Jul
5th
Tue
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I have moved my blog to: JEMTOY.com

I have moved my blog to: JEMTOY.com
Jul
3rd
Sun
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JEM TOY at Toy Art Gallery

JEM TOY at Toy Art Gallery
Jun
27th
Mon
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Gomper and Friends on the OpportunityLOL Toy Shelf. Thanks ya’all ~

Gomper and Friends on the OpportunityLOL Toy Shelf. Thanks ya’all ~

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The back story of Slithgarn

I wanted to create a character that celebrated my love of “the man in the rubber monster suit”. I grew up watching Creature Double Feature, and my favorite monster movies are the TOHO Godzilla series. So first and foremost, Slithgarn is a guy in a monster suit… but who is the guy?

The guy is an Oracle Prophet. He is a wise man who has many answers to the mysteries of life. In order to gain his psychic powers, he lives in a symbiotic relationship with the Slithgarn, which among many other things gives the Oracle Prophet the ability to have mind control over the Gompers as his own monster army. The Slithgarn accepts the symbiotic relationship because its brain power increases while it has a human host. The Slithgarn gets all nutrition from what the host eats, and will protect the host at all costs. The host is trapped, as the Slithgarn will not release its host willingly, so it is a pact for life they have entered into. Because Slithgarns seek out human hosts, some hosts are victims, while others are willing, such as those who seek out the Slithgarn to get the psychic power.

To gain audience with an Oracle Prophet, one must first find a way to subdue the Slithgarn, either by force or by cunning. Once the Slithgarn is cuffed in chains, or at ease with your presence, one can speak with the Oracle Prophet on matters of the past, present, and future.

Kings and men of great power have been known to keep a Slithgarn and its host trapped in their dungeon to have access to an Oracle Prophet’s wisdom. This is not an ideal situation for the Slithgarn, who prefers to run free in warm, moist climates such as the tropics, or a rain forest.
Jun
18th
Sat
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Shoe Theater
Jun
17th
Fri
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The Resin Toy Show at Toy Art Gallery in Los Angeles has really created a big uproar in the resin toy community. First off, the show was an “open call” which means any person that can lick a stamp gets to send in 3 resin toys for display. I’ve never been in an open call type show. I thought the open call was to be juried. Even after I posted 3 of my Gompers to TAG, I was not sure I was in the show. I expected a culling of the herd before opening night. Arriving at the gallery I realized that the quality of the work was very varied. Many beginners got their resin toy on display next to masters like Paul Kaiju, Arbito, and my fun favorite, The Sucklord. I graduated art school in ‘86 and have been teaching arts and crafts with ages 7-16 ever since. I have a high tolerance for beginner art. So much so, I even like it. When I saw the beginner art (the slugs were beside my Gompers) I thought how being in this show may push that artist to continue and get better. If they had been there, I’d of traded one of my toys for one of theirs. I was there to trade toy for toy. I like people and what they make. Paul Kaiju was so kind to give me a Chibi Welt, and he got a purple Podling in return. I try not to take anything so serious that it ruins my good time. Jeremy Riad gave the show a proper review: http://www.jeremyriad.com/blog/events/ribbons-for-resin-is-the-toy-community-ready-to-be-judged/ For some reason Jeremy says the resin toy folk are not ready to be judged… I haven’t heard one word of critique offered on my work. No one seemed to mention any of the work on the shelf that night. I’d love to know what the judges liked, and where it could go to be better. Ideas for a next step, and things it may remind them of, anecdotes, personal stories… any critique would be appreciated. The judges were not given a time to speak to the artists, so we missed out on that sort of exchange opportunity. My entire family drove from San Francisco to see the show in LA. We met many flickr and twitter friends for the first time. I introduced myself to as many people I could, but my wee one was tired, and we returned to the hotel to rest up after our long trip. I wish I could have stayed a little longer to meet you all. If you are in LA go check out the show. It’s up until July 1st, 2011 at Toy Art Gallery.

The Resin Toy Show at Toy Art Gallery in Los Angeles has really created a big uproar in the resin toy community. First off, the show was an “open call” which means any person that can lick a stamp gets to send in 3 resin toys for display. I’ve never been in an open call type show. I thought the open call was to be juried. Even after I posted 3 of my Gompers to TAG, I was not sure I was in the show. I expected a culling of the herd before opening night.

Arriving at the gallery I realized that the quality of the work was very varied. Many beginners got their resin toy on display next to masters like Paul Kaiju, Arbito, and my fun favorite, The Sucklord. I graduated art school in ‘86 and have been teaching arts and crafts with ages 7-16 ever since. I have a high tolerance for beginner art. So much so, I even like it. When I saw the beginner art (the slugs were beside my Gompers) I thought how being in this show may push that artist to continue and get better. If they had been there, I’d of traded one of my toys for one of theirs. I was there to trade toy for toy. I like people and what they make. Paul Kaiju was so kind to give me a Chibi Welt, and he got a purple Podling in return. I try not to take anything so serious that it ruins my good time.

Jeremy Riad gave the show a proper review:

http://www.jeremyriad.com/blog/events/ribbons-for-resin-is-the-toy-community-ready-to-be-judged/

For some reason Jeremy says the resin toy folk are not ready to be judged… I haven’t heard one word of critique offered on my work. No one seemed to mention any of the work on the shelf that night. I’d love to know what the judges liked, and where it could go to be better. Ideas for a next step, and things it may remind them of, anecdotes, personal stories… any critique would be appreciated. The judges were not given a time to speak to the artists, so we missed out on that sort of exchange opportunity. My entire family drove from San Francisco to see the show in LA. We met many flickr and twitter friends for the first time. I introduced myself to as many people I could, but my wee one was tired, and we returned to the hotel to rest up after our long trip. I wish I could have stayed a little longer to meet you all.

If you are in LA go check out the show. It’s up until July 1st, 2011 at Toy Art Gallery.
May
26th
Thu
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Happy Paper Gompers! Make a Gomper - WIN a Gomper! Torture your brain some more and buy my book of paper toys on Amazon: Print! Cut! Fold! Glue! Video Instructions: Eye Poppin’ Gomper

Happy Paper Gompers! Make a Gomper - WIN a Gomper!

Torture your brain some more and buy my book of paper toys on Amazon: Print! Cut! Fold! Glue!

Video Instructions: Eye Poppin’ Gomper

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Gomper World Contest!

Make a Paper Gomper, and take a fun photo of it. Submit the photo direct to my blog. Best photo entry wins a huge plastic Wishbone Gomper. I will use the comment box under the winning entry to notify the winner, so check back to see if your entry wins!
May
25th
Wed
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Crystal Gompers in the window. The tentacles look like gummy worms. Mmmmm…

Crystal Gompers in the window. The tentacles look like gummy worms. Mmmmm…
May
23rd
Mon
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Fresh new batch of Gompers! - and Shadow Cat holds ‘em back! Amazing Kaiju Battle!

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