Olympic mascots become self-ware and go on a killing spree around London!

Wenlock - Olympic mascot

Ha ha, only kidding they do look like they were sent back from the future by Skynet though ;)

So finally the London 2012 Olympic Mascots by have been revealed. As you would expect from the 2012 committee, they are not really what we expected! Far from cute & cuddly they are cold & hard, more like a Henry Moore sculpture than a kids toy.

Designed by London agency iris, I read that they only cost “a few thousand pounds”, I think they probably cost a bit more than that! Probably just trying to play it down after the £400,000 logo fiasco.

Mandeville - Olympic mascot

I feel for it’s designer though, whatever you create you’re going to get people ripping the shit out of it (myself included, sorry..) It’s an impossible brief, design by committee jobs always are.. I actually like it quite a lot, everything from the neck down looks awesome, great proportions, clean lines, sweet as in my book. Problem is though, why oh why that eye Olympic Committee?

You can tell by the descriptions on iris’ design boards, that the eye was supposed to be a camera lens, but at some point they decided to stick a cartoon eye on there which looks totally at odds to the rest of the angular design. Pixar have already shown with characters like WALL•E, or even their original anglepoise lamp short, that with the limitations of something ‘less human’, you can get a lot more unique character out of it. Feels like it was almost good, but they fucked it up at the last hurdle..

I actually took part in the original pitch too!

My olympic mascot pitch

Only fair to put my own work up for comparison/criticism. My idea was unsurprisingly the sock monster route. Rather than selling preformed shiny toys to the kiddies, I wanted to make ‘kits’ which were essentially a pair of long sport socks with instructions of how to make your own mascot from scratch! Thought it would be nice thing to do in school as a crafty lesson, give them chance to be creative and add a bit personal flair to their own mascot. The agency I was working for poo poo’d it because it wasn’t ‘commercially viable’, said the committee would never go for it as they needed to pay for the Olympics through some mass-produced piece of Chinese plastic..

Foodie Felt Patterns

Felt Let Go To Fresh Market Set Pattern PDF

This set of foodie felt patterns ($3.99), just caught my eye, I really want to make a string of felt sausages :) There’s a plethora of other cute felt patterns from julyhobby on her Etsy.

While looking up what the hell you call a string of sausages, I came across Sausages 4 All, awful name I know, but they have a dizzying array of sausages ready to be delivered to your door in the UK. Kangaroo sausage anyone?

Via: Jeanie & Jewell.

Mammoth luggage for little people

Mammoth luggage for little people

Me and Nicky were invited by my mate Rob to enter his Pimp my Trunki challenge! If you’re not aware of Rob’s luggage for little people, check ’em out here. I remembered when Rob was designing the original Trunki at University, his first sketches were all of a furry animals. I always thought at somepoint he’d release a big furry version, but he hasn’t, so I’ve done it for him!

I’ve made it so that it’s basically just a stuffed cover that could be easily slipped on and off (and packed away inside). The material I used (toilet rugs!) was a bit on the think side, had to hand sew everything and it only just about manages to pack away inside itself. Nicky made the little caveman rider, I’m sure all you crafters will want to know how we did the hair – I’m not entirely sure what it is, some sort of hair piece (but ring shaped?) from the big wig shop at the beginning of Ridley Road Market in Dalson.

It’s going to be displayed along with about 10 other custom trunki’s from other designers and artists at this years Bristol Design Festival, 5th-11th June 2009. I’ll be going down on Saturday to check it out.

Update: What I didn’t realise (should of read the brief..) is that the custum Trunki’s are getting auctioned off to raise money for the festival. So if you can’t make it down the auction and would like to own a Cookie & Nicky ridable luggage original, then email penny@magmatic.co.uk with your bid.

Crochet strap on action

crochet strap on cock

Ithink these crocheted breasts and penises by Shannon Gerard are hilarious :) But they’ve actually got quite a serious application – Early Detection Kits contain small lumps that can be found by following instructions provided in the accompanying booklets. The booklets take you through all the necessary steps for performing monthly self-examinations of your own breasts or testicles.

Top work Shannon, the perfect prop to take the edge off what could be quite an embarrassing and dry ‘lesson’.

Via FFFFOUND!