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Court of the Dead

Apr 16, 2012

FREE Emilio Garcia workshop and lecture at Drexel University today

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Internationally recognized toy designer and illustrator Emilio Garcia will travel from Barcelona, Spain to host a 4-day workshop with students on making designer toys, along with a public lecture and demonstration for Drexel University’s Product Design program, part of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design.  Garcia is well known for his jumping brain toys and his design work with international companies such as Hitachi, Diesel, Inditex, Metro, Vans and The North Face.

Garcia will work with Product Design program director Michael Glaser and students from the Westphal College to design a character/collectable type toy that can be printed on the Objet and MakerBot.  The MakerBot printer creates a manufacturing station that allows users to create any type of 3D image and print it from a CAD-generated sketch.  Students will work in teams on a theme-based project that will culminate with a small exhibition prior to Emilo’s public talk on Monday, April 16th at 6:30 pm.

The talk is free and open to the public in Stein Auditorium, 111 Nesbitt Hall (3215 Market St.).  It will focus on the world of collectable toy making, a growing sub-culture taking hold in many of world’s urban centers. Garcia work is published in Taschen Favourite web sites and Web Design Index Books.  His career as digital, multi-media artist moved into tactile forms as a reaction to the digitalization of our cultural and the rapid evolution of technology currently happening in society.

Cheddar, Day Ahead: TaskOne's custom for Playsam 500 show at Super7

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 TaskOne shares with us his entry into the Playsam 500- Cheddar, Days Ahead is a custom based on the Playsam Streamliner wooden toy. TaskOne always kills it. 
This show at Super7's San Francisco shop looks amazing- I've seen a ton of sweet customs in this show, like this one and this one.

Task and I are talking about doing a Tenacious exclusive release later this year. Any suggestions?


Trey Anastasio & Akuma from Street Fighter customs by Ian Ziobrowski

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Ian Ziobrowski shares with us two of his most recent commissions: Trey Anastasio is the guitarist from legendary jam band Phish. The Trey custom pictured above was executed on a 7-inch Munny platform. Super tight work in Ian's signature style, with detailed sculpting and accessories- all hand-made.

Below is a commission Ian did for a customer who wanted to add the character Akuma to his Kidrobot Street Fighter figure collection. As such, this piece is based on a 3-inch Dunny platform. Ian says this one "is a bit different for me... Nothing Nugglife related but still fun."

Apr 13, 2012

Chubbs resin figure by WeKillYou

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For the 2012 WeKillYou solo show in Los Angeles titled "A Cry For Help In A World Gone Mad", this first collaborative figure was created. The figure was hand made and pained by We Kill You and designed by CBNC, a lifestyle brand based out of Los Angeles California.

This figure is one of a kind, hand cast and painted resin collectable by WKY and includes: Chubbs figure, CBNC logo helmet & Skateboard. 
Several colorways are available here.

Chubb CBNC edition
Chubb CNBC edition available here (limited to 10 pieces).

Here's a video from WeKillYou's solo show at CBNC in Los Angeles:


 
WKY & CBNC from The Sleepers on Vimeo.

Lunabee Tootles 7-inch Munny custom

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This sweet little fella is a lonesome wanderer of the forest. Tootles likes leaving little gifts on the doorsteps of his neighbours made from leaves and flowers much to the bemusement of his bloodthirsty, war-loving fellow tribe members. He spends most of his time with the animals and insects of the woodland in particular the bees who happily share their honey with this strange little boy.

Custom Manotaurs and Ugly Unicorns up in Rampage Toys shop

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8-inch Custom Manotaur - Greeny. Design and sculpt by Justin Hillgrove. Paint by Rampage Toys.
Sweet Manotaurs, Ugly Unicorns, Zhou-chan, Satou-chan and Cuppies available in the Rampage Toys shop, which seems to be growing by the minute! Such awesome, brightly-colored toys available!

Custom Ugly Unicorns from Studio Uamou Exhibition: mixed parts, vinyl with stenciling and brushwork, matching Satou-chan (vintage sofubi)!

8-inch Custom Manotaur - Shiny. Design and sculpt by Justin Hillgrove. Paint by Rampage Toys.

Tea Feelings by Taylored Curiosities: teacups, resin & scented plush

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Penny Taylor of Taylored Curiosities shares with us Tea Feelings: combining plush, resin and vintage teacups to create these little creatures, bathing in tea, that have similar scents to their full plush counterparts.  


Each 'tea' is a mixture of clear resin, layered with natural additives like rose petals, orange slices or lavender buds and then depending on the size of the teacup, one, two or maybe even three little creatures sit inside. 

These are different from my usual work as they are collectibles and each one will be one of a kind as I treasure hunt for reject teacups that no longer belong to full sets.






The idea is that each type of 'tea' approaches a different aspect of life i.e. Tired tea has an orange scent which can help you feel more energetic and Love tea has a rose scent which makes you feel uplifted (the same as my Aromaterapy Plush).  What do you do when you have a problem? Pop the kettle on and chat it out.  These are based on a similar idea.

Those who follow my work, know how much of an over qualified tea drinker I am and these combine all the aspects that make my work 'me'.  

To follow Taylored Curiosites, click the links below: 

Bryan A. Collins Android commissions available; visit him in FL in late April

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Artist Bryan A. Collins sends word that he will be appearing at Pioneer Days in High Springs, FL on April 28th & 29th, selling original art at his booth. Meet the guy and buy some art! I've met Bryan here in the NYC area when he last visited- he's a great guy that I am happy to call a friend. 

You can also order a commissioned Android (like the one you see above) from Bryan by going here, and check out the custom toy section he put up on his Etsy page to see the other figures he's offering.

Acid Flow custom Munny by South African artist The Given

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South African artist Abe Viljoen (aka The Given) sends us images of his 7" Munny entitled “Acid Flow”.  Abe writes: This piece started out as some fun for myself, getting back to my roots in graffiti and letting it come out more heavily in my vinyl work. I was quite happy to be creating a toy with only myself to please, but I must admit I was even happier when it ended up selling before it was even finished! The toy was officially unveiled at the Toffie Pop Festival here in Cape Town on the 31/03/12.

I must admit, I really dig this old-skool graffiti style with the bubble letters and arrows and bright colors. Follow Abe on his website www.thegiven.co.za and on Twitter @givencollective



SNEAK PEEK: The Candy Coated Custom Show teasers

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We have all been seeing sneaks and WIP shots from the artists in The Candy Coated Custom Show, so I thought I'd put all the ones I have into a blog post for you! There will be an online preview sale before the show opens; information about that will be emailed to our email list subscribers early next week, so click though and make sure you're signed up. (When you sign up, you will receive a coupon code good for 10% off in-stock production toys, but that code is not valid for custom toys.)

Basset D Kay, an original sculpt by Rich Page of Ume Toys

A Candy Shop piece by Ian Ziobrowski in the same vein as his Nuggy Growstation (WIP)

Vyvyan from the Young Ones TV show, a Munny custom by Scott Kinnebrew

Rsin's custom Munny, which I believe he named Blaaaaaaah!

Evilos' Union Jack Vinylmation, which I think is the only Vinylmation in this show. Represent!

Sweet Teuth original resin sculpt by Brian Ahlbeck. The first of 5 in a series. Real candy inside!

The London Swag Demon custom Munny by Nasty Neil of Wasted Talent
Jon Malmstedt of Rampage toys sent these 3 pieces from Japan, which will be sold separately.
JonPaul Kaiser was a saint and whipped up this 4" Munny after I inadvertently left him off my email list when I sent all the vital info to the artists. I will always admit when I do something stupid; such was the case here. Thanks JPK!

southerndrawl's Iron Fox piece

JC Rivera's Oh So Sweet Munny custom. 2 pieces, sold as a set.

Thomas the Rage Engine by Adam Pratt
Sucklord sent us these wired up resin chocolates titled Robot Candy. 2 pieces; sold separately.

Teru Fujita's Bentie the Bentley 7" Munny custom. Wired up with retractable hood ornament and working headlights.

Shawn Wigs' Yoshi custom set; this includes 2 Dunnys and accessories. Full reveal in our online preview.
Much, MUCH more to come! Stay tuned! The Candy Coated Custom Show will take place at The London Candy Company on April 21, from 7 to 9 pm. The address is as follows:

The London Candy Company
1442 Lexington Ave
New York, NY 10128

Afterparty down the street at ABV (97th & Lex). The London Candy Company serves coffee, tea and hot chocolate at their bar, in addition to selling a giant selection of British candies. ABV serves beer, wine and food, but try not to sit next to Eric of Argonaut Resins as he will probably steal your appetizers.

Apr 10, 2012

2012 Designer Toys Awards: Call for Entries now open

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Last year we were both surpised and honored to have been nominated by one of our loyal customers in the Best Online Store category at the 2011 Designer Toy Awards.  We were even more blessed to have made it into the final round- the "short list"- from which the winner was picked. Although we did not actually win, the nomination itself served as proof, for me personally, that I am on the right track with Tenacious Toys.

We've been doing our best over the past 7 years to create a fun and functional website where you can purchase your designer toys. We've also been heavily involved in the art toy community, cultivating artists and collaborating with talented people and interesting companies in order to provide collectors and fans with a more rewarding collecting experience.

So it is with great excitement that we re-post the following information which just arrived from Clutter (the organizers of the DTAs):

To start things off the Call for Entries is now open over at www.designertoyawards.com. You may be wondering why we are calling it the "Call for Entries" this year, so let me explain what's new:

This year we have made a few changes to the process. Firstly we removed two categories, "Most Influential Event" and "Best Functional Toy", from the line up to make the awards more concise. Secondly we have put together groups of nominating committees. These committees will be in charge of digesting the entries and discerning there qualification in the awards. The committees will reduce the entries to five nominees in each category for Board-voted awards and ten nominees in each category for Community Choice voted awards.

Nominations will be announced on the Designer Toy Awards Nominating Party, which will take place in San Diego during SDCC week. Be there to hear who the nominees are!! We'll announce them live before we post to the site. We'll turn community and board voting on shortly after SDCC.

The other big news it that this year's award ceremony will be taking place in our home town of NYC during NYCC in October! WOOT WOOT!!. We hope as many of you as possible can be there, and we are looking forward to sharing more information with you as the year unfolds.


It looks like when you go to the nomination page, you must log in to their site to make your nominations and cast your votes. If you voted last year, you already have an account. Once you're logged in, click on the Call For Entries button in the pink nav menu.

If you have enjoyed the service and support that Tenacious Toys has provided during 2011, please consider nominating us or voting for us. We appreciate all of your feedback!
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