Critter Crafts Swap S2.1 Package Progress #1 (by K)

Hello! I know that some of you haven't done a craft swap before, and that's perfectly fine. We're all doing this as a way to share our happiness and our fanbase kinship with others who enjoy watching the Critical Role Podcast (or listening to it).

I'm part of pair 25 in the swap. My partner knows who I am, and I'm going to be sharing my progress with you as I go along, to help some of you to keep on track, or help with your inspiration as well. SO first things first.

My initial process for working on a craft swap package is to learn about the things my partner likes. From there I will usually either look for a pattern or start drafting one. To begin drafting my pattern I make a sketch of what I am planning to make. As this is a medium size craft swap I'm going to be making a doll that will be somewhere between 12 and 20 inches tall (possibly taller depending on some things).

So before I went to pick out supplies I came up with a sketch of what the doll should hopefully have a semblance of. The character I'm crafting up is the Goblin character Sam is playing, Nott.

Basic information found at http://criticalrole.wikia.com/wiki/Nott

So I rechecked some stats on the Critical Role Wikia, and then rewatched some of the video to think about the characters mannerisms. The combination of the information on the wikia and the players style helps to inspire the way the character can be created as a doll.

So for now I started with a pencil sketch of the character. Which gives me information about what kind of materials I am going to need to be able to make a doll of Nott. After researching some art of Goblins people have used for characters in 5th edition, I decided on some characteristics to include, that were not necessarily included in the initial description of the player character.

See my cute Nott sketch? XD ^_^ Yeah it's a little messy.

As you can see from my rather rough sketch, I'm going to be giving her three fingers or toes on each foot. Theoretically she'd have more, but as I am crafting her as more of a folk rag doll, five fingers become a bit complicated and messy. Besides since I want her to be cuddly, I decided to use a fleece base for her skin.

Why fleece? For one thing it is washable. I know my partner has children, and if experience has told me anything about children it's that they want to play with EVERYTHING whether it's theirs or not. So I decided whatever I make her out of should be washable, but also cuddly.

Her clothes, from the description on the page are a bit worn looking, and she is often wrapped in bandages wearing a porcelain half mask. So for her clothes I figured I could use a range of cotton fabrics in less obvious colors. She wants to be invisible usually. So I figured some browns and various greys and blacks and some blues and girly fabrics to add some patches. (after all , all girls love flowers)The bandages are easy enough to create from a cotton, but just how am I going to make a porcelain mask for a fabric doll? Especially since I've already decided it needs to be child safe.

I thought about it for a bit. I debated smashing a porcelain doll, but I realized the likelihood of finding one with a face that would fit the shape I'm creating is slim. So that idea went out the window just as fast as it came in. But I thought a bit longer and remembered a pattern I had at one point for a half mask out of leather, and realized I could simply scale it down and use a white felt, adding the smile as either an applique or embroidery.

So that leaves me with her crossbow and her brass baby bottle. (Only because I don't feel a flask is appropriate for a child XD) I'm still not sure if I'm going to be doing them as sculpted and painted pieces, or if they will be fabric. But I know that she needs them.

So after looking over what I need to be able to create wha i've listed above. I have a rather odd assortment of materials I will need to get started.

Green Fleece
Green Yarn
White Felt
Yellow Felt
Black Felt
Various Cottons
White Cotton
Various Floss (I like to hand sew my dolls usually)
Clay
Polyfill

It doesn't really seem like such an intimidating list, but it gives me something to start with.

The next step that I need to do is  draft up the pattern itself, to figure out how much material I am going to need in total. But for now I feel satisfied about my progress. Given that the ship date is until April 20th, I feel slightly accomplished. (Originally we were going to close the swap on February 9th if we didn't fill all 50 spots XD, so the fact that today is the tenth and I've gotten this much done is wonderful in my eyes.)