Hello peoples!!
As I have been away at school, I have not been able to blog yet, do to the terrible amount of work and little time for anything else. But now that i'm on winter break, here goes!
My name is Elizabeth but all my friends call me Biz. i am the youngest of the Hooked On Chibis staff at 19 years old and i am Matt and Jenn's cousin. I am the person in charge of hair making. As well as most of the stuffing and assembling of the dolls while at cons at least. Up until a few years ago i was the somewhat normal teen who liked cartoons and working with my hands. Then i started to really hang out with Matt and Jenn. I blame my anime obsession on them. Then Jenn roped me in to help her with making her boys pajama pants for Christmas one year. During that time over there came up for the idea for making the dolls to resemble anime, manga, and video game character. Between making a set of pajamas for my mom that year, and helping Jenn, i started working with her on the dolls a lot more. And as they say the rest is history.
So this is me, and how i started working on the dolls.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and all the other winter time holidays i forget.
~ Elizabeth
Friday, December 24, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
MeatSpace Invaders
So, I was supposed to blog on Friday, and I even had an idea for an entry. Instead, I'm blogging on Sunday, about why I didn't blog on Friday.
Let me explain.
I went to work as usual on Friday morning, carrying with me a camera and a box full of dolls that I planned to photograph during my lunch break. After taking the photos, I was going to use the rest of my lunchtime to write a nice entry about my family's Christmas tree-trimming practices. Meanwhile, at 3:00 pm, my husband would pick up the 8-bits from school, deliver them to my parents (where they'd be visiting for the weekend), and he'd be back just in time to collect me from work at 5.
That plan was brilliant, and it stayed in place until about 10:00 AM, when my boss came to my desk and asked "so are you going to the thing later?"
"... thing?" I was confused. Meeting? Lunch? At noon? In January? What were we talking about, here?
"Yeah, the uh, Christmas party ... later."
" ... party?" Ok, a a party, but WHEN WAS LATER? After work? Saturday?
"Yeah, it's ... wait, didn't you get the e-mail?"
"... e-mail?" I really looked like a responsible employee with my one-word questions and increasingly blank stares.
"It went out ... oh maybe you're not on the alias yet. Hang on ..."
After a few minutes, I learned two very important things.
A: There was a Christmas party happening for the whole office, at my boss's boss's HOUSE, at noon; and
2) I am, in fact, not on the office's e-mail alias.
I mentioned that I didn't have a car with me, and he said they'd get me there, and then my husband could pick me up there and it would actually be less of a drive for him because Bosslady's house was closer to home than the office. (That's true.) So it sounded like a plan and I returned to my desk ... whereupon I remembered that Matt could only pick me up if I needed fetching before 2:30, or after 5. So after describing it all to him online, I said "well, ok, I'll just call you when I know what's going on."
Oh, and there was a Yankee swap happening at this party, so I needed to have a gift with me, with a value no higher than $7.50. Thinking quickly, I reasoned that no one would question the value of the dolls, so after briefly panicking over which of my anime/videogame/nerd themed dolls would go over best with The Office Crowd, I wrapped up a Mudkip in some borrowed wrapping paper and got a ride over with the rest of my department.
Now for the fast-forward: The party was a success, I got a zen-candle-perfume thingy from the swap, I got to know my co-workers a bit better, and the doll was a big hit even though no one knew what it was. And now it's 3:00 PM, I still hadn't gotten a good idea of what time I'd need to be picked up, and people were leaving the party. O_o Okay, no reason to panic, I'll just get a ride back to the office and go back to the original plan of working until 5. A coworker drove me back ... just in time to see the last person lock the door behind her. The door I don't have a key to. Crap.
I ended up going to Northampton with the car-driving coworker, and we browsed the local yarn store until Matt could pick me up there, so the story ends well. (I made it home! Hooray!) But the disruption of my intended plans mixed with the social anxiety of "surprise mingling with 50 near-strangers" in such a way that the rest of Friday, and all of Saturday, were spent panicking about all the stuff I hadn't gotten done yet.
And that's why you're reading about my crazy Friday on a Sunday, instead of reading about picking out Christmas trees on my grandfather's birthday on a Friday. Ta-da!
-- Jenn
Let me explain.
I went to work as usual on Friday morning, carrying with me a camera and a box full of dolls that I planned to photograph during my lunch break. After taking the photos, I was going to use the rest of my lunchtime to write a nice entry about my family's Christmas tree-trimming practices. Meanwhile, at 3:00 pm, my husband would pick up the 8-bits from school, deliver them to my parents (where they'd be visiting for the weekend), and he'd be back just in time to collect me from work at 5.
That plan was brilliant, and it stayed in place until about 10:00 AM, when my boss came to my desk and asked "so are you going to the thing later?"
"... thing?" I was confused. Meeting? Lunch? At noon? In January? What were we talking about, here?
"Yeah, the uh, Christmas party ... later."
" ... party?" Ok, a a party, but WHEN WAS LATER? After work? Saturday?
"Yeah, it's ... wait, didn't you get the e-mail?"
"... e-mail?" I really looked like a responsible employee with my one-word questions and increasingly blank stares.
"It went out ... oh maybe you're not on the alias yet. Hang on ..."
After a few minutes, I learned two very important things.
A: There was a Christmas party happening for the whole office, at my boss's boss's HOUSE, at noon; and
2) I am, in fact, not on the office's e-mail alias.
I mentioned that I didn't have a car with me, and he said they'd get me there, and then my husband could pick me up there and it would actually be less of a drive for him because Bosslady's house was closer to home than the office. (That's true.) So it sounded like a plan and I returned to my desk ... whereupon I remembered that Matt could only pick me up if I needed fetching before 2:30, or after 5. So after describing it all to him online, I said "well, ok, I'll just call you when I know what's going on."
Oh, and there was a Yankee swap happening at this party, so I needed to have a gift with me, with a value no higher than $7.50. Thinking quickly, I reasoned that no one would question the value of the dolls, so after briefly panicking over which of my anime/videogame/nerd themed dolls would go over best with The Office Crowd, I wrapped up a Mudkip in some borrowed wrapping paper and got a ride over with the rest of my department.
Now for the fast-forward: The party was a success, I got a zen-candle-perfume thingy from the swap, I got to know my co-workers a bit better, and the doll was a big hit even though no one knew what it was. And now it's 3:00 PM, I still hadn't gotten a good idea of what time I'd need to be picked up, and people were leaving the party. O_o Okay, no reason to panic, I'll just get a ride back to the office and go back to the original plan of working until 5. A coworker drove me back ... just in time to see the last person lock the door behind her. The door I don't have a key to. Crap.
I ended up going to Northampton with the car-driving coworker, and we browsed the local yarn store until Matt could pick me up there, so the story ends well. (I made it home! Hooray!) But the disruption of my intended plans mixed with the social anxiety of "surprise mingling with 50 near-strangers" in such a way that the rest of Friday, and all of Saturday, were spent panicking about all the stuff I hadn't gotten done yet.
And that's why you're reading about my crazy Friday on a Sunday, instead of reading about picking out Christmas trees on my grandfather's birthday on a Friday. Ta-da!
-- Jenn
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
December Winner and Giveaway Blogdom Review/Contest
It's the 15th, which means it's time to announce the winner. And this times it is... *drumroll* Andreia Sousa! We'll get started on Ramona right away.
Didn't win? Don't worry, we already have a new contest! This one is hosted over on Giveaway Blogdom, a site that features honest and interesting product reviews. Read up about us, comment on your favorite doll in our Etsy store, and start following our various methods of online communication to be entered to win whatever doll you want!
And don't worry, we heard you guys loud and clear on what you want next. Yotsuba will be debuted soon and a crack team of scientists have been hired to figure out how in the world we're gonna do Death the Kid's hair. Keep checking back to see what we think of next!
~Casey
Didn't win? Don't worry, we already have a new contest! This one is hosted over on Giveaway Blogdom, a site that features honest and interesting product reviews. Read up about us, comment on your favorite doll in our Etsy store, and start following our various methods of online communication to be entered to win whatever doll you want!
And don't worry, we heard you guys loud and clear on what you want next. Yotsuba will be debuted soon and a crack team of scientists have been hired to figure out how in the world we're gonna do Death the Kid's hair. Keep checking back to see what we think of next!
~Casey
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
The PR Pikachus Behind the Plushies
Hey guys, I'm Casey and I'm the PR Lady of this business. It's hard to think of plushies as 'srs business,' however. Stuffed things have always been a big part of my life, as I've been an avid Pikachu collector for about a decade now.
Many years ago my mother took me to a fair, and I was walking by a game booth when I saw a Pikachu hanging up as one of the prizes. A little boy coming from the other side saw it as well, and alerted his dad. The game to win it? Billiards. In order to win the Pikachu someone had to sink all 8 balls, 8-ball last, with no misses or scratches. The dad confidently went first, but was quickly deflated when he only sunk one ball before he missed. My mother went up to try and she couldn't help but smirk. She lined up every shot perfectly and the man running the game gave me my Pikachu with a look of shock and awe that I'll never forget. My mother is crazy-awesome.
A few years later I began attending anime conventions. After every con I came home with a new Pikachu. As I got older some of my friends held on to their love of Pokemon while others asked if I wanted their old Pikachus before their mothers cleaned out the attic. Now I have 40+ Pikachus, and they hang out in every room of my apartment. That also all have names.
And these are just some of them. I am 23 now and all they still make me incredibly happy. I hope you have something like that in your life, and feel free to share what it is in the comments! I'm sure the tattoo artist will look at me funny when I hand him or her a picture of Pikachu, but it'll be a very happy day for me.
Power to the plushies.
~Caseychu
Many years ago my mother took me to a fair, and I was walking by a game booth when I saw a Pikachu hanging up as one of the prizes. A little boy coming from the other side saw it as well, and alerted his dad. The game to win it? Billiards. In order to win the Pikachu someone had to sink all 8 balls, 8-ball last, with no misses or scratches. The dad confidently went first, but was quickly deflated when he only sunk one ball before he missed. My mother went up to try and she couldn't help but smirk. She lined up every shot perfectly and the man running the game gave me my Pikachu with a look of shock and awe that I'll never forget. My mother is crazy-awesome.
A few years later I began attending anime conventions. After every con I came home with a new Pikachu. As I got older some of my friends held on to their love of Pokemon while others asked if I wanted their old Pikachus before their mothers cleaned out the attic. Now I have 40+ Pikachus, and they hang out in every room of my apartment. That also all have names.
This is Jinglechu, as he jingles when you shake him. He hangs out next to my boyfriend's laptop.
This is Fatachu, who hangs out on top of my fabric cabinet.
This is Grabachu. He has wires in his arms so I can clip him on to almost anything. Right now he is, quite literally, hanging out under my kitchen cabinets.
This is Sunnychu. She got her name because she is a more golden tone than most Pikachus. I put her next to the artificial sun lamp by my snake tank. This was fine until Jenn pointed out that Sunnychu was watching me feed mice to my snake. ;_;
This is Pikayell, and he can shout out battle cries if you push his arm down. He hangs out on top of the bookcase with my boyfriend's mech because, hey, I can't do ALL the nerdy decorating.
Did you think I was kidding when I said ALL the rooms? This is Pikaclassic. Pikachu's very first design gave him a white blush across his cheeks.
My boyfriend named this little girl "Lemonchu" because it looks like she just ate a lemon. Therefore she chills out on top of the microwave and watches over my cooking.
We just call this guy Pikaface because, seriously, lookit dat face. He was put on the arm of this couch so no one would notice it was ripped.
This is Pikabox. We like to think he is powering our gaming addiction.
This is Pikapillow. Uh... he messed up the bed... not me. Yeah...
This one is Prone-achu because she was stuffed so that she's always on her belly. She watches me do my makeup in the morning.
Power to the plushies.
~Caseychu
Friday, December 10, 2010
Baby, It's Cold Outside: time to think about taking pictures indoors again
For the last couple of weeks I've been trying to take better pictures of the dolls.
This is more challenging than it sounds. Even with my experience as a photographer, the dolls are so little that it can be super-tricky to get them to sit a) in good lighting, b) at a level that I can actually shoot them at without putting my face on the ground, and c) in a pose that shows them off well. I had originally taken several pictures "photo-booth" style on a black background, with good flash and everything. This worked for some dolls, but others - such as the black mage and Heartless dolls, not to mention Darkrai and Umbreon - the results were less than stellar. Add to that the fact that my monitor always seems to show images much lighter than the rest of the world's monitors, for reasons which I still don't understand - and all too often, my photos have been underexposed and too shadowy.
So I've been taking the dolls outside. This isn't terribly interesting, because it's winter here in New England and we're in that in-between dead phase of "all the plant life is dead but the snow has not arrived yet", but it's at least bright, and we have lots of rock walls and winter-grasses that make a photo nice enough. I've even been able to get my 8-bit versions to help me out by holding some of the dolls. But what it lacks in beauty it makes up for in cold. I haven't been able to take photos of more than 4 or 5 dolls in a session because my hands freeze up after just a few minutes. That's been okay, because I've had to bring dolls with me to work and use a break period to shoot them, because it's only daylight during business hours.
Today, Mother Nature brought out the big guns.
When you're checking the world's weather reports from the comfort of your bed and looking out on a landscape that doesn't include any snow, it's hard to really appreciate what the actual temperature is going to be. So when you see (all temperatures in Celsius) that it's 2 degrees in Dublin, and 22 degrees in Buenos Aires, there's really no preparing for your local weather to read NEGATIVE SIXTEEN. That's right, it was almost below zero Fahrenheit when I woke up this morning. The high wasn't even going to reach the freezing point.
So, needless to say, my plan to take photos of my new Vincent plushie didn't quite go according to plan.
This weekend will be a busy one - we're getting our Christmas tree tonight (more on that next week), and tomorrow night we're having a fancy-dress holiday party at our home. Maybe on Sunday, if I'm alive to tell the tale, I'll be able to figure out some sort of indoor doll-photography solution.
-- Jenn
This is more challenging than it sounds. Even with my experience as a photographer, the dolls are so little that it can be super-tricky to get them to sit a) in good lighting, b) at a level that I can actually shoot them at without putting my face on the ground, and c) in a pose that shows them off well. I had originally taken several pictures "photo-booth" style on a black background, with good flash and everything. This worked for some dolls, but others - such as the black mage and Heartless dolls, not to mention Darkrai and Umbreon - the results were less than stellar. Add to that the fact that my monitor always seems to show images much lighter than the rest of the world's monitors, for reasons which I still don't understand - and all too often, my photos have been underexposed and too shadowy.
So I've been taking the dolls outside. This isn't terribly interesting, because it's winter here in New England and we're in that in-between dead phase of "all the plant life is dead but the snow has not arrived yet", but it's at least bright, and we have lots of rock walls and winter-grasses that make a photo nice enough. I've even been able to get my 8-bit versions to help me out by holding some of the dolls. But what it lacks in beauty it makes up for in cold. I haven't been able to take photos of more than 4 or 5 dolls in a session because my hands freeze up after just a few minutes. That's been okay, because I've had to bring dolls with me to work and use a break period to shoot them, because it's only daylight during business hours.
Today, Mother Nature brought out the big guns.
When you're checking the world's weather reports from the comfort of your bed and looking out on a landscape that doesn't include any snow, it's hard to really appreciate what the actual temperature is going to be. So when you see (all temperatures in Celsius) that it's 2 degrees in Dublin, and 22 degrees in Buenos Aires, there's really no preparing for your local weather to read NEGATIVE SIXTEEN. That's right, it was almost below zero Fahrenheit when I woke up this morning. The high wasn't even going to reach the freezing point.
So, needless to say, my plan to take photos of my new Vincent plushie didn't quite go according to plan.
This weekend will be a busy one - we're getting our Christmas tree tonight (more on that next week), and tomorrow night we're having a fancy-dress holiday party at our home. Maybe on Sunday, if I'm alive to tell the tale, I'll be able to figure out some sort of indoor doll-photography solution.
-- Jenn
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Squall the Bohemian Goddess
So I decided to check out the data on our Etsy shop, in terms of page visits and how people are getting there.
The internet is a crazy place.
The list of keywords that have landed people at our shop is a bit odd. Things like "vintage dress mad men" and "organic bath and beauty products." Wondering where exactly these types of terms were taking people in a shop dedicated to crochet dolls, I decided to add a "landing page" filter.
I understand even less now.
The search terms "etsy mr hankey" (the Christmas Poo from South Park) landed someone on our Hello Kitty listing. Sokka apparently loves animals, but only pleasant ones, because the terms "cute panda drawing" and "cheerful dragons" both landed people on him. I bet the person who searched for "blue bird gift tags" was surprised to land on the Radish Spirit. I'm not even sure what "soap felting" is, but, just like the original two examples I gave (the dress and the beauty products), that search landed people on our main shop page.
Oh and the post title? That was because the search "etsy.com the bohemiangoddess" landed someone on Squall's page (he's also a "sith monk" I guess...).
-Matt
The internet is a crazy place.
The list of keywords that have landed people at our shop is a bit odd. Things like "vintage dress mad men" and "organic bath and beauty products." Wondering where exactly these types of terms were taking people in a shop dedicated to crochet dolls, I decided to add a "landing page" filter.
I understand even less now.
The search terms "etsy mr hankey" (the Christmas Poo from South Park) landed someone on our Hello Kitty listing. Sokka apparently loves animals, but only pleasant ones, because the terms "cute panda drawing" and "cheerful dragons" both landed people on him. I bet the person who searched for "blue bird gift tags" was surprised to land on the Radish Spirit. I'm not even sure what "soap felting" is, but, just like the original two examples I gave (the dress and the beauty products), that search landed people on our main shop page.
Oh and the post title? That was because the search "etsy.com the bohemiangoddess" landed someone on Squall's page (he's also a "sith monk" I guess...).
-Matt
Friday, December 3, 2010
In Which Jenn Breaks Google Forms, and Creates An Ongoing Poll
Google Forms is awesome. It recently got even more awesome by allowing you to use "logic-branching", which I found out from reading help documentation means "turn your poll into a Choose Your Own Adventure story".
I've been using it at work to develop a scheduling database for all the programs we run during the summer (I work for a place that runs summer programs for international scholars), and as with so many other things in my life, learning about Google Forms and its near-endless possibilities for data collection made me think of dolls, and how many conventions we're trying to go to, and how handy it would be to have some idea of what people in different regions are into. So, I've built a form, and you can access it from a shiny new link on the right hand side of this here blog (at least, as of this post's press-time. I can't say it will still be there In The Future.)
Meanwhile, one of my co-workers found a bug in the form I'd made for my day job. That's fine - her job was to see what the form was lacking. Apparently, if you go through a couple of pages on a multi-page form, then realize you made a mistake, use the form's "Back" button to backtrack, and then change an answer? The form breaks. It tells you that you can't continue because you've forgotten to enter a required answer, even though you can plainly see that the fields are all filled in. Emptying the fields and starting over again also does not work.
So I went to the internet to seek help. The problem was with the form's back button, which I can't even access during the editing, so maybe there's a trouble ticket or helpful blog about this. After half an hour of trying every combination of "back button changing answer breaks Google forms cannot continue please help" that I could imagine, I concluded that I must be the first person on the entire Internet to have this problem. That's thrilling and awesome, except for the part where it doesn't actually solve anything.
So I submitted a question to Google's help forums, and we'll see what shakes out, but how cool is that?! I broke Google Forms! I'm a pioneer!
- Jenn
EDIT: I'm a bit of an idiot. I wrote the whole form in my voice, so pardon the crazy I/we/she/he pronoun mambo that happened as I tried to correct for the fact that ALL of us will be using the info provided. If it says "I", it means "Jenn." As you were!
I've been using it at work to develop a scheduling database for all the programs we run during the summer (I work for a place that runs summer programs for international scholars), and as with so many other things in my life, learning about Google Forms and its near-endless possibilities for data collection made me think of dolls, and how many conventions we're trying to go to, and how handy it would be to have some idea of what people in different regions are into. So, I've built a form, and you can access it from a shiny new link on the right hand side of this here blog (at least, as of this post's press-time. I can't say it will still be there In The Future.)
Meanwhile, one of my co-workers found a bug in the form I'd made for my day job. That's fine - her job was to see what the form was lacking. Apparently, if you go through a couple of pages on a multi-page form, then realize you made a mistake, use the form's "Back" button to backtrack, and then change an answer? The form breaks. It tells you that you can't continue because you've forgotten to enter a required answer, even though you can plainly see that the fields are all filled in. Emptying the fields and starting over again also does not work.
So I went to the internet to seek help. The problem was with the form's back button, which I can't even access during the editing, so maybe there's a trouble ticket or helpful blog about this. After half an hour of trying every combination of "back button changing answer breaks Google forms cannot continue please help" that I could imagine, I concluded that I must be the first person on the entire Internet to have this problem. That's thrilling and awesome, except for the part where it doesn't actually solve anything.
So I submitted a question to Google's help forums, and we'll see what shakes out, but how cool is that?! I broke Google Forms! I'm a pioneer!
- Jenn
EDIT: I'm a bit of an idiot. I wrote the whole form in my voice, so pardon the crazy I/we/she/he pronoun mambo that happened as I tried to correct for the fact that ALL of us will be using the info provided. If it says "I", it means "Jenn." As you were!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
New "About Us" Page!
Hello all! I just wanted to point out that we just added a brief "About Hooked on Chibis!" page. Check it out, and if anyone has questions for any of us, feel free to ask!
-Matt
-Matt
Nov Winner and Dec Contest
And the winner is...*drumroll* VICTORIA ARNOLD! Congrats! E-mail us at hookedonchibis@gmail.com with your address and the doll you'd like us to make!
To everyone else that entered, thank you for all your support. And don't be down! A new month means a new contest! Below is a list of characters that we're considering for our next line of chibis. Comment on this post with your vote for who we should make along with your name as it appears on Facebook (and make sure you're a fan so we can contact you if you win). On December 15th we'll have another random drawing, and if you win you'll win the chibi you voted for and get it in time for Christmas!
Don't wanna wait? Want a chibi NOW? Contact us via e-mail or visit our Etsy Store and we'll get right on your order!
To everyone else that entered, thank you for all your support. And don't be down! A new month means a new contest! Below is a list of characters that we're considering for our next line of chibis. Comment on this post with your vote for who we should make along with your name as it appears on Facebook (and make sure you're a fan so we can contact you if you win). On December 15th we'll have another random drawing, and if you win you'll win the chibi you voted for and get it in time for Christmas!
Don't wanna wait? Want a chibi NOW? Contact us via e-mail or visit our Etsy Store and we'll get right on your order!
Celty
Ciel
Death the Kid
Finn
Franken Stein
Grell
Kamina
Kodama
Lightning
Miles
Nappa
Ramona Flowers
Riza
Roy
Sazh
Simon
Snow
Soul Eater
Vanille
Vegeta
Viral
Yoko
Yotsuba
Zelda
Phoenix
Professor Layton
HAPPY VOTING!
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