It’s just about one month until the release of my new combo storybook and pattern book, Adventures in Mochimochi Land!
Last month I shared a preview of the first story in the book, The Hungry Donut. And today I’m sharing a peek into the second story in the book, The Underwater Election. Alternative title: Tiny Mochis Under the Sea!
The protagonists of this story, Bubbles the dolphin and Gary the crab, are political rivals, vying for control over a precious new resource they helped discover.
(I used Tosh Merino Light yarn for the first time to make these guys. I was looking for a yarn that would be bright and richly hued and evoke life underwater—I think it really did the trick!)
I’ll leave the nature of the precious resource as a surprise for the book, but rest assured that all kinds of silly political stunts ensue. Gary, for example, serves as guest judge in local a beauty pageant…
And Bubbles insists on doing the honors at a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new sandcastle development.
Something unexpected happens with the election results, of course, but not before a heated debate complete with mudslinging!
Each of the stories in this book came with its own unique challenges, from the writing to the photography. With this story, a big challenge was figuring out how to represent Mochimochi Land underwater, something I hadn’t really done before. I wasn’t sure how we would do it until the last minute when it was time for the photo shoot! But the local craft store came through with sparkly fabric for the background,
(Ironed directly on the wall for maximum wrinkle-free sparkly-ness…)
Some lucky finds like seaweed-shaped pipe cleaners,
And yarn that looked amazingly like coral!
Speaking of which, in the haste of doing the photo shoot last year, I failed to make note of which novelty yarns we used to make the coral and other cool seaweed-looking stuff that appear in the images. If anyone knows what they’re looking at, please share in the comments!
I almost forgot the last big challenge of all of these underwater photos: erasing all of those pesky sticks holding everyone afloat!
All I can say is thank goodness for Photoshop and for a photographer who really knows how to use it.
Adventures in Mochimochi Land is coming out June 9th! It’s now available for preorder from Amazon, from Barnes & Noble, and from Powells, among other places. Signed copies are also available for preorder from me in the Mochimochi Shop. Or if you have a local bookstore or yarn store that you support, please ask them if they’ll carry it!
It all looks so amazing!! You put together such a wonderful underwater Mochimochi Land! Everything has such great colours and the background is perfect! Sorry I can’t be of any help with the novelty yarn id, but it worked perfect too. :)
If you haven’t figured it out already….
The coral looks like Bernat Gazoom. I think I have that color way in my stash for my niece.
Great work!
R
Looks great, love all the new creatures! The coral looks like something I got at Web’s… not sure it’s the same but it’s by Freia Fine Handpaints. It’s super bulky weight and looks amazing even just as the ball it comes rolled up in :D
I was thinking the coral looked like Red Heart Boutique Swerve. Did it already have the loops?
These previews are great!
Wow, I love the behind-the-scenes and previews! As with erasing the sticks, did you take a background picture (one without the mochis floating on the sticks)? It really makes life easier when you’re erasing things, as the background is already there and you don’t have to clone anything. :)
Thanks for all the yarn ideas, everyone! I think Anna may be right with her suggestion of Red Heart Boutique Swerve, although I can’t seem to find the same colorways online anywhere. We also used a yarn that had an interesting net-like weave for some of the scenes, and that one remains a mystery.. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for both of these the next time I’m at a Michael’s or a Joann’s.
Phia, Brandi just used Photoshop’s amazing “content aware” clone brush (or whatever it’s actually called). I wish I had that version of PS myself, but I’m stuck with the regular old clone tool (which is still generally pretty good if you know how to use it).