Jadestone and Dodecahedron have finished sewing their space squids and have sent us pictures of the celestial cephalopods.
First up is Jadestone’s squid, Tetra, short for “Tetracontakaidigon” — first flying solo, and then cuddling with Jadestone:
Next is Dodecahedron with her squid, Jadestone, and newly tinted matching hair:
Sail on, O void-venturing invertebrates! Long may you ply the interstellar seas!
That is beyond pwnsome!
At last, the fleet sets …fin?
(Also, I love Dodeca’s hair.)
Tentacle. Like Robert said, squid are invertebrates, so they lack fins.
Well, the wavy bits on their heads are referred to as fins, I believe.
Squids have fins, on the mantle.
To my eye they do look more like skegs though.
Oh my god, these are incredible.
qarwestdryfuguhijfeowvasdphugiylbhkasddfbncv avp’u;hb.LWADVSZFDGF
SO ADORABLE
SQUEEEEEEEE THE CUTENESS
Thank you for these wonderful squid photos, Jade and Dodecahedron! My day is ten times better for this.
I never thought squid(s?) were so cute. When I picture a squid, the first word that comes to mind isn’t “cute”.
Hehe! As you can see I made some alterations in the pattern of mine, so the proportions are more like those of Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni. Dodec’s I would say is more like an Architeuthis.
Are there giant space squids of different genera? I always assumed there was only one species.
Space Squids are important. There should be a plethora of species and sub-species, the precise classification of which causes heated debate.
We need to analyze their DNA. Now if only we could find some…
Hehehe.
Hmm. I’m not sure! I’d say there’s probably morphological differences in body/fin/tentacle shape/length and maybe other traits, but I don’t know if they’d be able to interbreed or not.
I’ve thought of them as having multiple sub-species at least, though I don’t know about species.
Also I forgot to take pictures of it but there’s small pockets in the ends of the long arms
Also man I look derpy in that picture x_x
These are so awesome!
I must make one! How much fabric did it take? Also, Jade, how did you stuff yours? Looks like it took a lot of stuffing…
It took 2 yards of the blue fleece and 1 yard of the space fabric. And it takes over 5lbs of stuffing x_x I used several bags of it from the store.
These are so awesome! And adorable!
shoot I just pied everything when clearly I should have SQUIDED IT
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ALL OF THE CUTENESS EEEEEEEEEEEEE
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
WANT
Anyway so… thinking about making a small, more normal-pillow-sized cuttlefish. I would just have to alter the sizes and proportions in the pattern, though the kinds of pieces would be the same. WE SHALL SEE.
I was talking to Vendy about this earlier and he suggested I call them CUDDLEFISH and sell them. I’m tempted! Not sure who’d buy various kinds of giant stuffed cephalopods or how I’d ship them though, especially since the large size means the materials cost more x_x
I’ll bet you could sell hundreds of them.
First step: check whether “Cuddlefish” is trademarked. If it isn’t, trademark it yourself.
Sadly it has been clamed. Alas!
(Clammed?)
Too bad. It really is the perfect name. Maybe the trademark will lapse, and you can grab it. Meanwhile, how about “Palamari,” as in squid friends? Or “Coolamari,” as in hipster squid? Or you could be “No Bones About ‘Em: Your One-Stop Shop for Cuddly Invertebrates.”
Well, I’m sure highly verbal MBers will have no problem finding another suitable name for such a fine product.
I would buy them.
I would too.
As would I.
Haha, thanks guys. They’d probably have to be semi-expensive though : / Small stuff would hopefully be cheaper but my big one was $40 for materials alone, to to mention time/shipping x_x
You could try selling them through the gift shops at zoos and science museums.
Etsy.
And once we have a market there, we can sell those chocolate TriloBITES I thought of a while back, too.
That would be fun! Would mean making them ahead of time though, and I probably only have time to do them on a commison-basis >.<
Etsy is a thought though! Could work. Not sure if you have to pay to set up an account… maybe I’ll look into that.
You have to pay a monthly fee, and then a small fee (like 20 cents, I think?) for each item you list. :/
I’ll buy one.
YOU HAVE SUCH A NICE SUBWOOFERAND YOUR MAGAZINES ON YOUR COFFEE TABLE
Oh right, the squid. Yeah. Cool squid. Very, very cool squid. I particularly approve of the space tentacles. I really, really want one. I would buy one from you. In fact, I’d buy several. Do you give Muser discounts?
Ahaha. I’m not even sure that speaker is attached.
BUT OF COURSE I GIVE MUSER DISCOUNTS though they might still be semi-expensive since materials alone are about $40 >.<
What about the smaller, pillow-sized ones you described?
Hmmm in theory if I did a half-size squid/cuttlefish material should cost about half as much? So hopefully not more than $25 for materials, but shipping something that large would also be hard and possibly expensive?
In theory I could sew/stuff most of it and leave a small opening, then mail it so just the main part has to be stuffed and then can be handsewed closed. Not sure how that’d work, but it’s an idea.
Oh that makes sense! I could stuff and sew the rest, if that would be easier/cheaper.
A half-size squid would have 1/4 the surface area (fabric) and 1/8 the volume (stuffing and weight), so it ought to be considerably cheaper to make and mail.
instead of an unsewn final seam, you could also add a zipper.
Or Velcro, maybe.
Yeah, I thought about those. I could easily add velcro if the person getting it didn’t want to sew it/wouldn’t know how. It would mean stuffing falling out if it came undone, but would require less work on their end.
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY ALL OF MY MONEY
So assuming it costs about $15 dollars to make (a half-sized squid) you could sell it for $30. I would buy a half-sized squid for $30. I’d buy a half-sized squid for more, although any more and it would be an investment instead of a squidpillow.
And then there’s shipping.
It all depends on how much revenue you hope to get out of these. I imagine this one took quite a bit of work, and no doubt you’ll be able to speed up the process a little as you do more, but they’re handmade by JADESTONE. That’s worth however much you want it to be worth. I know nothing about the ideal revenue for a $15 squid.
(Should the website code for a discount be “planmostlyharmless” or “funkymonks”? Both are rather muserly.)
NO YOU COULD NOT SELL IT FOR $30
YOU ARE VASTLY UNDERESTIMATING THE AMOUNT OF WORK IT TAKES TO MAKE PLUSH CREATURES
HOURS TO DAYS OF THE CREATOR’S TIME AND THEIR SEWING AND PATTERNMAKING SKILL IS WORTH MORE THAN $15
I’ve seen plush animals go on websites for $100-200 or more, depending on quality and demand. The MINIMUM I’d charge for a mini squid or cuttlefish would be $75, and that’s /really really low/.
think of it this way — a nice skirt can cost $30, a reasonably nice dress can cost $50. The amount of fabric in those is probably worth $10-20 at most. And those are mass-produced /by machines/. Sewing is /hard/ to do well if you aren’t a huge company. Hand sewing takes forever, and personal use machines are fickle.
sorry, I just sew a lot, so I have opinions on the worth of sewing
Yeah–I don’t sew, but I remember looking for plush tardigrades. I was very lucky to find one eventually that was mass-produced by a machine and bought it for 12 dollars plus shipping. The others wee really expensive–more so than a copy of The Biology of Tardigrades by Ian M. Kinchin in English, which is probably the most expensive book I’ve heard of.
Yeah… when I made Tetra it was over a 6-day period, and was maybe 40 or more hours of work x_x
Hopefully a small one wouldn’t take me as long, especially now that I’ve made one thing and am familiar with the process now, but some things like sewing and stuffing the tentacles or tracing and cutting out the patterns are just really time-consuming x_x Smaller would also mean more hand-sewing.
I think I might try to make a smaller prototype cuttlefish this week, and see how it goes time-wise/cost of materials. Then I can probably estimate better how expensive these would be to make/sell >.<
As an instrument maker, I wholly concur. For most complex craft items, the cost of materials is negligible – usually less than 10% of the selling price, and often a lot less. You have to charge an appropriate fee for your time. Or try to.
Sorry! I’ve never made much of anything. Most of my creative work is done digitally, and I’ve never sold a physical item that I’ve created. I also rarely buy things that are handmade. Th
…um. I’m not sure what happened to the rest of that post. I sort of forgot what I wrote. I guess it works just as well the way it is?
I’m not sure why you think digital creative work isn’t worthy of compensation?
/also a programmer, and has feelings about the worth of digital creations
(hint: writing code is not the hard part of what I do, my worth is not measured in the length of the work I produce but in its quality)
I don’t think that’s what he meant. In any case, I read it as meaning that since most of his work is digital, he doesn’t really have an intuitive understanding of the amount of work a given non-digital project might require.
I read it as “most of my creative work is done digitally, so it isn’t worth as much as real-world work” but I’m glad that I was wrong!
Most if not all of my work is created in Photoshop or a similar program.
I’ve never tried to sell any of my work.
I frequent a rather well-known imageboard’s wallpaper board. There’s an image modification thread there that I helped start and is now in its 47th thread. I fill image modification requests for a couple hours every day (resizing, expanding, removing or adding elements, retouching, that sort of thing).
There’s a pro image editor (works for a high-profile fashion magazine) there that gives me tips, so it’s interesting to be able to do things with him. But all of the work is done for free. There’s no way to charge even if we wanted to. I honestly have no idea how much I would charge for digital creations and image retouching even if I could.
Yeah definitely, I’ve made small sewn squids before and they took all day. The amount of sewing required to make something that large, not to mention all of that stuffing, is enormous I’m sure.
Oh wow both of those are awesome! And Dodecahedron I love your skirt!
Thank you! As I mentioned on the Style and Costume thread, I’ve been on a binge recently looking for futuristic clothes. I found the skirt at the mall, it was the only thing in the mall that looked at all futuristic and wasn’t too expensive. Also, unlike most nice clothes, it’s machine washable /and/ dryable, effectively guaranteeing that I will wear it once a week.
These are amazing! I would definitely buy a cuddlefish, by the way.
These are so cool! They have inspired me! I will now fish out my sewing kit from among boxes of stuff and make my own stuffed cephalopod! (Of course, I will then make a top hat for said cephalopod, but for me that very nearly goes without saying.
) Very nice work, both of you!
I jumped on the squidwagon!
I shall call him Squishy and he shall be mine. And he shall be my Squishy.En is a work-in-progress, and is going to be turquoise with black-and-white musical note fabric for the tentacles: I’ll send in a picture when I’m done. En also still needs a name.
Squishy?
Finding Nemo is the best movie, and Dory is the best fish. But I had figured that had already been taken.
My mom suggested Pythagoras, but I was trying to think along the lines of famous musicians since (for now he can be called) Squishy has musical notes on his tentacles.
SQUISHY SQUISHY SQUISHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
…I’m sorry, but everytime I see something called “Squishy” I can’t help thinking of Swalot.
Anyways, musician names are great ideas! Were you considering classical composers or more modern artists?
Squiddy Gaga/Squidfani Germanotta
Squidplay
Radiosquid
Squid Zeppelin
Johannes Squidbastian Bach
They Might Be Squids (currently composed of John Squidburg, John Squidney Linnell, Danny Weinsquid, Squid Miller, and Cuttlefish Beller)
Squid Hot Chili Peppers
Squid Day
you’re welcome
ps: shoutout to Midnight Squiddler
Stefani Germanoctopus would be better
and here’s a sample lyric from They Might Be Squids’ latest album:
Although there are millions of cephalopods who wander through this world/you’ve got something extra going on, I think you probably know
And are you sure it’s not “millions of cephalopods who wander through this galaxy”?
I haven’t laughed this hard in forever!!!
I especially enjoy They Might Be Squids, Squiddy Gaga, and Johannes Squidbastian Bach.
Cskia-Either one, though I was leaning more towards classical because, you know, musical notes.
I like Frank Squidda, Cage The Elesquid, Squid Zeppelin, The Rolling Squids and Squid Temple Pilots myself.
The Red Hot Squiddy Peppers are pretty great too.
I would like to note that I thought of Squid Zeppelin and the Red Hot Squiddy Peppers independently of Dodec and waited until after I’d posted to scroll up. Excuse the inadvertent copycatting. Mine do not look nearly as funny now.
Regardless, have some more:
Rage Against The Squid
Squidmother
Black Squidbath
The Black Squid…Keys…Squeeyz?
The Squid Mob
deadskw1d
Dire Squids
Electronic Squid Orchestra
Neutral Squid Hotel
Squid’s Addiction
Crosby, Squid, Nash and Young
Elton Squid
Oasquids
deadsqu1d… I could not stop laughing.
Coldsquid is one of my personal favorites. And one mustn’t forget the composer Modest Mussorgskquid.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaa so many how can I choose!?!?
My mom suggested Modest Squid and Squid City.
Dodecasquidron
Not a musician, but I know an artist who created a character called F. Scoctopus Squidgerald.
Are you sure that isn’t “They Might Be Giant Squids”?
Be forewarned that now that I’ve seen this post, Fiddler may come complaining to you that I refuse to call en by ens real blogname.
hi guys! it’s Lilly.
Hmm… maybe i should make a homemade plushie squid. i am just learning the sewing machine but i may be able to pull it off
-peace
Almost done! Sewing the eyes on right now.
If I had fabric I would definitely sew a squid, or a squid hat, or something flammy like that. Although I don’t have a sewing machine or know how to use one so it shall all be done by hand! (When I get fabric, that is. All I have are scraps. I suppose I could make a tiny rainbow cuttlefish?)
On a somewhat unrelated note I found a book titled Kraken at the library and that makes me happy.
I… am making another. It’s for my squidbuddy at college. It’s kind of a trade; he’s whittling me a set of hardwood cooking spoons and giving me a few of the fossil trilobites he’s helping to excavate this summer.
His will be purple tye-dye with shark-print on the inner side. He looooves sharks and is teaching an exco on them next semester, heh.
As of five minutes ago, when I finished sewing the eyes on, I am the proud possessor of a squid named Jerome. I will email in pictures tomorrow.
That’s my broher’s name.
I am kind of feeling the need to make a maybe-not-as-giant squid named John Squidney Linnell now
I bought a yard or so of dark blue fleece when I was at the fabric store yesterday because it was a remnant and I love remnants (seriously. I do. I can’t go to the fabric store without returning home with 1-3 remnants. This last time I got four)
I also have some light blue and light green and white left over from the time I made a friend a smaller squid and the time I made my boyfriend a Gardevoir plush
so this could actually happen
I’m going to be pretty busy this summer though, the local community college might be desperate enough to hire me to teach middle schoolers web design or maybe just to help out in another computer class, and starting Friday I’m going to be afk vacation, and then at the end of July there’s Google….
Squishy is starting to take shape! I’ve cut out nearly all his body parts (would have finished but FOUR HOURS OF ERRANDS AND DENTIST APPOINTMENTS UGH WHY), and tomorrow I should be ready to start sewing and stuffing!
Also I think his final name will either be They Might Be (Giant) Squids, Johannes Squidbastian Bach, Radiosquid, deadsqw1d, or Elton Squid.
i am looking up patterns for the squid design right now…
.
i have decided to call him Fred, Fred the squid, he is my squid. and his name is Fred. i only have 79 inches of blue outer squid material and 55 inches of squid belly-and-the-other-side-of-the-tentacles material. i found my sewing kit. the only thing i am missing is the material to make the eye. Fred will have one big eye. in the middle of his head. i have a sewing machine but don’t have much for blue thread. or cotton for the stuffing. to spare the stuffing. i might use some scraps that i won’t use anyway. Mom thought i could just make one and fill it with foam, soap-foam. but i said this wasn’t a science experiment but a REAL CUDDLY PLUSH SQUID! so… just an update on Fred The Squid. and maybe… when i am done… if i have enough material… i will make a whole lot of little Squidi, (Peasant Squids) and Fred is the king. but i might have to make the Squidi out of different colors. i only have enough to make Fred
Motley kingdom of space squids?
OUTER SQUID MATERIAL
This amuses me for hitherto unknown reasons.
GAPAs– perhaps you could check out this link? It’s to the pattern Dodec/I/Cinnamoon used. Since so many people seem to be interested in making their own, I thought it could be a useful too.
http:// blogs.philadelphiaweekly. com/style/2009/02/12/fridiy-8-foot-giant-squid-pillow
i am looking that up.
I emailed some pictures of myself and Jerome to the GAPAs.
uhg! u havn’t even started! and i think i got the same idea on the same day as you did. arggh ………………………….. fudgi’n squid pattorn
It’s alright! She may have much more spare time than you; even if that’s the case, you shouldn’t judge yourself for it.
i have all the spare time in the WORLD! i don’t go to school and my mom said i could take a summer break so i am not doing homework, we have nothing important to do so i stay home a LOT, we have been eating snacks because our stove broke down so we are not busy at supper, we hardly have any pets, for summer break mom said i can stay awake really really late. so yes i have more free time than practicily anyone.
maybe it’s because i don’t have much patience.
Congratulations on all your spare time, then! Like I said, it doesn’t mean you should judge yourself for not having done more of your squid.
Hey, GAPAs, I was wondering if the pictures I sent arrived alright? No hurry to post them, I just wanted to make sure that you have them.
We’ve received them, Cinnamoon, but haven’t had time to post them yet.
Awesome.
Thank you!
Hopefully I’ll be sending some too, next week. I’m still working out some technical details.
I was looking at Hark, A Vagrant t-shirts online yesterday and found one with a squid. It linked to a comic about a giant squid that just wanted to be friends.
By the way, I like how Jade’s squid has space-patterened fabric.
The 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea one?
Yes, about the squid who just wanted to be friends.
It reminds me of the AAAS building where Robert works, which has a cut-away corner with a space-vista lining. No tentacles, though, that I know of.
Really, what floor is it on? I want to see this now!
It’s gone now, alas. It was outside — a huge photographic mural of the Horsehead Nebula, on the corner of 12th Street and New York Avenue. But the picture started to crack and peel, so the maintenance people took it down.
Here are the pictures that Cinnamoon sent us yesterday:
Odd – the pie and squid icons are centered under the pictures. I’ve never seen that before.
Oh, and a beautiful squid, Cinnamoon! I can’t wait to meet him!
Awww! He’s so adorable! But I think in the first one he’s mistaken your head for lunch…
I’ve been having problems with my squid, Squishy. The seams on his longer tentacles near the bottleneck-sort of thing keep popping open. But my mom is helping me sew them up, so yay!
Aww, what an adorable squiddy!
TVtropes tells me that fans of Tom Hiddleston (Lokiiiiiiiiiiiiii~) call themselves “Hiddlestoners”. Perhaps squidfans should be “Squiddlestoners”?
I expect Jade would be honored.
Apparently I can’t make a squid because it’s a waste of fabric and if I want to learn sewing why don’t I make something useful. Meh.
Did I mention I love Jade’s, Cinnamoon’s, and Dodecahedron’s squids?
Squids are useful.
I am making more squids. My sister asked me to make her a giant one, and I said I would if she would buy the stuffing. It’s basically the reverse of mine – the outside is green tie-dye, and the inside is blue. I’m also making a half sized one for my best friend, which will have a purple outside. I found the best fabric for the inside of the tentacles – have you guys seen that plush fabric that’s sort of bumpy? (Sorry, bad description…) I’m using that in black. AND because I had the black, I thought it would be really awesome to get some black fleece and make a smaller all-black squid.
MAKE ALL THE SQUIDS!
I’ve just sent the GAPAs two pictures of me, my squid, and my cat, who adores my squid.
Little Basement Kitten sent us this picture of her squid, They Might Be Giant Squids, and her “gray furball of a cat, Snookie, who is NOT named after the Jersey Shore character!”
I wanna send in pictures of my new squid, Prussia Jr., or Squiddy. how do I do that
Send your squidpix as email attachments to thegapas (at) gmail dot com.
Oh my goodness! It’s so cute!
very long tentacles!
but i am not really done anyway.
i got Fred’s tentacles stuffed and i put a “personality card” in it. it makes his personality.
if i do get Fred done this week i won’t be able o send them for a while. my camera battery somehow got wet so it won’t be for a couple of weeks untill i get new one
it might take awhile
SQUEE! ^_^
SENT SQUIDPIX.