Friday, April 9, 2010

The Pinheads are Coming!


I was looking for something to doodle on while watching a movie. My kids had these old-style wooden clothes pins laying around so I grabbed one and started to draw. Pleased with the initial results I went to work with some pigment pens and acrylic paint. Sinister Mr. Pin was born, followed shortly by 3 others; The Aluminum Rabbit, Yellow Fury and The Amazing Mister Tooth.

Growing up I had a neighbor who would occasionally hand down her grandson's toys to my brother and me. Always the boxes she gave us held a treasure trove of assorted small toys; plastic farm animals, cars and the most interesting and bizarre little rubber and plastic creatures that I would never see anywhere else. These strange little monsters captured my imagination in a way that has been an influence on my creative compulsions throughout my entire life, inspiring a hunger for the small thrills of creating new and unusual things. This, combined with being a regular visitor to designer toy sites like Vinyl Pulse and others, had lead to a strong interest in developing some work the custom art toy genre.
So, I went on to create some simple packaging reminiscent of action figure packaging I remember from being a kid in the 70's. Each package has a unique logo corresponding to the character it contains. Production was fairly simple. I work in a print shop so the cardboard backing was no problem to print professionally. And with the use of a homemade vacuum forming box, some recycled plastic and some experimenting, the clear bubbles to hold the Pinheads came about quite quickly.
Soon you will have the opportunity to be the first kid on your block to own one! Check back. I will announce their availability pending the opening of my new Etsy shop.

16 comments:

  1. This is my favorite part:
    a homemade vacuum forming box .
    I kept walking into the kitchen freaking out.
    And they look great! You're so talented.

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  2. My nephew (8) would LOVE these. I think they're creepy. That's the appeal, right?

    Does Etsy allow stuff in vacuum sealed, cardboard-backed packaging? ;-)

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  3. My 5yrold son was sitting here when I opened this page and was immediately enthralled. And the begging began. We will be eagerly awaiting your new Etsy shop.

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  4. Awesome! But please - when you say "multipoly," which syllable gets the emphasis? It's driving me nuts.

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  5. I think you should make a line of them decorated with only non-toxic, fully indigestible paints and inks. Then I could get one for the baby, who chews on everything. A chew toy that could be clipped to his shirt when he didn't want it. Genius!

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  6. Seriously, you are very talented, and I can see these "flying off the shelves" of an Etsy.

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  7. At first I thought you were simply highlighting a product. Not showing off your own work. Wow.
    Imagination required. Brilliant.

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  8. Hey, those are pretty cool! My daughter's received a clothespin doll kit for their bday last year. It came with yarn, punch out clothes, etc. But they were regular clothespins, not old fashioned ones. These are way cooler. ;)
    Still, they enjoyed them and I'm sure that my son (age 4)would enjoy these!

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  9. Very cool. But - Beck tells me it is extremely expensive to ship from Canada to the US. We must work on this dilemma, because I SO love these and must have some for stockings by Christmas. Definitely.

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  10. I want some! er...um... I mean my kids want some. Can't wait til they're for sale.

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  11. These are fabulous! Definitely want to know when they're up for sale. :)

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  12. fabulous!

    maybe your talented wife could write mini-dramas with the clothespins as characters and your kids could enact 'em on Youtube and then sell the whole kit, with script, when they go viral?

    you'll be rich! and my agent's fee is very tiny, i assure you. :)

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  13. This is fabulous. And, I think Bon's onto something what with that YouTube thing.

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  14. These are cool. I will be one of your first customers!

    =)

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  15. I would buy them to use as....clothespins. Laundry would be fun for a change.

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  16. I love these! I know a lot of kids who would think they're cool too. Let us know when they're for sale. Hopefully soon.

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