Candy Conversation

Vital statistics:
Name: Kelda
Craft: Cute and/or creepy plush monsters made from felt
Hometown: Wirral
Website:http://pandaeyes.etsy.com

Tell us about you and your craft?
I’ve always been a crafty person; always the one sat in a corner hunched over one project or another, forgetting to stretch the legs, socialise or get any sort of fresh air for long periods of time. But I’ve never actually been as obsessed with any other craft as I am with making plushies. I’m constantly doodling and trying to come up with new monsters, and then I spend hours making each one, hand stitching everything, and finally they get names and personalities. By the end of the process I’ve usually become quite attached, hence the four shelves dedicated to those I have accidentally on purpose forgotten to sell.

How did you get started?
It doesn’t usually take much to get me into a craft and this one was no exception. I desperately wanted a plushie that didn’t yet exist (Cheese from the cartoon Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends) …so I decided to make my own. I started small, with a little critter from the depths of my own imagination, just to practice my stitching. I worked on him non stop all afternoon and once I had finished him I felt quite an inappropriate level of pride and was so happy with the outcome that I decided to make another. And another. And another. And I really haven’t looked back since. Although, now I come to think about it, I still don’t own a Cheese plushie.

Where do you get your inspiration from?
I love the Japanese kawaii culture and everything to do with Halloween. I think the two sort of merged somewhere along the way and I ended up making zombie bunnies.

Where do you sell your work?
Just etsy and craft fairs at the moment.

What do you love most about being creative?
I love how accessible it is – you don’t need expensive equipment or materials, just an overactive imagination and plenty of time on your hands.

Tell us what your plans for the future are?
It’s nothing but a distant dream at the moment, but one day I’d love to open a sort of cross between a coffee/cake shop and a gallery. I’d get my friends involved, and we’d take it in turns to bake delicious cakes every day and serve big slabs of it on adorable side plates and fashion a studio out back so we can craft to our hearts content to fill said gallery. One day…