of custoMONDAY, we are heading up north to Toronto Canada, where 3D illustrator Jessica Fortner calls home. Her imagery, staging and titles can't be described as simply gorey, they're more Edward Gorey--each vignette its own tragicomedy. Not one to be typecast, Jessica dabbles in varying levels of creepy, cute and unique spins on anthropomorphic beings. Last month, one of her illustrations appeared in The New York Times. Jessica's work was recently featured in the Spraygraphic Mini Mini show and in Fefè Magazine. Her latest clay creations are the Furry Friends, which she made exclusively for custoMONDAY. Want to win a 12-inch tall original Furry Friend in handmade packaging with its own stand and print? Then you'll need to enter custoMONDAY.
Continue reading...5. March 2009
We love Doktor A and Gallery1988, so the only sad thing about their pairing up as part of the Transcenders group show is that it’s showing in the LA Gallery, not the SF Gallery, where we could peep it with our own eyes. Luckily, G1988 always blogs up their shows for all to see. Following [...]
Continue reading...25. February 2009
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Well how cool is this? The New York Times is not typically a place you’d expect to find connections to our community, but creepy clay creator and future custoMONDAY artist (next month!), Jessica Fortner transcends type. You can check out her contribution to the “I Want My Free TV” article online here. The article is [...]
Continue reading...12. February 2009
Jessica Fortner is a Toronto-based artist who escapes the confines of “creepy cute” with what I’m going to call “creepy, yet whimsical, esoterica.” Jessica fabricates environments and characters out of polymer clay (Super Sculpey) and other materials that she finds. After staging them, she photographs the scene. You can see some of the amazing results [...]
Continue reading...3. February 2009
Even though this isn’t a designer toy, per se, I thought some my fellow World of Warcraft geeks out there may be interested in an interview I did about a sculpture I have been doing in my spare time. For those of you that don’t follow WOW, or know who Illidan Stormrage is, you can [...]
Continue reading...30. January 2009
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When I first started writing about polymer clay for ToyCyte, a handful of folks told me to check out the work of Camille Young. With the exception of a series of elves my girlfriend is crafting, there hasn’t been a lot of clay coming my way lately. So I was excited to see this nice [...]
Continue reading...22. December 2008
Want to find out who won last week’s custoMONDAY? Leslie Levings is about to choose the winner and then create the winning Beastlie live at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-beastlies-show. Come check it out, congratulate the winner and chat with Leslie, me and other toy fans and polymer clay artists. They’re having a few technical difficulties at the moment, so [...]
Continue reading...19. December 2008
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Jill Penney dropped us a line to help populate our new polymer clay category with her punky/anime toys and dolls. If you’re the type of collector who thinks of non-vinyl figures as somehow inferior, I encourage you to take a look at the detail and craftsmanship in Jill’s clay and plush pieces. You’ll really be [...]
Continue reading...15. December 2008
Leslie Levings is an artist and writer living in Los Angeles and working at a comic book shop. What I like most about these is how much personality she crafts into 1-inch polymer clay critters. Leslie has offered to make one ToyCyte reader his/her own custom Beastlie on the show. To win, submit two starting points as a comment below: name and color.
Continue reading...11. December 2008
I gotta try to type fast because while I was downloading some of these pictures, a few sold out. Anyway, it was Leslie Leving’s Beastlies that got me paying attention again to polymer clay as a medium for designer toys and Mike Slobot who turned me onto “My Guys” by Meredith Dittmar. These whimsical [...]
Continue reading...3. November 2008
Although this year’s Alternative Press Expo (A.P.E.) had a handful of things working against it (Halloween hangovers, torrential downpours and competing events, among them), San Francisco’s Concourse was still flush with art, comics, books and a handful of toys (which I was hunting). As hosting city, Bay Area artists and companies were out in full force. [...]
Continue reading...16. October 2008
We at ToyCyte are big fans of the art of Mike Leavitt. Back in July in this interview, I called it that Obama would want to bring the troops home, but enlist himself in the Art Army. And Mike’s figure doesn’t disappoint. Says Mike: “The figurine suggests new and old surrealism. Obama is “The One” [...]
Continue reading...13. October 2008
This was one of the most "pure fun" art shows I've seen in a while. It must be pretty hard to hang plush in a gallery setting, but they pulled it off with good lighting and a cool backdrop. Credit to Katie and G1988 for an awesome show and inviting me in early to take pictures. Art toys abounded, but no one was taking themselves too seriously between the spooky muzak and Kaiju Big Battel's psychedelic presence. It's also always great to see (in person) art by international designers I write about (like Tim Tsui, the inimitable Doktor A and DGPH to name a few), and it's also nice to watch local artists like Leecifer and Anna Chambers have their pieces snatched up quickly. For those who couldn't make it (the show runs through November 1st), enjoy a virtual tour below.
Continue reading...10. October 2008
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The sculptures look like vinyl, but are actually hand-painted Japanese polymer clay and model kits. Ogi's figures range from about $25 to $300 and will be available at the show. You can check out a Flickr preview here. And if you need a further endorsement, Huck Gee posted the following...
Continue reading...28. August 2008
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The Future is Slo…but it doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, neither does the present. Mike Slobot is using his Etsy shop to distribute a line of “economy” Slobots. Just like his “secret sauce” originals and customs that I’ve blogged about here, these polymer clay figures are one-of-a-kind vibrantly colored completely handmade robots. The [...]
Continue reading...14. July 2008
“His own art wasn’t enough anymore. Art itself wasn’t enough anymore. But he knew it was the answer…he needed a little help.” You can hit the jump and watch a stop motion animation primer on The Art Army or you can first read through as I pick Mike Leavitt’s brain. Mike makes art. Interactive art. [...]
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21. May 2009
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