ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

Because I don’t collect plush, you know that when I post about it, I’ve found something I consider a real gem. And such is the case with these Cuddly Rigor Mortis plushes by Kristin Tercek. If you caught yesterday’s post on FrankenFink, you’re aware I’m a fan of the Frankenstein mythos. Kristin’s Frank measures 13” x 11” and is made from a super soft green velour with a black denim suit and black button eyes. Writes Kristin: He has multiple personalities from all the different people he’s made up of. One day he’s Einstein, the next he’s a little boy. Always delightful and full of knowledge and surprises. Like Frank, all of the plushes are hand sewn by Kris Tercek, have a little story like this and come with an embroidered tag and a numbered birth certificate (like Cabbage Patch Kids!) to prove it. The one-of-a-kind creepy cute dolls range from $20-$100 and include vampires, mummies, skeletons, bats, punks, gimps and the New Jersey Devil.

I think it’s also cool that the CRM FAQ calls out the elephant who is always in the room in a conversation about hand-made plushes, namely: “Why should I spend 50 bucks on a handmade plush when the ones in the store are a lot less and even come with a box?” The answer, quite well-put, is:

The plushes here are made by me. I buy all the fabrics and cut and sew them together myself. I sew an embroidered tag onto the back of my plushes that says it is handcrafted by me, Kris Tercek. I also include a birth certificate with my plushes that is filled out for that specific plush. It will have a number, birth date and birth place that is handwritten for that plush. The CRM plushes in the stores are our designs that are licensed and manufactured by a different company. If you don’t know why you should spend extra money on a plush handmade by me, then you shouldn’t. By all means, please go out and buy a CRM plush in the store. It’s for this reason that we decided to license CRM designs and give people the opportunity to own a CRM plush for less money.

Really nice work here. Check out front, back and detail photos at the store and keep tabs on the creator at her website.