Pranksters

Inspiration comes from everywhere!

If you've ever read my previous blogs, you know that I can get my inspiration from anywhere and nowhere. This also applies to my creations Funny Guy and Funny Girl, although I stay close to home, I get my inspiration from my bookcase!  In my blog: From Idea to Creation I take you into my thoughts twists and turns!

From clay creations to crochet creations

Long before I fully immersed myself in designing Amigurumi's, I was already making creations sculpted from clay and wood pulp. The clothes were often sewn, but sometimes I also crocheted the clothes. Even then!

The doll makers who inspired me the most were Jos Lambregts, for her puppets, Marlaine Verhelst for her refined expressions in the faces and the use of colours, and Willemijn van der Spiegel, among other things for her use of nature in and with her creations. 

Willemijn van der Spiegel's creations first had sculpted heads, hands and feet, the body was made of fabric. Later, her creations gradually turned into impregnated textile creations.

Colourful Clowns crochet

The book Clowns & Co by Willemijn van der Spiegel inspired me to make Funny Guy. His name was here first rather than what exactly he would look like. And how could this clown make people laugh? With juggling of course! That's always fun. 

That is why Funny Guy has a frame of electricity wire in his body. This gives the body more strength to keep the 3 juggling balls high. With Funny Guy, a thin iron wire is crocheted around the back part of his jacket, so that the jacket happily swings up! Funny Guy was a fact!

Crochet pattern Funny Guy

The nice thing about the Dutch language is that we have a few nice names for a prankster. If I translate the Dutch word Grapjas into English it will be Funny Coat. Grapjurk will be Funny Dress.

Yes, and once there is a Funny Guy then there must also be a Funny Girl.  It took almost 1.5 years before I actually started making her.

Clown Funny Girl

In my mind, she had been there for a while. In February of 2019 I had already bought her eyelashes, I had found them among the carnival stuff. In the local yarn store, here in Papendrecht, I found her hair. Very nice fluffy yarn to tie on her head. 

Her name in Dutch says it all, Funny Girl would get a colourful dress. I chose to give her a fake flower, one that you're not sure whether water comes out when you smell it. 

Funny Girl can very well be made without a frame of electric wire, a support to keep her neck straight is enough.

ROFL

Funny Girl and Funny Guy are often accompanied by ROFL! A jester who is full of jokes! His name comes from the abbreviation that is widely used on the internet: ROFL, which in English stands for Rolling on the Floor Laughing! This is a name that suits him very well! The three of them will get all the laughs, for sure!

Crochet pattern Funny Girl tested by super testers! 

Have you seen the Funny Girls of Wilma, Marion and Martine? They tested the pattern of Funny Girl. All three have become so much fun and so different! 

Now that I've made a Funny Guy and a Funny Girl I have to make another. In Dutch he will be Lolbroek, something like Funy Pants. But how long that will take? The idea is already in my head...